Looking For Advice

[kcanning]

Hello,

I am looking for help on this issue I encountered today:
I removed an existing living room wall to open up the room. That required relocating the existing receptacle to a different wall. I shut off living room breaker in panel box and cut the wire shorter by three feet to fit. I then purchased a new receptacle instead of re-using the old one.

I took pics of how the receptacle had been wired. I re-wired identical to the old method.

Went to panel and turned breaker back on.

INSTANTLY, all lights and plugin-ins in the home shut off. I immediately shut off main breaker. I went back and removed receptacle on the possibly that I had wired incorrectly.

Turned on main breaker, but left living room breaker off.

None of the plug-ins or lights in the home would come back on.

Turned main breaker off again. All breakers are tightly in place and look perfect including the one for the living room. Even the wire and the new receptacle looks perfect.

There were no sparks, no burnt smells, no nothing. Everything in the panel looks just like it did before I re-routed the receptacle.

Any ideas of why my main power won't come back on?

Big thanks for any help

 

[pc1966]

Is there a RCD (residual current device, residual current circuit breaker, earth leakage breaker, ground fault circuit interrupter)?

It might have tripped if there was a live to earth fault and may cover the whole supply.
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Can you post a photo of the incoming supply & circuit breaker board? If the above does not help.

 

[kcanning]

The main breaker did not trip. After all the power went off...I immediately turned the main breaker to OFF (just to be safe). The living room breaker was already turned off before I did the receptacle re-do move.

 

[pc1966]

How is the property fed with power? Are you sure there is not an external box for a meter, etc, that might have an RCD or similar?

I don't know how Canadian electrical supplies are normally done, but in the UK there is a main fuse of typically 60A-100A before the consumption meter but if you took one of them out by a fault you would know!

 

[kcanning]

In Canada, we have what's called a main breaker...at the upper end inside the panel box...in the UK I guess it's called a main fuse. There are no fuses in my panel box, only breakers. There is nothing external except the main power line that leaves the main breaker and goes straight out and into the meter on the outside wall.

 

[David Prosser]

Post up a picture of your breakers . It will help a lot !

 

[kcanning]

I keep getting this notification: The uploaded file was not an image as expected.
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Post up a picture of your breakers . It will help a lot !

I keep getting this notification: The uploaded file was not an image as expected.

I have now attempted several times to put the pic here, by using BOTH insert image and attach files. Neither of it will accept the jpg.

 

[Taylortwocities]

I keep getting this notification: The uploaded file was not an image as expected.

There is a problem with loading images to the forum at the moment. May be fixed tomorrow. In the meantime you can upload the pix to a hosting site like Postimage, and post the link on here.

 

[pc1966]

From a phone presumably? Unfortunately i have only ever uploaded from my PC so can't help
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Ah, seems other know better than me!

 

[Megawatt]

From a phone presumably? Unfortunately i have only ever uploaded from my PC so can't help
[automerge]1588288048[/automerge]
Ah, seems other know better than me!

PC it sounds like you crossed the live wire and the neutral. The receptacle has 2 sides with one side has gold looking screws and your black or live goes on that side the other side has silver looking screws which is where you install the whites. The 2 screws on the sides are linked together. When you cut the wire that affected other loads down stream which is why you don’t have lights
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PC it sounds like you crossed the live wire and the neutral. The receptacle has 2 sides with one side has gold looking screws and your black or live goes on that side the other side has silver looking screws which is where you install the whites. The 2 screws on the sides are linked together. When you cut the wire that affected other loads down stream which is why you don’t have lights

PC it sounds like you crossed the live wire and the neutral. The receptacle has 2 sides with one side has gold looking screws and your black or live goes on that side the other side has silver looking screws which is where you install the whites. The 2 screws on the sides are linked together. When you cut the wire that affected other loads down stream which is why you don’t have lights

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PC it sounds like you crossed the live wire and the neutral. The receptacle has 2 sides with one side has gold looking screws and your black or live goes on that side the other side has silver looking screws which is where you install the whites. The 2 screws on the sides are linked together. When you cut the wire that affected other loads down stream which is why you don’t have lights
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Sorry PC I meant to say and Kcannon do you have a non contact hot stick ?

