Knowing is Half the Battle

Back in the day, there was a G.I. Joe cartoon that always ended with a little lesson and the words, “Now you know, and knowing’s half the battle.” I’m here to tell you, that’s correct.

Lesson One:

This weekend, I spent 7 full hours debugging and resolving am electrical problem that had a high likelihood of causing a shock or even a fire. When we bought the house, we had hired a trusted inspector — not a home warrantee inspector, but a real, certified home systems inspector. One of the things he had noted was that some of the outlets had an open ground. That the third ground pin designed to carry short circuit current safely back to the load center (or circuit breaker box) didn’t have a path to do so.

I had already spent about five hours looking into this without finding a way to resolve it. One solution–recommended by some YouTuber’s, is to replace the receptacles with old fashioned two-prong versions that at least don’t give a false sense of security–but that doesn’t remove the risk. A better solution is to replace the receptacles with modern, GFCI receptacles that will trip in the event of a short. This,. I had done. This doesn’t provide the ground needed by surge suppressors and electronics, but it does protect from shock and my electrician had already confirmed it was the best we could do without extensive investigation and rewiring.

So fine…until I reinstalled the ceiling fan and instantly found that every time I tried to turn it on, the GFCI would trip. You don’t need an advanced degree to know that shouldn’t happen.

So I spent seven more hours taking everything apart, tracing current flow with a cheap non-contact sensor, and progressively disconnecting bits with the breakers off, then turning them back on and retesting, making notes along the way.

In the end, here’s what I learned:
1. For whatever reason, the house was originally built with a pair of can lights in each bedroom instead of the traditional central light.

2. At some point, a previous owner wanted a ceiling fan, and they wanted to be able to control it from two locations. But instead of wiring it correctly, they used a wiring scheme that’s been against code since 1923 and that can cause a shock even when the light is off, depending on switch positions.

3. At some point, someone figured out there was a problem with the circuits and tried to fix it by rerouting the power through the attic using a cable with conductors two sizes too large, making the box holding the light switch dangerously cramped.

Why am I telling you all this? For a start, because I saved roughly $2,800 doing this debugging and work myself. Second, because I did it myself, I know it’s correct.

Does that mean I think you should DIY your own electrical? No, but you should understand the basic principles by which the things in your home work–at least well enough to tell the difference between YouTube videos by qualified craftsmen and crackpots. I did this work because I didn’t want to pay an electrician’s hourly rate for an open ended diagnostic of unknown duration, but I was fully prepared to hire one to make the repair one I found the problem, if that turned out to be warranted.

Lesson Two:

Just as, when we bought the house, I paid home inspector to look it over. You always buy the home warrantee, so you’re covered? Not al all. Home warantee company’s inspect to see how likely the covered systems are to cost them money. If your stove or HVAC fails under a home warrantee and there is any way they can patch it up enough to run out the contract, that’s what they’ll do. They are no inspecting for anything not covered–like the foundation failing or the house burning down, or the HVAC growing mold.

No, we hired a real, qualified, certified home inspector who gave us an exhaustive report for a few hundred dollars.

Lesson Three:

The first thing our home inspector flagged was the Zinsco/Sylvania load center (circuit breaker box). These units are obsolete, considered a fire hazard, and increasingly uninsurable. Many people would say, “It’s been fine so far,” but I assessed the risk and made it top priority. Three weeks after we took possession, our electrician replaced the entire load center and relocated it.

$5,000 wasted you say? Read on.

Two weeks later, a tree by the house was struck by lightning. The strike damaged the HVAC, the network router, and the coax cable connecting to the ISP–and damaged the water heater, creating a dead short across the high-current 220 volt circuit. Old Zinsco circuit breakers are known to fail 70% of the time. That would CERTAINLY have started a fire, at a time no one was home. And even if the old breaker had tripped, those old panels can arc and start fires even without an overload or short due to corrosion of the aluminum bus bars inside. So the chance that my house would have caught fire is greater than 70%.

So…understand the principles. Know at least enough to hire the right professional when you need one.