Any electricians?

[Miles]

The line to my fish room went dead

Obviously I am a fool and had it overloaded..

The breakers are fine.. tested them. Changed all the outlets, they were fried. It looks like I have something shorting out somewhere? My step-dad has done alot of electrical and we looked at it for like 3 hours and couldn't get anywhere..

My house has old wiring.. I am wondering if I actually killed the line? But that seems impossible?

Can anyone give any troubleshooting advice? Or give me a link to somewhere where I can read up on this?

I really don't want an electrician to come out and tell me what I already know (your shiz is f'ed) and then charge me again to do something about it..

 

[ewurm]

The line to my fish room went dead

Obviously I am a fool and had it overloaded..

The breakers are fine.. tested them. Changed all the outlets, they were fried. It looks like I have something shorting out somewhere? My step-dad has done alot of electrical and we looked at it for like 3 hours and couldn't get anywhere..

My house has old wiring.. I am wondering if I actually killed the line? But that seems impossible?

Can anyone give any troubleshooting advice? Or give me a link to somewhere where I can read up on this?

I really don't want an electrician to come out and tell me what I already know (your shiz is f'ed) and then charge me again to do something about it..

I can't give you any advice as to what's wrong, but I can as far as short term. Run some extension cords from free outlets in the house, and use as many different rooms as you can. That will at least keep things alive while you work it out.

 

[ewurm]

Also, I can't fathom how you could blow the lines before the breakers/fuses. If that is the case, your breakers/fuses were under rated

 

[Miles]

Yeah I have extension cords running, but I am having a hard time keeping the tanks warm.. My fish room doesn't hold heat will without a small space heater running.

I threw some blankets over the tanks, minimized the electrical usage.. but heaters and space heaters are really hard on an extension cord.

I moved big tanks into my basement today and played musical fish.. everything should be fine, but it's hard to navigate in the fish room with no lights.

I would run more extension cords but it is outside from my house and the door won't shut with more than one.. I even had to notch out a spot in the door frame for it to close.

 

[Miles]

Also, I can't fathom how you could blow the lines before the breakers/fuses. If that is the case, your breakers/fuses were under rated

I don't either.. I thought for sure it was the breaker.. But after running a bunch of tests on the breakers, it seems as if my box is labeled all wrong. We completely took out a breaker that was suppose to power the "NW" bedroom, but it kept running!? So we are all confused now. We tested all the breakers with a meter though, and they all work.

I also had everything on power strips, and those would usually trip and warn me in advance..

 

[csx4236]

It seems like you might have shorted the line somewere in the wall, I have seen this in old houses the coating in the wire gets brittle and falls off and the two lines touch.

 

[Bderick67]

Did you actually trip a breaker? Do you know which wires in the panel feed the outlets in question?

 

[Miles]

It seems like you might have shorted the line somewere in the wall, I have seen this in old houses the coating in the wire gets brittle and falls off and the two lines touch.

This is what I am thinking, which is horrible news..

Definitely not the breakers.. checked all them, they all work and have power. Its the line somewhere from the first connection (a light switch) and the 3 outlets in the garage.. the only thing on the line is 1 outlet in the house, 1 light switch to the basement, and the 3 outlets in the garage.(and light)..

 

[Bderick67]

Is there any GFCI outlets in the house, garage, or even outside?

 

[James B.]

It seems like you might have shorted the line somewere in the wall, I have seen this in old houses the coating in the wire gets brittle and falls off and the two lines touch.

I agree, the only way to tell for sure is to get a volt meter or a circuit tester(can't recall the real name, Its a small pen like thing you put in your outlet and if you have a full circuit it lights up) or trace the line back from the last plug to the breaker box (taking the wire out to inspect)
I would not turn the breaker back on until you find the problem, it may start a fire in your wall if it is a broken line.