Electrical Question

[psyang]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Eureka - thanks psyang! You solved the puzzle.

Boy, I guess I know enough to be dangerous. The outlet I replaced was also in the kitchen. I left that experience thinking you need to remove that tab in general. Glad it worked!

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

3 duplicate posts.

Go home DuffMan, you're drunk.

[speede5]

Just out of curiosity, do both receptacles work now? I'm a bit confused why it would trip the breaker, and I'm also wondering, when you were turning the breaker off were you flipping a ganged breaker or just a single, you should have had a ganged breaker, two breakers attached so they have to be turned off together, or a double breaker. the two sides of the sst should have been on seperate buses in the panel but if you were only flipping one breaker the other wire would have been live.

Older kitchens had to have split 15A receptacles above counter, the new code is 20A gfci and if you use 20A you no longer need to split.

afci (arc fault) is for bedrooms and is a special breaker in the panel. It is also newer code. They are problematic in that they detect an arc (that little spark you sometimes see when you plug/unplug an appliance). This could have been your problem as they trip really easy, they are supposed to prevent arc fires from starting in a bedroom.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Go home DuffMan, you're drunk.

was having technical difficulties. fixed it now though.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

have you confirmed you have power to the upper and lower sockets? That's an odd solution. Normally in a situation like that, you should have 3 wires, not 4. That red one is odd, only ever seen them in 3 or 4 way circuits.

I'm late to the party, but yes, you'll often see 14-3 wire (same used in 3way wiring), running to kitchen coutertop outlets, as it gives you two separate 120V circuits @ 15A (no chance of blowing fuse when you have blender and toaster going at same time). As mentioned, if you hook both red and black to the same hot side, they'll short instantly, tripping the fuse and usually making a nice spark-splosion in the process. Removing the tabs (on hot side) yields 2 separate circuits instead of one explosive 240V one.

[GoinAllTheWay]

/\/\

Ya...I didn't realize this was a kitchen outlet, that makes more sense.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by speede5

Just out of curiosity, do both receptacles work now? I'm a bit confused why it would trip the breaker, and I'm also wondering, when you were turning the breaker off were you flipping a ganged breaker or just a single, you should have had a ganged breaker, two breakers attached so they have to be turned off together, or a double breaker. the two sides of the sst should have been on seperate buses in the panel but if you were only flipping one breaker the other wire would have been live.

Older kitchens had to have split 15A receptacles above counter, the new code is 20A gfci and if you use 20A you no longer need to split.

afci (arc fault) is for bedrooms and is a special breaker in the panel. It is also newer code. They are problematic in that they detect an arc (that little spark you sometimes see when you plug/unplug an appliance). This could have been your problem as they trip really easy, they are supposed to prevent arc fires from starting in a bedroom.

Yes, both work. Yes, ganged. Older (1979 house) kitchen.

[Bill Bumface]

Without pulling that tab you were connecting hot to hot, so yeah, it all makes sense and you should be just fine now.

[Bindair Dundat]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I'm late to the party, but yes, you'll often see 14-3 wire (same used in 3way wiring), running to kitchen coutertop outlets, as it gives you two separate 120V circuits @ 15A (no chance of blowing fuse when you have blender and toaster going at same time). As mentioned, if you hook both red and black to the same hot side, they'll short instantly, tripping the fuse and usually making a nice spark-splosion in the process. Removing the tabs (on hot side) yields 2 separate circuits instead of one explosive 240V one.

I'm late to the party as well but just to add, three conductor wire is a useful expedient in many different situations. Carrying a hot and neutral through an octagon (light) box, while using the third conductor as the switched hot is a very common one. There are dozens of applications where one can use three conductor to save pulling a second (redundant) piece of two wire, it's all about designing the most efficient circuits.

Time is money... and so are the materials.

As to the op. Yep...two poles on the buss connected together is a definite no-no when wiring a 120 outlet.