OT: I hate electricity sometimes!

[TheGeak]

So lately we've been having problems in the house with lights going off but not tripping the breaker. We lose power to a whole circuit, but no shorts and still no tripped breaker. Driving me up the wall...especially since i'm doing wiring on the 3rd floor i've been paranoid that i'm causing this. So today i get fed up and i grab my multimeter and head to the basement to do battle with the evil breaker box. Draw up a diagram, number the left side 1 through 23 odds and right side 2 through 24 evens. Find a good groud and begin testing...

breaker 1, no power
breaker 3 power
breaker 5 no power...

and so the pattern continued.

same way down the right side...okey i think to myself, lets test our main feeds from the meter box. Well, our neutral is good, our first 120V feed is good..our second 120v feed...wha? no power?! AH HA!

Now i get to sit here and wait for PECO to show up. I want power back in my damn house!

[sbcncsu]

Now i get to sit here and wait for PECO to show up. I want power back in my damn house!

Actually, you want power back in the other half of your house! :p

[Gooch]

only a short will trip it.

[MikeV]

Had the same thing happen a few years ago.... don't be surprised if they just jumper your meter and schedule a repair some days in the future. Of course, none of your 230V appliances will run.... but you'll have 115

[TheGeak]

well, PECO came, turns out 1 of their 3 breakers outside went bad. Kept going in and out...so he replaced all 3. no problems since. Finally, PECO did something right.