Dude, WTF?

[IRQVET]

So I spent the last two week fighting fire in Alaska, I get back home to Florida and everything is all F#cked up. Microwave is down, dish washer is non op, garage door opener is non-op. Finding myself retripping breakers at the panel to get things going, just to do it again and again. Nothing has changed consumption wise, it's a 6 year old house, no new electronics introduced.

What would cause this? I'm not an electrician, don't pretend to be. WTF could lead to situations like this? Did my house get struct by lightening while I was gone?

Any input would be appreciated, never seen anything like this. Feel like a complete failure here, can't wrap my head around why this is happening.

 

[Old Man Roger]

I wanna say I read somewhere that Florida was the lightning capital of the world.

 

[yatg]

Check your leg-leg and leg-neutral voltages. s/b 240 and 120 nominal.
Loose neutral causes release of magic smoke.

 

[mm08822]

If all of those items are DOA, I would think there was a lightning strike nearby. One item's failure will rarely take out many other items.

Some items may not be DOA but are screwed up like tv screens that went grainy or have random lines that won't go away.

You should have the electric service checked for proper grounding to electrodes, add whole house surge suppression at the panel, maybe even add power strips w/surge suppression. Make sure any telephone and cable lines have the similar protection and connection to the electric service ground rods.

Don't be surprised if you discover more items not working or flakey. Wall worts (power supplies), gfci recepts are also likely candidates.

 

[Codyboy]

Didn't you already have a thread on this? Pretty sure you did.

Eta

Yes lightning is suspect when you have that many things gone wrong with the electrical.

 

[LXCam]

Unplug everything that isn’t currently working and turn off all the lights that are led or fluorescent then try to reset your breakers. Our last lighting strike took out a few things, you just need to deduce if you have appliances or other **** that got fried.

 

[wssix99]

Do your breakers keep tripping? Do your neighbors have similar issues?

If you got hit by an EMP associated with a lightning strike, then your close neighbors should have gotten some of it also. A pulse will blow breakers initially but should not cause a recurring problem.

 

[logical]

A broken neutral will damage (at a minimum) anything with an ac transformer...and will likely damage any any arc fault breakers. Is it bedroom breakers that are popping?

 

[Paycheck]

Anybody do any digging in the yard, like laying cable or something similar? About a year after one of the local crews put new fiber optic cables through my neighborhood my power started to go nuts, have the house was out. Turns out they knicked the main going to the house and it took a year for it to disintegrate to the point where it finally failed.

 

[Codyboy]

The other thread said the door handle on the microwave was broken and the dishwasher only had error codes. All which had been addressed per the op.
Which left only the door opener as an issue.
No response in either thread , just an OP .

 

[IRQVET]

Sorry guys, posted this and forget to check back in.

Yeah I fixed the microwave, was able to clear the codes from the dishwasher. Still having issues with breaker for the kitchen, one of the kids bedrooms, and the garage door opener remains non-op. Spoke to one of my neighbors, he said about one week into me being gone, we had a ton of lightening and one of the neighbors down the street had their roof took a direct hit. Examined my roof and I'm not seeing anything. Panel appears okay, not seeing any burnt wires or signs of any arch flashing. Panel is GFCI and AFCI protected for the bedrooms. Last bad lightening event we had a bolt touchdown in the grass in the backyard. Yeah Florida is the lightening capital. Last time I learned later that it fried the motherboard on my Cummins generator. To my surprise, Cummins came out and replaced the motherboard free of charge.

I'll go through the list of suggestions and see what I can dig up. Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback.

 

[babyseal]

Is it grinding away trying to work, does the light come on, or is it dead as a dodo? If you're using a remote...fresh batteries. Try the wall mounted opener. Then check where it's plugged in, is it getting power? If it's got power, there should be a reset button.

If that doesn't work...a new opener is probably cheaper than a replacement circuit board that was probably fried by lightening, and far less of a headache then testing everything with a multimeter just to find out the circuit board is likely fried. If you're lucky, you can still find the same make/model and just replace the box out of the new opener.

 

[Rccrawlerguy]

I wanna say I read somewhere that Florida was the lightning capital of the world.

Orlando specifically.

 

[IRQVET]

Door is dead-dead. Power to the unit has been confirmed, it's getting power. One floor sensor is lit up green, the other is a solid orange. Taken measurements to ensure proper alinement. It's alined but still solid orange on that one side. So when you hit the button, no movement- no noise.

Garage has been so hot and humid, been avoiding it lately. Figured I'd readdress after August passes and it cools down a bit. Thinking one of the floor sensors might be faulty and no longer working?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

bypass the sensors and see if it opens. if it does, then you know its the sensors. if not then its an issue with the opener

 

[Codyboy]

In the other thread I mentioned the " lock/vacation" switch on the wall.
Did you check that?

Also, I believe on mine ,which is a 20 y.o. overhead door brand, has a reset button. Little small overload breaker switch on the unit for the motor circuit.
The light and sensors may still work but the overload if tripped will not send power to the motor.

 

[William Payne]

could you not turn everything off then switch your breakers on and see which item or items trip as you turn them on?