Major electrical malfunction...at home

[Venturous Randy]

Given the various electrical problems I have encountered on my bike, now I have one at home. Last night I was watching the race about 10:15 and all of a sudden it sounded like a train was coming thru the house for a couple of seconds and then the power went out. I went down to the basement to strong electrical smoke smell. The front panel on the breaker box was very hot. I took the panel off and the left buss bar where the main breakers were located was missing and the bottom of the box had molten aluminum running out of it. It had evidently exploded. I walked outside and even the garage 75 feet away and my street light was dark. We are the last one on the line with our own transformer and it had popped the fuse on the transformer.

Then, to make things worse, I went out to the garage to get my big LED flashlight, I had to go in the side door, which I seldom use and when coming out, I stepped on a piece of plywood that had a nail sticking up where there had been some roof repair where a big tree limb went thru it a few weeks ago.

Now, with new priorities, Laura and I took off the VA emergency room to see when my last tetnus shot was done, which was three years ago. Since it was not hurting bad, I decided to just wash it good and put some antibotic ointment on it. So, when I awoke this morning, it was hurting and had some swelling, so back to the emergency room we went for an antibotic shot and a round of antibotic pills. This is more critical as I have been diabetic for many years.

I ended up calling the Power Board, who came out and disconnected the power to the house and reset the transformer so I could have power to the garage. Then I was able to run a 100" cord to the house to plug the refrigerator back up.

Now, to make this more frustrating, I took this week as vacation as I was planning to meet up with Big Daddy down in the Smokies, but right now, that ain't looking too good.

I am currently at my son's house because I could not get my cable internet to come up. Of the the three TV's we have, only one would come on correctly with cable, so I don't know what I have there. And of course, all these checks is using the long cord from the garage.

So, I am getting ready to go to my insurance carrier tomorrow and see what the options are. I have Farm Bureau and they were real good when lightening struck my heat pump last summer.

Wish me luck folks.

RandyA

Edited September 8, 2009 by Venturous Randy

[ManWithAVision]

But is your bike okay???????

 

Sorry, I'm an electrical contractor with a sick sense of humour! Couldn't resist!

[Yammer Dan]

I'll wish you luck any time you got to deal with a Insurance Company Randy. Take your rabbits foot along.

[Kregerdoodle]

Thats no good....sorry to hear that, sure hope your Ins.Co. does you right, cause this sounds expensive..........

[Marcarl]

Bummer, I sat through my vacation and that ain't no picnic, but you got electric problems as well. Wish you the best in both cases.

Carl

[Dragonslayer]

Sounds like Bubba's been tinkering with your electrical system and let the smoke out of them wires.

[Dano]

Randy, sorry to hear about your problems. Sounds like a creature got in there or your main breaker broke down possibly from the lightning strike last year. Might have the insurance agent tag this along with your claim from the AC unit. I would have the entire service replaced, from the weatherhead all the way through to the panel and any house wiring that had been damaged from the meltdown.

A direct short such as this produces so much power running thru the lines till the fuse at the transformer kicks out that the lines out thru the meter and up to the weatherhead have been damaged, even if its not evident to the layman.

 

Good luck and let us know how it comes out.

 

Dan

 

 

PS hows the BIKE?!!!

[wes0778]

The bad news is you let the smoke out, the good news is you didn't let the FLAMES out!!!

 

Like some one else said, sounds expensive! Hope the insurance adjuster treats you fairly!

[saddlebum]

Those aluminum buss bars often used in panels are bad for that. I have seen it happen more than once. Often if the location where the box is it is damp. over the years this dampness create oxidation often at the connections to the bar. As the oxidation increases so does the resistance in the connection to the buss bar. As we all know resistance causes heat ( which by the way can also be caused by loose or poor connections) and in these types of breaker panels (or fuse panels that still exist) this heat gets hot enough to melt the aluminum buss bar. Replace the panel with a new one and don't try to save money here get a good quality panel. Also if it is mounted to a concrete wall mount it on a platform spaced off the wall with a vapour barrier between the wall and the mounting platform.

[Venturous Randy]

OK, with an extension cord to the garage and a cable line that works, I am checking in.

We went to Farm Bureau this morning and it sounds like we have an adjuster coming over this afternoon. They also told us that we can go to a motel if we need to. So, I guess we will just have to make the best of it.

We had planned on going camping with the little camper, but for now we are just camping at home. I just keep telling myself that this could have been so much worse.

RandyA