re: home electrical question

yeah, I'm assuming the main panel breaker does indeed cut the power source in question? Has that at least been verified?

From there, I would flip the main breaker back on and start switching breakers off one at a time and keeping the previous breakers off until you hit pay dirt. Then at least you found one of your possible two breakers that could be your problem. Unless you have some secondary panel you haven't yet located. It wouldn't surprise me if a second panel is behind some sheetrock or paneling somewhere.

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t wouldn't surprise me if a second panel is behind some sheetrock or paneling somewhere.

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My wife was standing in the kitchen watching to see if the porch lights would go out while I was flipping switches. She said she could here clicking behind the refrigerator while I was doing that. I thought nothing of it b/c I figured she didn't know what she was talking about.

There isn't a visible panel back there, and I'm not sure which breaker turns the fridge off either.

I wouldn't think you could hide a panel in the wall. I know the guy that built the house was an architect and he designed it himself, but he didn't build it himself.

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Generally speaking, the lower the voltage, the more amps.

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For a motor, lighting fixture, etc... yes. A 120V 1hp motor is designed to draw more current than a 277V 1hp motor. But when you're talking about a fault or a short, where current is passing through a person instead of electrical equipment:
current = voltage/resistance.

Your body's resistance is what it is. The higher the voltage, the higher the current passing through you. If 120V kills more people than other voltages, it's because it's much more prevalent.

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The amps are what kills you. Generally speaking, the lower the voltage, the more amps.

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Current (amps) = voltage divided by resistance.


If the resistance does not change, higher voltage will allow higher current draw.

Your body generally does not change resistance. If you touch 120 volt wire, you will probably live.

Touch a high voltage transmission line and you will turn to charcoal.

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TeddyPadillac

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Not reading the whole thread. But if you do in fact have a receptacle fed from 2 breakers they just so happen to be on the same phase in the panel. What I would do to find those circuits is:
1- Turn off the main so we know it actually kills power to the whole home.
2- Turn the main back on, then turn each breaker off and leave it off until the lights go off.
3- Leave the breaker that killed the lights off, then start turning the other breakers you had off to on.
4- If it's double fed it'll come on at some point.
5- If and when it comes back on, you will have to cap off one or the other in the panel or find where they crossover, which will be expensive.
6- Good luck.

This may have been mentioned already but it could be a bad breaker. I've seen older breakers still put off power even when they are turned off

Have you ever killed the main?