microwave circuit problem

Sounds like a problem similar to the one I posted about a week ago. I have several lights that get power from one breaker. When it was cold that past few days, the problem went away but it warmed up again a little bit yesterday and the problem is back. I'm going to replace the breaker and see if that is the whole problem.

David

Hi, Did you check with multimeter to see if power gets to the unit? Logic tells me unit is not getting the power. Broken wire or loose connection somewhere.

If it really is a dedicated circuit then the wire most likely goes straight from the circuit breaker to the outlet. I would check to make sure the neutral and ground wires are tight at the circuit breaker panel. Presumably black/hot is ok since you have replaced the breaker. Then pull the outlet and make sure the wire is securely connected to the outlet. If it is backstabbed then move the wires to the screw terminals. If all that fails then the circuit may not be dedicated and I'd turn off the breaker and start looking for other appliances or outlets that are now off.

Possibly a fault with a splice somewhere. Shut off power to the outlet, test it with a meter (to make damn sure it's dead), remove the faceplate/outlet, then undo/inspect/redo the wirenut splices inside of the junction box.

The symptoms do sound a lot like when a breaker goes bad, though.

Jon

Something else you might look into is if there is a main breaker upstream of the individual one serving the microwave branch.

Jon

Or a GFCI (presently tripped) outlet that was added to what was supposed to be a circuit for just the microwave.

Sounds like you missed checking the outlet and it's connections. If wires are backstabbed remove them and attach them using the screws. Actually, just replace the outlet in case it has a faulty connection, but use the screw terminals to attach the wires.

It takes two wires to make this circuit work. The hot leg is apparently fine, the neutral is apparently open. Either the neutral of a two wire cable is loose in the panel feeding the circuit, or the neutral conductor of a multiwire branch circuit is loose in another outlet box, which is feeding the microwave outlet, or the neutral connection to the microwave outlet is open

Aluminum wiring, perchance? You've got a bad connection SOMEWHERE, and a voltmeter will show full voltage without a load.

Looks like my intuition was wrong. I replaced the breaker and the problem still exists. Now I need to follow the wires and check every connection until I find the problem. At least now that I got into the breaker box I am sure which wire to follow.

David

He did not replace the breaker, reread the OP

Outlet, wire or breaker For about $5.00 and an hours time you can replace the two most likely culprits and dont even worry about which one was bad.

Jimmie

He did not replace the breaker, reread the OP

# 11 of the OP

hr(bob) snipped-for-privacy@att.net wrote: snip

According to the OP, it sure looks like he replaced the breaker.

Have I gone blind or are you reading between the lines?

OP changed names, Jess became hibb, I missed it too.

Jimmie

Friend of mine had an air conditioner socket that did much the same thing. Turns out the white wire was loose, where it screws into the neutral bar.

..

I'm not the OP. I was just comparing the problem I have with his and posted what I did.

David

sure sounds like a high resistance connection to me.

is the 'wave hardwired, or is it plugged into a receptacle? (I suspect either a bad backstab recep connection, or a poor connection between recep and plug)

have you tried plugging the 'wave into a different recep?

nate