Do It Yourself

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Electrically savvy folks, does the bottom wire look corroded to you? (infosec.pub)

submitted 5 days ago by reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net to c/diy@beehaw.org

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I’m in an apt. and the power has been shutting off lately. It doesn’t trip any of the breakers in the breaker box inside the apt. but it does trip the master breaker on the box outside. Thought it was an oven issue but it still happens with the oven breaker off.

Visual inspection of the breaker box outside shows one of the wires looks a bit corroded. Wires to/from the rest of the units are a nice copper color. Is that a red flag?

Landlord is dragging their feet and telling us to talk to the electric company, and electric company is saying to call a licensed electrician, so I’m just trying to understand the issue so hopefully the landlord will listen to me.

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[–] schwim@piefed.zip 26 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

What you're describing is not an issue caused by corrosion on a wire. Corrosion won't cause overdraw or shorting, so it wouldn't cause your main breaker to flip.

It's more likely that you either have a weakening breaker due to age tripping at a lower draw than it was originally rated for or you're drawing more across the entire system than the main is rated for.

The electric co does not handle anything from the first breaker on and nothing on their end would trip your breaker(it would trip something of theirs upstream), usually so they are right that you should be talking to an electrician. That is something that your landlord should be on the hook for, barring any previous agreements.

If you want to see what your circuits are drawing, consider picking up a digital clamp meter, they will make it possible to see what each circuit, including the main are actually drawing.