Bad Breakers

[Al Bundy]

Been remodeling a house that I inherited. None of the circuits are labeled in the panel box. When I tried to shut off the circuit to remove the garbage disposal, I could not get the power to shut off. I went through every breaker multiple times with no success. Can this happen if a breaker goes bad? I always thought if they failed the circuit would be dead. It's (I think) a Wadsworth panel and breakers that is almost 50 years old.

 

[malibu101]

I had this happen in a house once.
Light would not turn off no matter what breaker was turned off.

Turned out that someone had wired 2 circuits (on the same phase) together in a box.
Both breakers had to be turned off to kill the rest of the circuit downstream from that box.

Of course that major problem was repaired when found.

 

[Gary S]

Put a voltmeter on the breakers and measure the output voltage both on and off and you know if they are failing to turn off.

 

[brewchief]

I've seen wires stabbed into the main lugs because there were no more spaces in the panel more then once.

Kill all the breakers at the same time and see if that kills it, if not kill the main as well, if it's still on then you got major issues.

If it was me I would be thinking panel upgrade in the near future.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

The jackass that had my original house before me had done so many hack jobs with the electric that he had a hot wire going back to the panel to another breaker. I had the same issue as you-my TV wouldn't shut off with any one breaker. Idiot. I eventually found it and streamlined the panel. Cut out a bunch of unecessary wiring, and I now know what controls what, and have labeled them as such. Some people know just enough to be completely dangerous.

I also had one ITE breaker go out on me. Kept tripping. Checked everything on the circuit and couldn't find anything wrong. Finally replaced the breaker and it was good. Vowed then to replace breaker first if it ever happened again. Would've been a lot easier.

 

[Al Bundy]

If it was me I would be thinking panel upgrade in the near future.

This is definitely the plan. There were electric baseboard heaters throughout the house which are no longer going to be used. Along with the rest of the upgrades it's going to be easier to put in a new panel and start from scratch.

 

[2ManyProjects]

Been remolding in a house that I inherited.

Hmmm... Molded houses...

I'll get my coat....

 

[matt151617]

A breaker is a mechanical part and can fail like anything else. I would start by shutting off all breakers and seeing what happens. Then turn them on one by one. If you don't have someone else to tell you if the garbage disposal circuit is on or off, plug in a radio to it or use one of those non-contact circuit testers at the panel.

 

[Al Bundy]

Hmmm... Molded houses...

LOL. Some cool houses.

 

[Al Bundy]

I pulled one of the mains and it shut off. Of course it's live again after putting the main back in, but I taped it up and put it inside the box. I can't really trace the wires since the panel is in the basement and a lot of the wiring goes up into the attic before it drops down into the basement. Amazing how little jobs can turn in to such a PITA.