need help with bad electrical work

[tysteel3000]

Hi everyone,

About five years ago, my father hired an electrician to run out electricity to a shed in backyard so it could be used as a spare bedroom. Unfortunately, the electrician did shoddy work and it is affecting the electricity in the main house. What is happening is every time the washing machine or hot water heater is being used, that particular circuit these things are all on keeps jumping out to "off", and I have to continually reset it from the box.

What the electrician did was convert an outside electrical outlet and ran live wiring out from it all the way down to the shed where he then installed outlets and etc. But I later found out that when the wire leading out to the shed had been buried, the electrician didn't even bother to glue the pvc pipes together, and when it rained, water seeped into the buried pipes and deteriorated the wiring. I then started to notice problems with the circuit jumping out. . Trying to undo the damage, my father had to dig it up and drained the water out of the pvc pipes, they were actually flooded, and then let everything dry out and glued the pipes which housed the wiring back together as best as possible before reburying it, but obviously the damage was done. The circuit is still jumping out.

So, I have a question I'd like to ask. I was thinking about just cutting off the outside wire to the shed (electricity isn't used in the shed anymore, anyway), in hopes that eliminating this deteriorating wire out to the shed would be the solution to the problem I'm having with the the circuit jumping every time I use the hot water or washing machine/dryer, but I'm looking for the best way to do it, as I don't want to cause a further problem or possible fire. so I'd appreciate some suggestions. As I mentioned before, the wire out to the shed was run out from an outside electrical outlet, which the electrician then rigged up so he could run the wire out to the shed. I was just thinking about unscrewing the cover and then cutting the wires with a cutter... But how should I best dead end it after cutting the wires? I was thinking about just taping them up with the proper black tape after cutting them, and then screwing the plastic cover back over it. I think this would be safe enough, but would appreciate any suggestions that would help.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Electrical tape is hideous stuff. It leaves a sticky residue, and the next "visitor" to that electrical box will want to murder you. Use wire nuts. If I knew you could find a PROPERLY DESIGNED crimp tool, I'd suggest crimped wire nuts, but such tools are not easy to find, and probably not worth buying just for one little job.

After you've disconnected those wires, test your theory by running those appliances again. Something tells me you might have the same problem, and that something else is going on.

[Bill]

Probably not a problem with the wire to the shed. Call a licensed electrician from the yellow pages (a real electrician) and have them look at your wiring and give you a price. Note that you get what you pay for.

I would suggest having the work done *right* by a licensed electrician.

[avid_hiker]

I am not an electrician, but shouldnt major appliances such as the hot water heater, washing machine/dryer, be on its own individual line/breaker anyhow? I would think that the outside outlets should not be on the same circuit as these appliances either. Am I thinking correctly here?

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Yes.

[avid_hiker]

If they are all on the same circuit.........couldnt the problem be with the coil in the water heater? When it kicks in...shorts out.and trips the breaker.

[noname87]

I agree with the other posters.

1) If the outside wire had a short/damage. The breaker would probably also give you problems even if the heater or washing machine was not running.

2) I would not just cut the wires. The wire was probably attached to a set of screws on the receptacles. Remove and use wire nuts to terminate the unused wires. If the wires were connected by splicing, remove the wires and terminate unused wires with wire nuts and then redo the splice.

3) Assuming the water heater is electric then it should be on its own circuit. The washer probably also should be on its own circuit.

4) I wonder if you circuit breaker is beginning to fail. Since this setup worked for five years my guess is that the circuit has always been borderline overloaded and the breaker is beginning to fail and needs replacement. I would disconnect the outside wire and see what happens. In an ideal world, I would run a new circuit for the heater, another for the washing machine and replace the existing breaker.

[e-mail] wrote:

[Goedjn]

Assuming this isn't a troll, just move the water heater and washing machines each to their own circut.

But don't disconnect the line to the shed, you need that to power your keyboard during rehearsals.

[mm]

I have no personal knowleddge, but Last time underground conduit was discussed here, more than one person agreed that the conduit was always going to fill with water. According to them, The conduit is there to facilitate replacing wires or adding new ones (because you can't just pull wire through the dirt), not to keep the wire dry. Underground wire should be used, so that it doesn't have to be dry. What letters etc. are printed on the electrical cable. Some should be visible at one end or the other.

P&M

I then started to

[felderbush001]

What's wrong with that? Run the new line from the load side of a GFCI. That shouldn't be a problem.

If I went through the effort of digging the line up, I would have replaced it with direct burial underground feeder cable. If the current wiring is damaged it should be replaced anyway. With a little more digging you could replace the current line with UF cable.

-Felder

[trader4]

Now I'm no expert on code, but it seems providing power to a seperate structure by just tapping into an existing 15 or 20 amp branch circuit via an outside outlet, doesn't sound too cool. Nor does converting a shed to a living space, for that matter.

[hallerb]

In any case the problem most likely isnt the wire to the shed. He probably has a problem with his main breaker box:(

Disconnect line use small wire nuts then see what happens.

if the cable is buried shallow the conduit acts to protect it.