I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction in troubleshooting this electrical problem. We had an electrician rough in the electrical for a family room addition and kitchen remodel. The kitchen lighting consists of six four-inch recessed lights with a max bulb of 50W on a 15 Amp breaker along with two pendant lights and undercabinet lighting. The cans are on one single pole switch which I installed and has been working fine for several weeks. The pendants and undercabinet lights are yet to be installed. The other night my wife went to flip the switch and she said it made a popping noise, sparked and tripped the circuit breaker. When I got home I reset the breaker and flipped the switch- no sparks but the CB did immediately trip again. Thinking it might be a bad CB I shut off the 50 Amp breaker in the main box that supplies the subpanel for the addition and replaced the 15 amp breaker. I flipped the light switch and again the breaker tripped. I've tested the switch with a continuity tester and it checks out OK, even though I put another switch on just to be sure and still the same thing. I've climbed up into the attic and checked the connections in the three lights that are accessible and everything looks good. Unfortunately the other three lights are not accessbile without cutting into the sheetrock from below. All the romex that I can see looks fine, no breaks in the insulation. I'm at a loss for what to check next. The electrician that did the rough in is very busy and won't be available for at least a couple of weeks. Any suggestions are appreciated.
- posted
18 years ago