Hello all,
I just got a call from a friend of mine who is having a problem with a branch circuit in his house. It seems that he was using his home computer printer to print out a long queue of player lists for the basketball team that he coaches when the printer went dead. He called me and explained what I just told you. This is basically the conversation between the two of us:
Me: Do you have your printer & computer plugged into the same outlet?
Him: Yes.
Me: What room in your home is the printer & PC?
Him: My bedroom.
Me: Can you turn on the lights in your bedroom?
Him: No! I didn't realize that until now!
Me: Have you tried to reset the breaker protecting the bedroom brach circuit?
Him: Yes; it isn't tripped at all.
Me: Are you positive? Turn it off and on.
Him: I did. No change.
Then, after about five minutes,while we were talking he told me that the lights went back on in his bedroom and his printer is warming up.
Me: Unplug your printer and PC now!
Him: Why? Everything is OK now.
Me: Keep your printer & PC uplugged and don't use any devices connected to that branch circuit until I get there tomorrow.
Him: Well...alright, but why?
Me: Do you smell anything strange (besides yourself) in your bedroom & the room where your panel is located. In particular, do you smell anything even remotely like something burning; even if it's the kind of ozone smell that your hair dryer would make?
Him: No.
Me: I'll be there tomorrow. Turn the breaker protecting the branch circuit off until then.
I'm thinking that there could be a loose connection somewhere in the branch circuit that could possibly be good enough under normal usage, but heats up and disconnects the circuit while his printer is running for extended periods (particularly due to the harmoics emminating from his printer via the nuetral that could heat up considerably).
Anyone want to dive in and give me any extra possibilities on this one.
I'd appreciate it.
[This message has been edited by workn26 (edited 06-20-2006).]
[This message has been edited by workn26 (edited 06-20-2006).]