 

[kcanning]

PC it sounds like you crossed the live wire and the neutral. The receptacle has 2 sides with one side has gold looking screws and your black or live goes on that side the other side has silver looking screws which is where you install the whites. The 2 screws on the sides are linked together. When you cut the wire that affected other loads down stream which is why you don’t have lights
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Sorry PC I meant to say and Kcannon do you have a non contact hot stick ?

Inside the roundish white 14/3 wire was a black, a red, a white, and a copper ground wire. I connected them to the correct side screws in the EXACT same way as they were connected previously as I had taken pics to ensure I did the re-wire the same. Previously before the reno, the receptacle worked.
I cut the wire shorter to fit the new location AFTER I had turned its circuit breaker OFF in the panel box.
There is nothing else downstream of this receptacle and the only thing upstream is the circuit breaker. The total length of wire from receptacle straight to breaker is about 10 feet.
I don't have lights nor is anything else in the entire house working which includes all other receptacles and switches.
Note The only difference between the old connection and mine is the old one had the connections made through the wee stab-holes on the back of the receptacle whereas I connected directly to the silver, black and (green) screws.

 

[Megawatt]

Inside the roundish white 14/3 wire was a black, a red, a white, and a copper ground wire. I connected them to the correct side screws in the EXACT same way as they were connected previously as I had taken pics to ensure I did the re-wire the same. Previously before the reno, the receptacle worked.
I cut the wire shorter to fit the new location AFTER I had turned its circuit breaker OFF in the panel box.
There is nothing else downstream of this receptacle and the only thing upstream is the circuit breaker. The total length of wire from receptacle straight to breaker is about 10 feet.
I don't have lights nor is anything else in the entire house working which includes all other receptacles and switches.
Note The only difference between the old connection and mine is the old one had the connections made through the wee stab-holes on the back of the receptacle whereas I connected directly to the silver, black and (green) screws.

Right now you need to put them wires together like they was in the first place so you can make your lights come back on. What did you do with the red wire?
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Right now you need to put them wires together like they was in the first place so you can make your lights come back on. What did you do with the red wire?

When you first started how many cables were in the original receptacle?

 

[kcanning]

Right now you need to put them wires together like they was in the first place so you can make your lights come back on. What did you do with the red wire?
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When you first started how many cables were in the original receptacle?

Right now you need to put them wires together like they was in the first place so you can make your lights come back on. What did you do with the red wire?
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When you first started how many cables were in the original receptacle?

I REMOVED the receptacle yesterday and right now the red, white, black and ground wires are simply dangling from the oblong box but not touching each other.
I had put the red wire to the same place it was previously except not through the stab-hole but under the screw...which is the preferred location to make such connections.
Nothing in the house works, even though the main breaker was on.

 

[pc1966]

Nothing in the house works, even though the main breaker was on.

This is why I suspect either it has taken out the supply fuse (which normally has a big "bang!" associated with it) or tripped an RCD (which can happen on much lower current, so not necessarily any obvious bang).

But it seems no sign of any such fault trip. Testing the main supply for power can be hazardous, the non-contact testers are safer to show something is live which is useful here, but should never be used to prove something is dead.
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Any luck with positing a photo?

 

[kcanning]

This is why I suspect either it has taken out the supply fuse (which normally has a big "bang!" associated with it) or tripped an RCD (which can happen on much lower current, so not necessarily any obvious bang).

But it seems no sign of any such fault trip. Testing the main supply for power can be hazardous, the non-contact testers are safer to show something is live which is useful here, but should never be used to prove something is dead.
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Any luck with positing a photo?

But there is no supply fuse. The power line leaves the meter and goes straight through the exterior wall and into the main breaker inside the top of the panel box. There is nothing else between the two.