Spent 4 hours tracing a phantom voltage drop in a 1970s split-level in Akron only to find a single loose neutral under a carpet tack strip.

Has anyone else ever had a hidden staple or nail cause a major headache like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

Man that reminds me of a buddy's old farmhouse. He kept blowing fuses in one room for months. Finally pulled up some floorboards and found a rat had chewed the cloth wire, then the bare copper was just barely touching a cold water pipe. Place was a fire waiting to happen.

harper_singh1mo ago

Old houses hide their problems until they're almost disasters...

aaron3841mo ago

Found a staple that went clean through a Romex cable in my own attic last year. It was only making contact sometimes, so the lights in the spare room would flicker for a second and then stop. Took me forever to track it down because it only happened when the house settled a certain way. Those hidden shorts are the worst kind of puzzle.