light control wiring help

[dub bud]

the black and white ones that go to my washer and dryer read 245.

 

[rives]

Grab a flashlight (one that works!) and have it ready. Trip the breaker in the lower left hand corner and check those same wires again and see if they went off. I don't know where your computer is, but you may shut it off to.

 

[dub bud]

ok i did it, i tripped the breaker in the bottom left and it shut off the connection to the washer and dryer, 0 volts, it also turned everything in the whole house off

 

[rives]

You never answered my question about this being a sub-panel or a main panel. Do you have any idea where it is fed from?

 

[dub bud]

sorry, im tryin to keep up=] thanks again for the help.
this is the only fuse box in the whole house so im guessing its the main panel. i dont think i have another one or a sub box. and were its fed from? im not sure? i do know on the other side of the wall (outside ) is the electric meeter.. so im guessing its comming from the telephone pole? sorry for my ignorance..

 

[rives]

No sweat, we'll get through it. Take your meter and put it on the 200 ohm scale (the upside-down horseshoe symbol) with the horn honking symbol. When you short the two leads together, it should make a tone and when you pull them apart, it should stop. Check that, please.

 

[dub bud]

yep it beeps when i touchem

 

[rives]

Ok, now we want to verify exactly where the wires from the fuse panel go. You need to turn off the fuse panel (pull the handle down), and trip all of the breakers in the panel. You want to make sure that all of the power is off, because you will zorch your meter if anything is hot.

When the breakers are all off and your meter is set for the tone test, put one lead on the white wire in the fuse panel and the other lead on the white wire in the lug on the left side (middle of the panel) of the circuit breaker panel and make sure that the tone sounds. Then move to the black wire and check it the same way. Read this over carefully and ask me if you have any questions before doing it.

 

[dub bud]

when you say fuse panel you mean the one for my washer and dryer? the one with the old screw in fuses right?

 

[nukklehead]

Awesome rives is giving us a troubleshooting101 class . I am not a electrician and awed with his professional knowledge. this should be a stickey but maybe not for the less educated. Seems like the above is doing well. I will butt out and continue to lurk. Hell Rives I would have said trash the whole thing and run a new service but with your knowledge he may be GTG...you da man

 

[dub bud]

ok so we are jus checking to make sure that it is the white romex cable is going from the main panel to the fuse box?

 

[rives]

Yes, that's the one. I'm pretty sure that the wire feeding that fuse panel is the white wire on the upper right side of the Sq.D panel, which then go over and land on the lugs on the left middle of the panel, but we are going to verify it.

 

[dub bud]

ok jus checked it and yes it beeped loud and clear. black to black and white to white

 

[rives]

Great. Can you make out what the amperage rating is on the lower left breaker or see a number followed by awg on the wire feeding that breaker?

 

[rives]

You aren't flopping around on the floor doing the 60-cycle shuffle, are you?

 

[dub bud]

well i tried to look it over very well, even tried to clean it off a little, i cant see any markings.. no numbers or letters... and it looks like there are 2 fat red and black wires comming from the bottom of the box that connect to that breaker. they have some kind of writing on them but i cant make it out.....

 

[rives]

Well, as I said earlier, you have a mess. If there is a main breaker outside that protects that heavy cable, we have some options, but as it is there is no protection on that romex feeding your fused panel other than the main breaker. That appears to be around 100 amps. The heavy wires feed through that lower-left breaker, heating up the busses in the panel. The lugs on the left that the romex is attached to are bolted directly to the busses. That in itself is illegal and a very poor idea, but then it gets worse by leaving the panel, goes up through the wall cavity, makes an illegal penetration of the wall and goes into the fuse box.

You could replace the romex with a heavier gauge wire with 4 conductors, and then feed a new circuit breaker panel. You could then feed your washer, dryer, and new lighting panel off of breakers in the new panel. Actually, if you used the same gauge wire as the feeders, the main breaker would then be adequate protection for it, but the panel should be placed so that the wires came directly into the back of it rather than being exposed and entering through the side.

 

[rives]

Have you checked to see if there is a main breaker outside under your meter?

 

[rives]

Where did you go, DB?

 

[dub bud]

not sure if this helps but this is what i got outside