Electrical gremlins-Looking for advice

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Originally Posted by Erni

Silly question. What kind of light? Can you unscrew them all and check if it still trips?

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I've tried that, no change.

Do you have a multimeter? Can you borrow one? The multimeter will tell what is wrong. They usually cost about $20. Turn off the power to that circuit by flipping the breaker. Check the circuit with "volts" setting. If volts is zero, you are safe to check resistance. Check resistance with multimeter across contacts of light socket. Zero resistance is a short circuit. Infinite is a open circuit, which is good.


https://www.lowes.com/pd/Southwire-D...meter/50081424

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Originally Posted by BushMasterBoy

Do you have a multimeter? Can you borrow one? The multimeter will tell what is wrong. They usually cost about $20. Turn off the power to that circuit by flipping the breaker. Check the circuit with "volts" setting. If volts is zero, you are safe to check resistance. Check resistance with multimeter across contacts of light socket. Zero resistance is a short circuit. Infinite is a open circuit, which is good.


https://www.lowes.com/pd/Southwire-D...meter/50081424

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I have a Fluke that I use pretty much daily at work. I just lack the motivation to screw with it myself...LOL

The breaker trips with all loads turned off or disconnected, so I'm relatively certain it's not a socket. Hopefully it's in one of the switch boxes or in a junction box. Definitely not in the breaker box, I looked.

First thing I'd do, easiest, is to check the switch connections. If they used the stab connections, I'd change to the screw terminals.

Called a friend of a friend, he's coming out today to look...
I can hear the cash registers now...

Would not suggest this in a clients house, but in my house, especially on a lighting circuit giving me fits, that ARC fault would be changed out to a standard breaker.

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Originally Posted by jslo

Would not suggest this in a clients house, but in my house, especially on a lighting circuit giving me fits, that ARC fault would be changed out to a standard breaker.

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I swapped it with another breaker in the box(standard, not AFCI), same result. Definitely a dead short.

What room is above your kitchen ? Did you do any remodel or floor/ Lower wall penetration above the kitchen ? Do you have recessed can lights in the kitchen ?
Have you removed the switch plates in the kitchen to look for any obvious damage or burn marks ?

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Originally Posted by SideShow Bob

What room is above your kitchen ? Did you do any remodel or floor/ Lower wall penetration above the kitchen ? Do you have recessed can lights in the kitchen ?
Have you removed the switch plates in the kitchen to look for any obvious damage or burn marks ?

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Our home office is above the kitchen, no recent renovations (5+ years). no can lights. I haven't pulled the switch plates, if I was gonna attempt the repair that would be my next step. I'm betting on a direct short in one of the switch boxes. I'm at work today, so I'm just gonna bite the bullet and let the electrician handle it. It's only money, after all, I can always make more..LOL

Got it sorted. It was the old pull chain switch for the light in the damn crawl space. 4 hours and $350 later...big shout out to Alex at A to Z Electric!