Circuit breaker box hisses

Texas Kingsnake · 2015-10-16T21:29:57+00:00

Hi there. Back again with a new problem. My wife was doing the laundry and I was working near the circuit breaker panel. When she turned the machine on I heard a loud buzz from inside the box. Less than a second long. I had her turn the machine off, took off the panel cover and watched as she turned the machine back on. I saw arcing at the left-handed side of the panel at the point where the heavy black cable from the street enters the box. I had her turn the machine on and off and it happened again. Then I pushed the black wire right where it enters the clamp and it hasn't happened again, despite having all the same lights and appliances on. I am thinking the clamp has loosened over time. I am going to get a well-insulated screwdriver, put on very heavy rubber gloves and am going to try to tighten the clamp which may have not been tightened in 40 years. Does the power *really* need to be killed at the meterhead? I've changed out breakers without killing main power (so much frikkin' stuff needs to be reset after a power shutdown that I hate doing it)? Anything else I should consider? Is the washine machine motor about to fail and is drawing a huge amount of current at startup? How do you even measure the inrush(?) current in such a case. Would pressing on the wire near the clamp cure it temporarily or is some other process in play? What would account for it happening twice and then not happening again. The only real intervening act was to push on the wire jacket at the point it enters the clamp on the circuit panel. Very strange. TKS

Oct 16, 2015 68 Replies

Rate this thread:

clare 10 years ago

You are not reading the thread - or responding to it.

My response was to the following - and I quote " If he wants to be completely safe, pull the meter until you can get an electrician."

Someone said to pull the meter and call an electrician. I'm not talking about repairing the fault. Pulling the meter is NOT something a homeowner should do - and it is NOT necessary to render the bad connection safe. Throwing the main breaker disconnects all loads from the service- making the bad connection a non issue and totally safe untill the electrician arrives and has the utility do the disconnect - either by pulling the fuse on the pole, or pulling the meter.

You call yourself a "tekkie". I'm not so sure.

Vote

clare 10 years ago

You need to know the story behind that "tamper alerm".

It has been told on this forum before - - - -

Vote

Fiveoclock.somewhere 10 years ago

There's a Cat in your breaker box. Let him out and he will stop hissing!

Vote

Stormin Mormon 10 years ago

Sure that's a cat?

formatting link

A friend of mine, one electrical socket was not working. I took the panel cover off, and went to try the window air conditioner. She was standing in the cellar watching the box. I came down stairs and she said it had been sparking "up here", pointing towards the upper right. The neutral wire had loosened up. I went up and down the row and tightened them all, and things worked fine.

Vote

clare 10 years ago

a cat with racing stripes?? Or a possum?

Vote

TekkieÃÂ® 10 years ago

Uncle Monster posted for all of us...

Strengthening your forearm.

Vote

TekkieÃÂ® 10 years ago

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca posted for all of us...

Sorry, I didn't read that. But then again I don't read many of these thread s because they go into another orbit.

If I promise to read your stuff more carefully will you forgive me?

Do you see the part in your reply where you state to pull the meter, then later state it is not necessary. Flip the breaker. I am sorry if I'm confused but did I read it correctly? Not trying to be confrontational but perhaps I mixed replies up...

Vote

clare 10 years ago

I thiunk you did, because the only place I wrote "pull the meter" as an instruction was in quotes - " If he wants to be completely safe, pull the meter until you can get an electrician." quoting what another poster had recommended, and saying "Pulling the meter is NOT something a homeowner should do - and it is NOT necessary to render the bad connection safe"

Vote

TekkieÃÂ® 10 years ago

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca posted for all of us...

is NOT necessary to render

Okay, I'll pay more attention.

Some of these threads seem to be genetically modified.

Vote

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required