Home electrical issue

Nothing "idiot" about it, it's an acceptable or common way of wiring, especially with ceiling fixtures.

It isn't anymore, codes now require the presence of a neutral in the box with the switch, which basically means no more switch legs.

This is because many "smart" switches and timers and such now need a neutral to work.
 
If its happening on two different circuits in the house the issue is from the breaker panel out to the transformer. Could be the meter base or the service drop or even the connections at the transformer.
 
I have 200amp service coming into the house. GE panel. One main shut off at the top of the panel. Two different breakers with the same issue.
Yes OK

BUT 220-240V comes in with a neutral/return line. 120-N splits the 240V. You have TWO 120V incoming 120V lines so to speak.

120V-N-120V
240V----240V

Hard to see in your breaker box, but with the front panel off you can see how it is split. Around half your 120V breakers are on one "leg" and the other on the other 120V leg.

Look at the pic and read here: https://top-powertools.com/120v-or-240v-ǀ-all-you-need-to-know-about-electrical-wiring/

Are both on the same leg?
 
Yes OK

BUT 220-240V comes in with a neutral/return line. 120-N splits the 240V. You have TWO 120V incoming 120V lines so to speak.

120V-N-120V
240V----240V

Hard to see in your breaker box, but with the front panel off you can see how it is split. Around half your 120V breakers are on one "leg" and the other on the other 120V leg.

Look at the pic and read here: https://top-powertools.com/120v-or-240v-ǀ-all-you-need-to-know-about-electrical-wiring/

Are both on the same leg?

I’ll take a look!
 
No, and there is a digital clock on the circuit in my daughters room.
Our house is newer (~20 years old) and to a large extent, outlets and lighting are on separate circuits. Even in the same room, for example, the outlets are not on the same circuit as a light.
 
Our house is newer (~20 years old) and to a large extent, outlets and lighting are on separate circuits. Even in the same room, for example, the outlets are not on the same circuit as a light.

What I've seen is lighting in one room is on the same circuit as outlets in another--outlets and lights are not on the same circuit in the same room. Lighting uses so little power it's a waste to put it on it's own circuit. The intent is to keep a room from being plunged into darkness when an outlet is overloaded in that same room. Makes it hard to correct the problem without a flashlight if it happens at night.
 
Did you check every visible wire nut? I've had them loosen and have found them with charred wires. You shouldn't have any buried wire nuts, but that doesn't mean someone didn't get lazy and do it anyway.
I had one of these on a light switch in my house. Wire nut was tight on one wire only and the second wire was just loose inside the nut barely making contact and arching
 
I had one of these on a light switch in my house. Wire nut was tight on one wire only and the second wire was just loose inside the nut barely making contact and arching

When I install wire nuts, I twist them till the wires coming out the bottom start to twist. When I remove a wirenut that I've installed, the wires are twisted together like they were pre-twisted with pliers.

Have to be careful, though--I've had it happen a couple of times that I twisted the wire nut till the wires broke out the top!

I've also broken a screwdriver bit tightening the screws on outlets.

They say "loose wires cause fires" so I err on the side of tight.
 
When I install wire nuts, I twist them till the wires coming out the bottom start to twist. When I remove a wirenut that I've installed, the wires are twisted together like they were pre-twisted with pliers.

Have to be careful, though--I've had it happen a couple of times that I twisted the wire nut till the wires broke out the top!

I've also broken a screwdriver bit tightening the screws on outlets.

They say "loose wires cause fires" so I err on the side of tight.
Yes, somewhere there is actually (I think) technically a torque number. Too tight no good.
Our wiring was all done when the house was built 16 years ago. Before we closed I actually tested all the outlets with an outlet tester, get this, brand new home, I found 13 mis-wired outlets (crossed between the common) and mis-wired GFICs

I only discovered the light switch issue around 7 years back as my wife's company moved her to work at home, set her up with a nice Dell Work Station, Monitors, office phone, VPN to her company headquarters ect.
Being the system had to have ethernet instead of Wifi the problem for me was getting a connection to our router on the main floor to her second floor office. Would have been insane difficult as router was in the closet below a staircase and the wall in the room was the second floor wall right above the staircase.

Soooooo I they sent us a Netgear Basics power line adapter. It worked PERFECT, Typically RED (bad signal) Yellow (ok signal) and Green (excellent signal) Anyway, We had green but whenever we turned on the ceiling light it would turn Yellow. It was amazing, at first I thought maybe the LED bulbs were sending out frequencies and interference in the power line, nope. Took the light switch out and one wire in the wire nut slipped right out, could see lite arching, put it all back together and stayed green for years.
I was actually quite impressed with the power line adapter using them in the security business was always less than desirable and almost a sure thing there would be trouble with it down the road in time. Im also big on ferrite core snap online filters for no other reason than the are inexpensive and can filter out line noise.
 
Last edited:
When I install wire nuts, I twist them till the wires coming out the bottom start to twist. When I remove a wirenut that I've installed, the wires are twisted together like they were pre-twisted with pliers.
I know two retired electricians and both told me to pretwist wires together with pliers, then put the wire nut on.
 
I know two retired electricians and both told me to pretwist wires together with pliers, then put the wire nut on.

It's not necessary, according to the manufacturers of the wirenuts, and UL tests them without pre-twisting the wires.

That being said, the way I install them, the wires end up twisted together anyway.
 
It's not necessary, according to the manufacturers of the wirenuts, and UL tests them without pre-twisting the wires.

That being said, the way I install them, the wires end up twisted together anyway.
I know two retired electricians and both told me to pretwist wires together with pliers, then put the wire nut on.

It is much cleaner to grab all the wires with linesman’s pliers, twist them all together, cut off the tip, then install a nut. For any junction where a feeder is breaking out, this is an important thing. For a fixture or other location it still looks best and is a good practice, but maybe not quite so mandatory.

Doing it this way ensures that there isn’t an intermittent or poor connection someplace.
 
Back
Top