Sens room / electrical issue

Droc · 02-23-2011, 07:37 PM

UPDATE:
So my electrical issue was the lamp I was using to test the plugs. Cord had a kink and was tripping the AFCI.

Pics are bad, but u get the idea.

Thats 9 coats of red paint.
Still have to decorate. Shelves get McFarlane NHL Senator figures and a few other sens merchandise. Going to eventually swap out the ceiling fan for the senators scoreboard light fixture. Also going to get the senators logo fathead.
Next project is removing the closet doors and turning his closet into a locker room style bench.

In the process of making my sons room a senators theme.
Have tan/gold up top, red down low, and black chair rail dividing the two colors.

My issue is I nailed my chair rail up and today I noticed that if I plugged light into the outlets, they tripped my AFCI breaker(2009 home).

With all new construction, all the bedroom plugs are on the same AFCI breaker. The room in question has 3 outlets, with chair rail nailed above 2 of them. The third is under a window, but for all I know the wires go across and up.

I think I know what plug trips it. I have a ****** stud sensor, but it also detects AC in the walls and I think the wire goes up to the attic.

Only used inch and a half nails(1/2 drywall, 1/2 trim), so its hard to believe I hit a wire.

I do all kinds of work, but electrical isnt my strong point. Usually, Id just open the wall to see, but my sons only 2 and has been out of his room for half a week already....that and the red paint is on 7 coats and Id hate to redo it.

Thinking of caving and just calling currentsafe to take a look.

cartino · 02-23-2011, 08:09 PM

I'd call a professional electrician, it may not even be a nail that punctured it.

I'm no electrical expert but a few things to ponder if that is the case though:

if you're nail in the wall is puncturing a wire, that nail would be live then if it was touched? you prob. would have figured that out when it happened
If the nail severed the wire (highly improbable), then the circuit loop would be broken and some shouldn't work at all.
Also it could be a fire hazard if a wire has been damaged and part of wire is exposed or not covered in plastic (Wall fires are not pretty and go relatively undetected until it's quite late)

Aside, You required 7 coats of red paint on the wall?... LOL I painted my sons' room with the same colours a few years ago and the freakin' CIL NHL Sens red they sell at Home depot looks like it goes on pink for the first 5 coats!!! I had to do about 6-7 coats of Sens red as well. (if that's the case)

Droc · 02-23-2011, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cartino

I'd call a professional electrician, it may not even be a nail that punctured it.

I'm no electrical expert but a few things to ponder if that is the case though:

if you're nail in the wall is puncturing a wire, that nail would be live then if it was touched? you prob. would have figured that out when it happened
If the nail severed the wire (highly improbable), then the circuit loop would be broken and some shouldn't work at all.
Also it could be a fire hazard if a wire has been damaged and part of wire is exposed or not covered in plastic (Wall fires are not pretty and go relatively undetected until it's quite late)

Aside, You required 7 coats of red paint on the wall?... LOL I painted my sons' room with the same colours a few years ago and the freakin' CIL NHL Sens red they sell at Home depot looks like it goes on pink for the first 5 coats!!! I had to do about 6-7 coats of Sens red as well. (if that's the case)

I do lots of fire/flood restoration and several fires I have worked on have been from a nail through a wire.

I was going to use the CIL Sens red, but I found it a little orange. I ended up using "amazing red" as its the red-est of the red and unfortunately has more pigment and requires more coats then any other paint from home depot.

enviro61 · 02-23-2011, 08:27 PM

If the breaker wasn't tripping before and now it is do some process of elimination. Pull out the screws you put in and see what happens. Whenever I try to resolve those types of issues, I jsut reverse my steps and I can usually figure out how I fekked up.

I do my own electrical with the guidance of my brother and I've made my share of mistakes. Definitely 3 outlets will not overload a breaker.

trobby · 02-23-2011, 09:33 PM

Since chair rail is usually around 30" - 36" from the floor, I doubt you would have hit an electrical wire. Normally you have a drop at one point in the room, and it runs along the bottom running to the other outlets.

Also, the fact you only have an extra 1/2" to hit the stud, unless the wire is stapled to the back of the drywall (not going to happen), you probably don't have enough clearance hit the wire if it's clamped to the stud.

What I would do:

1 - TURN OFF THE POWER TO THE ROOM!

2 - Pull off the chair rail (and nails).

3 - Take a much larger nail (2.5" or so) and push it through the holes.

4 - Take a hammer and lightly hammer the nail too see if you grab the stud, or if it goes though too easy.

5 - Any point where you believe you haven't hit a stud, cut out the drywall check to see if you hit the wire.

Hopefully you end up with no electrical issues, and just a couple of patches to cover up.

Droc · 02-27-2011, 07:11 PM

UPDATE:
So my electrical issue was the lamp I was using to test the plugs. Cord had a kink and was tripping the AFCI.