need help please...

[R6rider]

ok, wife and I bought our house in late november... got most everything settled in the detached two car(workshop). now that i'm starting to actually work in there... my circuit breaker switch keeps blowing.

the set-up: i have a panel in the detached garage that has two 20amp switches(hasn't blown yet). that leads to the breaker panel in the attached garage and there is a 60amp(it's a double with 60 on the switch, so it might be 2 30amp) switch.

here's the problem: it rained pretty good on saturday... and the breaker started flipping/blowing. I eventually quit working out there b/c the power wouldn't stay on.

so, fast forward to Yesterday, i go to Lowe's and replace the switch on the panel... and it still does the same thing. I've tried turning the power off on the detached garage's panel... and then turning on the attached switch, but it still blows. detached panel on or off... the attached switch keeps blowing.

oh, and one more thing... after I put the new switch in and tried it a couple of times... it started to sound like bacon frying while in the middle position. So, i turned the main off and took the switch out.

I was out there friday(no rain at this point) night welding, grinding, cutting, etc. with the fridge plugged in and anything else i needed... with no problems. so, i think there may be an issue with the wiring from the attached garage panel to the detached garage panel.


I apologize for the confusion... i'm not an electrician by any means. so, i don't know the correct terms to use.

if anyone can help, i would sure appreciate it.

 

[Gary S]

I'd suspect you are right about having an issue with the wiring between the attached garage panel and the detached panel. Since it occurred with all the rain, you likely have water shorting out the wire run.
Time to do some inspection of the wiring. If the wiring wasn't done by an electrician who knows what he is doing, you might find that NM cable was buried instead of UF cable. If that is the situation, you have no choice but to replace it with the correct wire.
Start looking at what you have there and determine what might have gone wrong.

 

[R6rider]

thanks for the response Gary,

the wiring is buried... so i will have to dig it up i guess. what is the difference between NM cable and UF cable?

 

[R6rider]

nevermind, i googled it.

 

[CraigFL]

NM-B is for dry locations in walls

UF is for wet/dry/corrosive locations suitable for burial

Both have PVC insulation.

 

[Gary S]

If you end up replacing the wire, put conduit in your trench and put the wire in the conduit. That way, future replacement of wiring gets much easier.

 

[R6rider]

thanks for the info guys... i'll dig it up and see what's needed.