Hello, A little bit about my situation, I moved into this home close to a year ago,(10 months to be exact) And over that period of time I've notice there must be a problem with something electrical in the home. I was told one of the main fuses might need to be upgraded but the problem seems to be only in the kitchen, I had the micro and a roaster on, was fine until the fridge kicked on, sent a surge through the the house and blew some old school tv's/cable boxes and light bulbs. third time it did it since we lived here. The home was built in the 70's. I know no one can give me an exact answer to what it is, but I'm just looking for those that had this happen or someone with knowledge of a similar situation, and a fix for me! Thanks so much

 

In what country are you located?

Does your electrical panel have fuses or circuit breakers?

 

If you are in the US or have split single phase supply, you may have loose neutral.
Can you take picture of outside and inside of your fuse or breaker panel?

 

Yes, I live in the U S. Okay would you like a photo of the fuse box inside and as well as the one outside?

 

I was also thinking a neutral problem..... not on the service but a neutral problem with a MWBC. (multi wire branch circuit)

A picture of the panel would be a start. How-to-insert-pictures

Tell us which breaker/fuse numbers are affected too.

 

Sounds like classic examples of outdated wiring in a modern needs home to me.
There is no way to "Up Grade" the incoming fuses!
All this should have been disclosed at the home inspection.
Ungrounded outlets?

 

Well if that is the case, wouldn't the whole home do it? All over the place from time to time? Not only a single room? (Kitchen) I don't necessary disagree with your point of "outdated" wiring per say, but I assume if the kitchen wiring is "outdated" the whole entire home would be and have the problem, not just a specified room. I had an electrician come out yesterday to check it and for a quote, he stated that the living room and kitchen are most likely on the same breaker, but he was confused when he asked me did the breaker "trip" and did I have to reset it and I said no, and he was kinda shocked that the breaker didn't trip when that happend, doing a follow up with him in a week and paying to inspect the electrical system, 15/hr isn't cheap but its butter then me here at 11 09 pm discussing this because I'm worried.

 

For an electrician ? That's dirt cheap.

We didn't see any panel pictures.
You used heavy loads in the kitchen and blew out devices around the house.
That's a problem.

 

I can't believe anyone is charging only $15 per hour, especially for an electrician. Those are helper wages to the worker, not a shop rate.

 

I question if for $15 you actually got a licensed and trained electrician or just a handyman that says the know sparks and stuff.

 

Like Pete said it could be a loose neutral wire in a MWBC. If you lose the neutral, you could develop 240V downstream.

There are several ways to check for a mwbc:
Check if there are two separate breakers feeding the kitchen.
Open up receptacle boxes in the kitchen and inspect to see if there are any signs of 3 conductor cable; black, white and red wires.

Also check to see if your wiring is aluminum or copper. Aluminum wiring can become oxidized and the connection fail.

 

There are a few older homes where all three conductors of a cable serving a multiwire branch circuit are fused. You're right, there was a fuse in the neutral. If this neutral fuse blew and the other two fuses did not blow then you have the classic (and dangerous and hazardous) seesawing voltages that can fry equipment especially electronics.

Aside from that, the fact yhou have fuses instead of breakers is a completely different and separate topic from multiwire branch circuit loose neutral proglems. You don't need to worry about the fuses (except for any in any of the neutral paths) for now. You do need to unplug everything from the receptacles that are subject to the overvoltage until you find and fix any broken neutral path problems.

As far as I know there are no homes that have breaker panels (more modern than fuse boxes) that have breakers in the neutral path(s).

If someone with a lot of experience does find a fuse in a neutral path, you (or he) should jumper around it. Because (with rare exceptions) two wires may not go under one screw, remove the wires from both screw terminals of that particular fuse socket and wire nut them together (or with a short jumper aka pigtail in between if the wires are too short).

Having the whole house be subject to broken neutral path problems can happen, for example the break is upstream of the main fuse or breaker. The break could even be in the power company line coming to your home. Should you have a whole house problem with this you should call the power company. Put multiple irons in the fire; call the power company before you have thoroughly analyzed the whole house problem to be absolutely sure where the problem is.

The two hot lines of a MWBC, one usually red, will (should) have 240 volts between them while either has 120 volts relative to the neutral. The classic symptom of a broken neutral path is having some receptacles (hot slot to neutral slot) somewhat more than 120 volts and for other receptacles it to be somewhat less than 120 volts and the two numbers add up to about 240. The voltages could change radically but still add up to about 240.

 

"The home was built in the 70's."
It is unlikely, but not unheard of, for a home built in 1970 or later to have fuses rather than circuit breakers. A home of that era, at least one built in the United States, would absolutely NOT have any fused neutrals.

 

[QUOTEI can't believe anyone is charging only $15 per hour, especially for an electrician. Those are helper wages to the worker, not a shop rate.[/QUOTE]

I misunderstood him, he charges $20 an hour and he coming this Monday to hopefully fix the problem, came out today and told me (without Checking it yet) that he bets the kitchen and living room is on one circuit, here is the photo of the box

 

I've noticed this surge protector or whatever it is, is now making a constant buzzing noise? White led blinking CMD? I tried to unplug it but it wont come out? Is it directly wired to the wall? Heres a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGxvE...ature=youtu.be and this is onn the wall directly on the other side of one of the kitchen outlets, that I'm having that trouble with.

 

Hey guys, I hope we finally got the problem fixed, came out to fix the problem and noticed that surge protector or whatever it was that i said was beeping or what not is bad and he said it was cross feeding each other, whatever that means, said wiring for such an older home ain't in bad shape, He moved the fridge and noticed that the outlet the fridge was plugged into was bad and he changed it out. Question I have for you guys is if the outlet was indeed bad would that cause all the problems i've been having or the broken surge protector? And on a side note the outlet cover on the fridge was metal?

 

The surge suppressor could have been the problem. I have no idea what was wrong with the "bad" receptacle so I cannot comment on that. Using a metal receptacle plate should not have any ill effects as they are used all the time in many different situations.

Surge suppressors ARE a "sacrificial device" in that they can only absorb a certain number of surges before they fail. How many surges and of what intensity is variable.