Electrical switch -- no longer controls outlets -- Help??

Have no idea about the amps stuff for the electric outlets , just using what an electrician told me to use after I had him here several years ago to swap out my "split buss" electrical main panel. I think that was the term. It had no main shut-off and was always hot.

Made me nervous when I had to replace a faulty water heater circuit breaker before I had the panel upgraded. I wore rubber boots. Two pairs of thick rubber gloves, stood on a board and said my prayers when I did that circuit breaker swap out.

The new outlets he told me to use seem pretty quality -- and of course cost $4.50 a pop. They seem to be more "rubberized" sort of material instead of the brittle plastic of the contractor-installed original outlets.

I originally asked the electrician how to remove the wires from the "spring catches" without breaking apart the old outlet. He just ignored my question and gave me an empty outlet package and told to replace them with "this kind."

FYI, your old split buss panel didn't have "a" main breaker, it had several main breakers including the one you changed. The main wires in your new panel are still live regardless if the breaker being on or off.

Reply to
RBM
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2-15 It is not missing everywhere

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Reply to
gfretwell

I didn't say 2-15, I said 2-15R. That is missing from the table you linked to. Only 2-15P is there.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd

What? Did I miss something? Kill the two Main breakers in my panel, and the only power left in the box is going TO those breakers. Nothing, nada, on the power bars or anywhere else. I know for sure; I always check for power presence either with a meter or the ol' screwdriver test (but not inside the entrance box!). Or was that just a bad attempt at sarcasm?

Twayne

Reply to
Twayne

What is the ol' screwdriver test?

Reply to
Metspitzer

If you have the plug, you get a pretty good idea what the receptacle looks like.

Reply to
gfretwell

That's a quick way to burn down a house, as somebody actually proved not long ago -- I think the news item was even discussed in this newsgroup.

Reply to
cjt

It's a near relative of the "Smoke Test."

Reply to
HeyBub

From what you've written, I can't tell what you've missed, didn't miss, or what you're talking about. My statement to the OP, was that even in a panel with a single main circuit breaker, there will be live wires even with the main turned off, similar to that of a split buss panel. The only difference is that the upper buss always remains live in the split buss panel, even with all the mains turned off.

Reply to
RBM

But isn't that a 240VAC plug? what purpose would it serve to have it fit in a 120V (well, at the time likely 110, and it was 220V plug) receptacle?

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I find those receptacles listed in a 1925 Westinghouse catalog, which I assume predates NEMA. Some are rated at 10 amps 250 volts, others are rated

10 amps 250 volts - 15 amps 125 volts, however the receptacles are identical. I suppose, back in 1925 you needed to know how it was wired before you plugged into it.
Reply to
RBM

Do you admit it (2-15R receptacle) is missing from that chart?

If it looks like anything, shouldn't it be in the chart? All the other plugs have matching receptacles. What happened to this one?

Anyway, would you ever want to plug a 2-15R into the receptacle Nate was talking about?

Reply to
Mark Lloyd
[snip]

Yes it's a 240VAC plug, and the missing 2-15R would be a 240VAC receptacle.

I don't know the purpose. I thought there may be some explanation for the oddity in the NEMA charts, and it might fit.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd
[snip]

That could explain no 2-15R on the charts. I wish there was a note thee, so it doesn't look like an oversight.

Reply to
Mark Lloyd
[snip]

Does it work on FPE panels?

I know a couple of people who had them, but those houses have already burned down (or was that "burned up"?).

Reply to
Harry L

Position the wire ends so a clean screwdrive can be pressed against one wire while moving the screwdriver over and past the other. If no sparks, solidly connect the two wires for a quick moment. Got sparks? The power's NOT off! Alternatively you can take just one wire and pass the screwdriver across the metal box or ground wire; will tell you if you've got a hot neutral too. I know some people who'll make a solid contact right away, figureing they'll pop the breaker that way but that's bad advice. Fire possibility in the walls, weakening of the breaker mechanism, etc.. The screwdriver test, done correctly, results in neither of those. Actually, it's also handy to prove or disprove that the 100V you're seeing with a meter is a phantom voltage. Or not.

Twayne

Reply to
Twayne

That wasn't a screwdrive test; it was stupidity and ignorance. See my previous post.

Reply to
Twayne

More ignorance; you don't even know what such a test is.

Reply to
Twayne

Only this: In any panel I've ever been into, which doesn't measure in the hundreds but is quite a few, and this included my own:

Main breakers kill power to the entire iinards of the box except for their input side. The input side can only connect to the meter, which, unless pulled, leaves the input sides powered. Power only exists on the wires coming FROM the meter up TO the main breakers. There will be NO power on either of the busses, either phase, or anywhere else. With the Mains turned OFF, NOTHING is powered, no voltage exists except as noted above, which is kinda a necessity. What's so hard to understand about that? When you open the two phases coming INTO the box, nothing else has a source of power. Same as pulling the meter except there wouldn't even be power to the Main Breakers then. Transformer feeds meter feeds Mains Breakers, feeds individual house breakers that hang on the busses. It's that simple, no?

Twayne

Reply to
Twayne

That was essentially the point I was making to the OP. There is always live power in the panel, even with the main off, albeit only at the terminals to the main breaker. This is not exactly true with a split buss panel however. The main wires don't connect to a breaker, but instead, they connect to the terminals feeding the main breaker buss, which generally holds up to six double pole breakers. One of those breakers feeds the lower buss. This entire upper buss is live regardless of the position of the main breakers attached to it, making it a little more dangerous to work in live.

Reply to
RBM

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