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

 

[Taylortwocities]

The supply fuse is before the meter, but it is not something that you can remove.

 

[pc1966]

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.

Normally the main (supplier's) fuse is before the meter.

In the UK they are known as the "DNO cut-out" with DNO standing for Distribution Network Operator (i.e. the folks who look after the power infrastructure) and as cut-out as they are used as a last resort to cut power. You are not supposed to touch them.
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Ah, beaten by Taylortwocities again!

 

[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?

testing pic again

 

[pc1966]

OK, picture came through OK. Can you show whole board layout? Incoming breaker? External meter box arrangement?

 

[kcanning]

OK, picture came through OK. Can you show whole board layout? Incoming breaker? External meter box arrangement?

I took that pic yesterday. I can't show any of what you ask because I am not at that house. I am elsewhere on a laptop googling for possible solutions.
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The supply fuse is before the meter, but it is not something that you can remove.

I'll check for that possibility when I go there shortly.

 

[pc1966]

OK, let us know how you get on. Always better to hear of a successful conclusion (either by yourself or from getting in a professional).

 

[Megawatt]

OK, let us know how you get on. Always better to hear of a successful conclusion (either by yourself or from getting in a professional).

When you cut the wire 3 feet shorter what did you do with the cable on the other end

 

[kcanning]

Hello one and all,

When I went to lumber yard a couple3 days ago I purchased identical receptacles to replace two old ones. (The old ones were working perfect, but old)

Today, I rummaged through the garbage bag and found the two old receptacles that I had thrown out, and after comparing the old with the new, I finally solved my problem of yesterday.

The two old receptacles that I had ----ed away were "missing" a little piece of metal on the hot side (where the red and black wires go), whereas the new receptacle had the little piece of metal intact. On the other side of the receptacles...the neutral side, (where the white and ground wire goes), the two old receptacles had the little piece of metal in place, as did the new one.

I installed an old receptacle, with same wiring format as it originally had, and same as how I rewired new one yesterday...and lo 'n' behold > POWER!

Big thanks to each of you members here, who gave freely of your time to help me. Your responses were very much appreciated.

I'll try to attach a pic and hopefully it will get through.

Cheers, and stay safe

PS: and yes there was another breaker system OUTSIDE the house on the meter line. I have never seen this (or even heard of it) in my life on the outside of any house, that I have worked on...hopefully no drunk, or disgruntled neighbour deliberately trips it to cause a black-out inside the house lol
[automerge]1588370651[/automerge]

 

[Megawatt]

Hello one and all,

When I went to lumber yard a couple3 days ago I purchased identical receptacles to replace two old ones. (The old ones were working perfect, but old)

Today, I rummaged through the garbage bag and found the two old receptacles that I had thrown out, and after comparing the old with the new, I finally solved my problem of yesterday.

The two old receptacles that I had ----ed away were "missing" a little piece of metal on the hot side (where the red and black wires go), whereas the new receptacle had the little piece of metal intact. On the other side of the receptacles...the neutral side, (where the white and ground wire goes), the two old receptacles had the little piece of metal in place, as did the new one.

I installed an old receptacle, with same wiring format as it originally had, and same as how I rewired new one yesterday...and lo 'n' behold > POWER!

Big thanks to each of you members here, who gave freely of your time to help me. Your responses were very much appreciated.

I'll try to attach a pic and hopefully it will get through.

Cheers, and stay safe

PS: and yes there was another breaker system OUTSIDE the house on the meter line. I have never seen this (or even heard of it) in my life on the outside of any house, that I have worked on...hopefully no drunk, or disgruntled neighbour deliberately trips it to cause a black-out inside the house lol
[automerge]1588370651[/automerge]

Kcannon congratulations on finding your problem and all the people who tried to help you congratulations to the members

 

[kcanning]

Hello one and all,

When I went to lumber yard a couple3 days ago I purchased identical receptacles to replace two old ones. (The old ones were working perfect, but old)

Today, I rummaged through the garbage bag and found the two old receptacles that I had thrown out, and after comparing the old with the new, I finally solved my problem of yesterday.

The two old receptacles that I had ----ed away were "missing" a little piece of metal on the hot side (where the red and black wires go), whereas the new receptacle had the little piece of metal intact. On the other side of the receptacles...the neutral side, (where the white and ground wire goes), the two old receptacles had the little piece of metal in place, as did the new one.

I installed an old receptacle, with same wiring format as it originally had, and same as how I rewired new one yesterday...and lo 'n' behold > POWER!

Big thanks to each of you members here, who gave freely of your time to help me. Your responses were very much appreciated.

I'll try to attach a pic and hopefully it will get through.

Cheers, and stay safe

PS: and yes there was another breaker system OUTSIDE the house on the meter line. I have never seen this (or even heard of it) in my life on the outside of any house, that I have worked on...hopefully no drunk, or disgruntled neighbour deliberately trips it to cause a black-out inside the house lol
[automerge]1588370651[/automerge]

Testing pic again

Kcannon congratulations on finding your problem and all the people who tried to help you congratulations to the members

I have made several attempts to upload the image via the insert, the drag and drop, the attach method. Neither of the 3 will work. I keep getting that notification
[automerge]1588371374[/automerge]

Testing pic again

I have made several attempts to upload the image via the insert, the drag and drop, the attach method. Neither of the 3 will work. I keep getting that notification

Testing pic again
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Trying to upload pic AGAIN
[automerge]1588371691[/automerge]

Testing pic again

I have made several attempts to upload the image via the insert, the drag and drop, the attach method. Neither of the 3 will work. I keep getting that notification
[automerge]1588371374[/automerge]

Testing pic again
[automerge]1588371519[/automerge]
Trying to upload pic AGAIN

[automerge]1588372531[/automerge]
Attempting to upload pic one more time

 

[kcanning]

I did what Taylortwocities said, and here is the pic on Postimage.

receptacles2 — Postimage.org - https://postimg.cc/TKSQ22kR

 

[Megawatt]

I did what Taylortwocities said, and here is the pic on Postimage.

receptacles2 — Postimage.org -

I did what Taylortwocities said, and here is the pic on Postimage.

[URL="https://postimg.cc/TKSQ22kR"]receptacles2 — Postimage.org - https://postimg.cc/TKSQ22kR

I. https://postimg.cc/TKSQ22kR[/URL]

I told you in post # 10 that the side screws were linked together I just addressed it to PC which was meant for you. Good deal

 

[kcanning]

I told you in post # 10 that the side screws were linked together I just addressed it to PC which was meant for you. Good deal

"The 2 screws on the sides are linked together."

^^^ That's what you said. And on the new receptacle they were linked together...which was why it didn't work.

The old receptacle(s) on the hot side were not linked together. Which was why the system worked when I re-installed the old receptacle. They are not supposed to be linked together on the HOT side as the new receptacle was, where the red and black wires are.
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"The 2 screws on the sides are linked together."

^^^ That's what you said. And on the new receptacle they were linked together...which was why it didn't work.

The old receptacle(s) on the hot side were not linked together. Which was why the system worked when I re-installed the old receptacle. They are not supposed to be linked together on the HOT side as the new receptacle was, where the red and black wires are.

Yesterday, If I had taken my snips and cut away the little piece of metal that connected the black wire screw to the red wire screw on the new receptacle ... my problem would not have even occurred at all.