[Chigirl2112]

Hello All,

I have a house with circuit breakers that are at least 15 years old. I had a ceiling fan with lighting fixture that, when the fan was on and I tried to turn the light on - the light bulb would "explode". I don't mean burn out - I literally mean expode. So I bought a new fan with/ light fixture and it worked for a few hours on "high" (the fan) - but when I went to turn on the light - something happened and the fan would only go on "low" no matter what setting I had it on.

On the same circuit breaker I have an outdoor box. I bought a brand new leaf blower, plugged it in and within 5 minutes the motor started smoking and quit working on "high". It would work on "low" setting - but again - the motor was smoking so I quit using it and returned it.

My stepdad says that if it were an electrical problem that the circuit breaker would flip to the "off" position - this has never happened.

Any ideas out there?

Thanks

[tkrussell]

I beleve you have a broken neutral somewhere, can be in the circuit if it is two circuits with a shared neutral, or a loose or corroded connection anywhere in the panel, meter, overhead connections at the utility cable, or at the utility transformer.

A quick test is to measure the actual voltage at the outlets causing the problem, but may not be conclusive as the voltage can vary at any time and may not be detectable at all times.

If the volts are plus or minus 10% of 120 Volts,114-126, then there is a serious problem, already indicated by the damage.

You should call in a service electrician and the utility ,best both at the same time, to check for the cause. This will not get better by itself.