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paloma354 · Oct 4, 2009, 05:03 AM

I just moved into a new home and want to install a ceiling fan in the kitchen. While going through the breaker box switches to determine which one would control the power for that fixture, I went through all of them but that light never turned off.

There are two breaker boxes in my garage which the home inspector called being "double lugged" which I don't know what that means. One has numbers 1-16; #5 and 6 seemed to turn nothing off (although I did not check every single outlet). The second box has only two switches and when I turned them off nothing seemed to be affected. I then tried turning off different combinations of the two breaker boxes at the same time, but again nothing different seemed to happen.

I discovered which switch controlled each of my rooms and the clothes dryer, but two kitchen lights and two garage lights which stayed on no matter what I turned off at the breaker. There are no other breaker boxes in the house. Does anyone have any ideas about this before I have to call an electrician?

Thanks so much!

tkrussell · Oct 4, 2009, 05:14 AM

Call an electrician, as there is nothing you can do about this issue, and it does need to be checked out thoroughly and corrected as necessary. A qualified electrican is required to look into the wiring, panels, etc to find the miswire.

If there is no circuit breaker that shuts off these lights, then there is no short circuit or over current protection, and is a disaster waiting to happen.

Plus there may be other lights, devices, appliances wired incorrectly also that you have not found yet.

Does shutting off the Main Breaker shut off these lights, and everything else for that matter?

Missouri Bound · Oct 4, 2009, 07:35 PM

It's likely that somewhere in the wiring there is a crossed wire between two circuits of the same phase... two breakers controlling the same circuit. There are audible testers which can be plugged in or connected to wires which when live will tell you which breakers are controlling the circuit at the panel with a remote receiver... I'll bet it is a mis-wire and you will find it at one of the junction boxes or perhaps in a pigtail in a receptacle box.

ceilingfanrepair · Oct 5, 2009, 05:50 PM

I am not disagreeing with any of the above posts, I am sure they are correct.

What I would do is turn off all the breakers. The light should go off. If anything in the house remains on you have a serious problem as TK suggests. Then, turn them back on one by one and see which one(s) turn(s) the light back on.