Need help with electrical problem

Factual Questions
1

So I put a new dishwasher in, because mine was leaking and someone gave me one. It works fine–same wires, same hoses, hooked it up the same way and it runs. but now there’s a different circuit that trips; the dishwasher keeps running, but there’s another outlet in the house that trips the breaker as soon as I plug something in. (I plugged in an extension cord, nothing even plugged into the other end of it, and the breaker trips. I can’t reset it until I unplug the cord.)

So what could the problem be?

2

Now you say this all started when you plugged in the new-er dish washer??
Well how about if you unplug this new-er unit does the problem go away or not???

3

I just disconnected the dishwasher. Now no breakers are tripped, but like half the house doesn’t have power.

4

you need an electrician, like right now.

5

Is there water leaking from the dishwasher, perhaps shorting out circuits below it in the basement, or between the floor joists?

6

Ok, that was a blown fuse. But with the dishwasher disconnected, that other breaker still trips as soom as I plug anything into the outlet. And there’s another outlet on a different circuit doing the same thing.

7

A circuit unrelated to the dishwasher trips when you plug in anything, even an extension cord with nothing at the other end?

Is this a dedicated circuit that has just the one outlet? Is this circuit protected by a GFCI or AFCI breaker? My first thoughts are that the wiring behind that outlet is jammed in and damaged so the slight movement of plugging something in causes a short. If there’s a GFCI or AFCI, the extension cord may be faulty and causing the protector to trip.

8

i just had a blown fuse on my hot water tank. first time i ever lost a fuse. well my thoughts are my oldest daughter showered yesterday and she used to run the tank out back 20 years ago and my tank probably never had that kind of stress on it :dubious:
and i use old edison base fuses.

9

Agreed.

I can’t tell exactly what is going on from what has been posted but I can tell that it’s not good. Something is seriously miswired.

10

I agree you need help. From what your are posting I would not know where to start. But you may have some bad wiring that needs to b corrected.

11

Sounds like a short between neutral and earth.

When other circuits are used , earth is shared with their neutral, some of the circuit’s return is going via EARTH and so the RCD trips.

Look up RCD… residual current detector.
Having a shower doesn’t create a stress on fuses… Except if it puts water into electrics. (eg the light or fan in the ceiling ?)

12

Or it may be mixed up or shorted neutrals of two different circuits.

With the current going via the wrong neutral or by earth, its bypassing the RCD…

13

My guess would be that the new dishwasher is a red herring. There is a new fault in the other socket that trips the RCD.

If your house burns down - don’t sue me.

14

It’s likely that the outlet is the culprit, and the problem is coincidental to the DW. There may be a loose connection that is arcing when you plug something into the outlet, or the outlet has just developed an internal problem.

Upon rereading your second post, it would appear that you have a larger problem, perhaps in the panel itself or with your connection to ground. Definitely get a sparky in there to look at it.

15

I think the dishwasher may be coincidental as well. I had a friend who is a licensed electrician take a look last night, just to make sure nothing seemed dangerous. We’re not going to use that outlet again until he’s had a chance to spend some serious time on it and figure out the problem.

16

Well the water heater has a separate disconnect box and that is where a 20 amp Edison base fuse failed. Now I know that in its-self the time duration of recovery should have no effect on the fuse other than the coincidence of this incident where she as a teen would always run the hot water out. It was just a coincidence of an aging fuse and the event, tongue in cheek like, Ayeee!
Well at least I hope it was just an aged fuse as the heater is only a couple years old.

17

Loose connections wreak havoc. If the main panel lugs were never torqued down, but merely tightened with a screwdriver, they may have worked loose over the years. Your friend might try there first.

18

!!
It is time to replace this antique wiring with a modern circuit breaker panel.
The fact that you are starting to have ‘mysterious’ problems like this, and that rewiring things for replacement appliances is causing problems, are further indicators that it’s time to rewire your house (qt least, the main panel).

Don’t have electricians waste their time on pursuing these mysterious, intermittent electrical problems. You will just spend money for their time, and still be left with qn old, outmoded electrical system. Just do the major rewiring job, and these problems will be fixed during that.

19

You are certainly correct, I should.
However I did check all the terminals just a few min ago with a thermal temp gun and there is no changes with the water heater running. One thing I did find though is Fuse-Stat fuses run warmer than the Standard Edison’s under load.
And the Fuse that failed was visibly intact in that the element looked ok but there was no continuity through the fuse.

20

if you don’t upgrade your service entrance/fuse box then at least clean up what you have. all connections and contacts in fuse boxes will have corroded/oxidized causing a problem eventually. wiring through out the house both at connections and devices (switchs and receptacles) should be looked at carefully (old wire and devices can be brittle and you don’t want to cause damage creating an immediate hazard).