breaker tripping

[mr. outlet]

breaker just started to trip unhooked wire from breaker and unhooked white wire from neutrual touched together big spark why

 

[pc1966]

Obviously still power!

• Was the neutral from the circuit just "isolated"?
• Are there any split-load devices (120-0-120 supply) using that breaker? (even though they should be on a linked breaker so both live go off on a trip)
• Any chance of a power-cross fault (i.e. line-line short)?

Electricity is potentially very dangerous, and you really, REALLY should always take steps to prove that something is dead before working on it. That means having a voltage tester and some means of verifying the tester is working before and after you test a circuit to prove dead. Get it wrong and it could be you that some medic is "proving dead" I'm afraid.

There is someing odd about what you are looking at so really the only advice I can give is to get a professional electrician in to find out why it was tripping and why it is still somehow live after the breaker was disconnected.

 

[stevethesparks]

I don't think it a good idea giving any advice other than seek a qualified electrician.
More and more I am seeing on this Forum, people that should be nowhere near electricity asking the sort of questions that confirm this.
With a borrowed neutral - of which this may be - may well be dead at the time of testing, but changes as soon as someone switches a light on from a different circuit.
Not for DIY I'm afraid. It just makes a mockery of all the training and exams etc we have to sit at quite a cost.
Maybe I'm just getting miserable in my old age.

 

[mr. outlet]

this house has been here for years, and this is the first time this has ever happen. will keep looking. thanks for the advice guys.