Well, IF I could have done a rewiring job for the ceiling fan outlets, I certainly would have, but we are talking about a FLORIDA house, so the outer walls are concrete block, the ceilings are 9feet tall & the floorplan is THE MOST OBTUSE I've ever seen. This house is an example of "free-thinking" design, and as such the layout is anything but sensible and/or convenient. Additionally , there is virtually no access to the attic space, so running new cabling is next to impossible.
To add insult to injury, when I casually mentioned this dilemma to a LOWES' floor person in the Electrical Dept., he gave me a "cannot be" lecture, at which point I reminded him that I am a graduate electrical engineer w/ 50 years practical experience in electrical & electronic processes.
For a house of this footprint dimensions, the wasted space is almost enough to make a second house, but the "kids" like it, and since THEY have to live there, so be it!
I have one more bedroom ceiling fan to install correctly, so when I check this circuit out, I'm going to look very closely (AGAIN!) at the switchbox on the wall to ensure that there is NO "red" wire in the box. My suspicion is that the fellow(s) on the job may have run out of wire, but had some 14-3 on the truck, and so ran it from the switchbox to the ceiling box, and since they weren't supposed to provide a two-switch circuit, may have cut off the red wire @ the switch box, making it unavailable for use.
$30 for an ir thermometer? Crazy, but I have to try that camera trick. I've used cameras to pick up remote signals before and is helpful when focusing IR sensors.
I also had an "issue" with a new construction house I moved into 10 years ago. First, I had my own inspector do an onceover on the house and found that the range wiring had a high impedance to ground on one phase. The problem was that the drywall had been installed with a nail that was put entirely through the phase wire. The builder was not happy but replaced the entire feed and redid the drywall.
About 6 months later i installed a ceiling fan in our dining room and tried to control it from the switch that had been prewired by the builder. No power anywhere downstream of the switch (but the switch had 120 VAC on it)! After much up and down on the ladder, I pulled the wiring out of the box at the switch and found that the wire I used had some electrical tape wrapped around it. It ended up that the wire had been cut and since it was not immediately put in use the electrician simply hid it by wrapping tape around it. It did pass inspection but wasn't usable. I did get enough wire freed up to make the connection and got the switch operational but not before a few choice words about a fellow in my profession.
It is amazing how often the simple things are often overlooked. Fuses aren't as complex as the equipment they are protecting, so we find it easy to dismiss them. The same way with plugs, knobs, pots, switches, and other interim devices. We forget they are there until we have problems we cannot explain. He did a good job finding the problem!
My dishwasher has a small circuit board with user option switches on it, connected with a Molex connector. One of the switches is directly in series with the heating element used for drying. The Molex connector also caused a circuit board fire.
I suppose I could submit this as another Made by Monkeys article but I've just told the complete story (except for the repair).
Daveladd wrote "Every electrical shop ought to have an infrared camera. You can get a reasonably good basic model these days for 6-800$."
You don't even need to buy a special infrared camera. The image sensors in inexpensive point-and-shoot cameras and even cellphone cameras are sensitive to infrared and the cameras have no filters. You can quickly find a hotspot just by waving the camera around. (The camera is also a good tool to check your TV or DVD player remote. Watch the camera screen while pressing buttons on the remote.)
You can measure the hotspot temperature with one of these inexpensive non-contact devices" http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=thermometer . They are also useful for measuring duct outlet temperatures when you suspect heating or air-conditioning problems.
Every electrical shop ought to have an infrared camera. You can get a reasonably good basic model these days for 6-800$ When you have unexplained fuse and circuit issues, scan the panel, the receptacles, starters, etc. For troubleshooting, where you have quirkly stuff going on, it's much safer to start with the IR scan than to go poking around on fuse clips with meter probes, looking for voltage drop, or manipulating conductors to get a clamp-on ammeter attached. You're liable to poke a connection that's loose and start an arc that results in an arcing fault ... in your face.
We had a similar problem in our first house--water in the circuit-breaker box. I looked for a leaking water line but found none. Then during a rain storm I noticed water dripping from the breaker box. Apparently water got into the outdoor service cable, ran into the meter box, and then the water flowed into the service cable and into the breaker box. The local power company came and wrapped their part of the cable in waterproof tape. Then I thoroughly caulked the meter box with silicone sealant. No more water problems. The circuit-breaker box was about 20 feet from the entrance of the service cable into the house, so a lot of water had to accumulate to push through to the circuit breakers. No permanent damage, thankfully.
The replacement of the fuse with one of a higher rating while going to the parts room for the correct value makes sense. The clamp-on ammeter showed much less current flow than the fuse rating. It is a military installation so the presumption is it MUST stay operational and it will be staffed while the electrician is en-route. No equipment had malfunctioned, so it could be assumed (love that word!) that the problem was in the wiring. Blowing a 40A fuse on one leg of a 208 3PH line implies a heck of a lot of heat being dissipated somewhere. All these being considered, upping the fuse and going for more fuses seemed the reasonable thing. Picking up the blown fuse was pure luck. Understanding what the temperature of the fuse implied was the stroke of genius. Those fuses are removed using pullers and there would normally be no reason to handle the fuse with your bare hands. Good story and a good lesson for the rest of us: be curious, observe, think.
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