Any TBH Electricians in BCS-Hearne area?

[Dusty Britches]

I'm having some electrical issues with my shop and need an electrician to come out. Anyone in the BCS / Hearne / Cameron area that might be willing to take a look?

I'm located about 10 miles west of Hearne.

[Eric T.]

Not in the area, but what are the issues?

[Dusty Britches]

We moved the shed about 200 yards to be closer to the new house. We used the old 30 amp wire that we pulled from the underground conduit and used it to run it to the new house. For 10 years it worked fine, running an AC unit, 4 lights, 4 outlets, and a washing machine and dryer.

After we moved it, we used the old wire and pulled it through to the new house. A neighbor hooked up the wiring for us, but said it wouldn't work because we had 30 amp wire and a 50 amp breaker, which I really didn't understand because it had worked for 10 years.

Now we only need to run the lights, outlets and AC becuase we don't need the washer and dryer hooked up. Since he could not get it to work he called my BiL and wired it the way he told him to. Then everything worked fine, but I didn't use the shed much at that time. A week later a breaker blew out in the garage - not related - so we called the electrician out to fix it and after looking at everything he figured out it was just a bad fuse box. While replacing it, he noted we had a 50 amp Double D plugged into the GE Box and recommended we replace it with a GE fuse box. This was the same one that runs to the shed. So we let him do that and since we only had lights, AC, and outlets, he replaced it with a 30 amp.

About 2 weeks after that, it was unseasonably warm and we plugged in the AC. It would not come on. And, the final light in the series started flickering. We took the cover off to see smoke coming from the light socket. We cut off the power to the shed and removed the light bulbs and replaced the light.

But, the AC still will not come on and the new light won't come on.

Complicated, right? Someone (not an electrician) said we need to replace all of the wiring in the shed, but I don't think that is the issue, plus that would be very extensive since it is insulated. My BiL is very busy and I'm hesitant to ask him to take a look at it. He's not in our area, either.

[Dusty Britches]

The plug on the AC unit has a reset button with a light - green vs red. It is currently green. Even when we unplug the AC, the light still doesn't work.

[BURTONboy]

Sounds to me like you could have some bad wiring. Mainly because the ac unit doesnt work. Did the electrician try it after he replaced the box? Is the ac wired in series after the last light? Sounds like that light had too much current draw, thus burning up the ballast. If it is wired this way, it wont work. The ballast will continue to burn up, opening the circuit and the ac will never get power.

Really hard to say though without seeing it. But im not in your area.

[Dusty Britches]

The lights are in a series, and the outlets are on series, but they are on different breakers and not wired together.

[BURTONboy]

Any TBH Electricians in BCS-Hearne area?

The lights are in a series, and the outlets are on series, but they are on different breakers and not wired together.

Well thats the way it should be. Just wasnt sure if for some reason it was all wired on the same circuit (which wouldnt be right at all...) Hard to say whats going on then. Have you checked all connections to make sure they are tight? Over years they can loosen up, thus causing a hot spot that will burn up components.

As for that light, did you replace the whole thing ballast and all? If so, it is possible that even the new ballast is bad. Those things are finicky.

[Dusty Britches]

Yeah, we replaced the entire light fixture since the socket was burned up and we thought the ballast was bad.

I'm wondering if the wire that we ran from the shed to the house got damaged while we were pulling it? Is there a way to figure that out?

I'll check the connector box, too, because, come to think of it we did mess with it a bit when strapping down the conduit.

[Gummi Bear]

Dusty -

If you don't get anyone to come out to look at it, shoot me a PM, and I'll send you my phone number. I'm sure that we can narrow down your troubles with a short conversation much easier than on the forum here.

[BURTONboy]

If it were me, and it wasnt too much wire, I would pull it out and look at it. I dont think thats going to be your problem, but it could be. If the other lights work, I would say that circuit is fine, the problem lies in that one light. Could have been wired up incorrectly, or the new ballast or even bulbs could be bad.

Have you tried any of the other receptacles? Like plugging in a small fan or something? The compressor on your ac could be burned up.

[Bazo]

PM sent

[Dusty Britches]

Thanks, TC, for the PM.

Yes, all of the other outlets work fine. I've used the AC outlet to run an air compressor but I can't recall if it was before or after the AC stopped working. I'll check that out, too.

[Dusty Britches]

My B-i-L called and walked me through it. We thought it was the ballast on the light, but when I talked to the guy at Lowes, we realized I was using a T32 bulb in a T8 ballast light. doh!!

The AC starter went out, so we replaced the AC unit yesterday. Works like a champ!

How can you remove the copper from the old unit?