@#$% it, an electrical question

[BarnyardEngineering]

Trying to install an 8-circuit, 240V subpanel in my barn.

There is a 10/3 with ground UF Romex currently feeding the barn a single 240V circuit (red & black hots, white neutral, bare ground, all verified before starting work). The idea is to temporarily feed the new panel with this undersize wire and dig in a new heavier wire in the fall.

I had everything wired up. Red and black to the legs of the new panel. White to the bus bar. Ground to the panel chassis. Turned the breaker on in the house, instantly tripped. There's no sign of a short in the barn, no hot smell, no arcing, no smoke.

Currently I have all the wires in the barn disconnected and capped off. The breaker still instantly trips.

What are the odds this is a bad breaker? It's a Cutler Hammer, probably hasn't been reset in 20 years.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Bad breaker confirmed. It would trip with no wires connected. Third trip to Home Depot Today. Isn't that always the way? And I still don't have everything I need for this project.

New breaker installed and everything works now.

 

[cumminstinkerer]

wiring and plumbing always go that way sir!

 

[kencombs]

I knew a guy once that claimed he could size up a job, go to the supply house and get all the parts in one trip. Always suspected he was an accomplished liar.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

I knew a guy once that claimed he could size up a job, go to the supply house and get all the parts in one trip. Always suspected he was an accomplished liar.

Either a liar or delusional

 

[timcasbolt]

I knew a guy once that claimed he could size up a job, go to the supply house and get all the parts in one trip. Always suspected he was an accomplished liar.

Yea, I knew a guy who claimed he never missed the ten pin.

 

[da.bees]

I can't do it but I've worked with some that could make a surprisingly accurate material list within minutes of seeing the job. What impresses me the most is when there's few if any unused parts.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

Bad breaker confirmed. It would trip with no wires connected. Third trip to Home Depot Today. Isn't that always the way? And I still don't have everything I need for this project.

New breaker installed and everything works now.

That's my experience with HD. The store that has everything never has everything I go there for.

 

[WilBury]

Nothing worse than re-plumbing a different replacement hydraulic valve. Good luck getting the minimum number of new fittings on the first go...

 

[john in la]

If you can’t make a good material list that covers everything you will need for the job how can you accurately bid the job in the first place.

 

[WilBury]

A Case in point...

 

[caterpillar guy]

For getting lines/hoses over top of others you can get extended fittings to screw in the back holes then use regular length fittings for the front ones and have them clear to connect he hoses up. Doing the short fittings first then the taller ones in the back last. As for your ones with the 45degree fittings it makes that look like a spaghetti bowl of fittings and hoses.

 

[WilBury]

Tell me about it...Ideally, correct length hoses made up with the nice sweeps on the ends would look way better. I hate all the restrictions the way I have it now, system is hotter than it needs to be.

 

[Jim.ME]

Nothing worse than re-plumbing a different replacement hydraulic valve. Good luck getting the minimum number of new fittings on the first go...

While getting the right hydraulic fittings for a re-plumb can be a pain it looks like you missed the electrical question title and the info about his bad breaker, the thread is about?

 

[JWA]

Trying to install an 8-circuit, 240V subpanel in my barn.

There is a 10/3 with ground UF Romex currently feeding the barn a single 240V circuit (red & black hots, white neutral, bare ground, all verified before starting work). The idea is to temporarily feed the new panel with this undersize wire and dig in a new heavier wire in the fall.

I had everything wired up. Red and black to the legs of the new panel. White to the bus bar. Ground to the panel chassis. Turned the breaker on in the house, instantly tripped. There's no sign of a short in the barn, no hot smell, no arcing, no smoke.

Currently I have all the wires in the barn disconnected and capped off. The breaker still instantly trips.

What are the odds this is a bad breaker? It's a Cutler Hammer, probably hasn't been reset in 20 years.

There's nothing quite so permanent as a temporary repair.

 

[NoDakInMN]

I can't do it but I've worked with some that could make a surprisingly accurate material list within minutes of seeing the job. What impresses me the most is when there's few if any unused parts.

Largely, that has to do with experience. The other thing is to mentally envision the job when making a material list. A lot of my work is very rural and the closest hardware store, let alone a supply house, is 30 miles away, so it's important to anticipate exactly what the job will take. DIY projects are another matter because, as I said, experience helps and a DIY job might be the individual's only time doing it, making it hard to anticipate what you don't know.

 

[WilBury]

While getting the right hydraulic fittings for a re-plumb can be a pain it looks like you missed the electrical question title and the info about his bad breaker, the thread is about?

Uh, that problem was solved Jim. Some of us were just commiserating.

 

[DoubleO7]

Bad breaker confirmed. It would trip with no wires connected. Third trip to Home Depot Today. Isn't that always the way? And I still don't have everything I need for this project.

New breaker installed and everything works now.

I would drill out the rivets and open up that bad breaker. See why it went bad because it was turned off then back on. There might be a moisture problem in that cabinet, If the bad one is corroded up inside, the others might be also. And if they are too, they might not trip like they are supposed to when needed.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

All I'm lacking now is a 3" knockout plug for the top of the panel. Someone started installing this panel in another application and knocked a few holes out. Of course none of them where I needed them.

One of these dumb multi-size knockout holes. The hole that was knocked out was too small for the plugs I had, so instead of driving back to HD for a FOURTH time to get the right plug, I tried to knock out the next size larger. Of course the entire knockout came out, and HD only stocks plugs up to 2" in diameter.

This "on the cheap" wiring project is turning out to be anything but, LOL... Panel was $2 at an estate auction. Breakers were free from extras Dad kept in stock around the farm. 14 trips to Home Depot and an Amazon order later, it doesn't seem like such a great deal anymore.

 

[Gene Davis(Ga.)]

There's nothing quite so permanent as a temporary repair.

Temporary is one day short of eternity to some folks!