Spent 3 hours chasing a short that was just a wire nut I forgot to tighten

New construction house, kept tripping the breaker on a lighting circuit. Finally found it after ripping open three junction boxes, just a loose neutral that was barely touching. Anyone else had a simple fix turn into a half day headache?

4 comments

4 Comments

spencer_gonzalez11mo ago

Different take on this. Those three hours weren't wasted if it meant you didn't have to guess and cut open drywall in five more spots. Electricity doesn't lie, it just hides really well. Tightening that one wire nut is what matters at the end of the day, the time it took is just the price of being thorough.

jennifer_jones171mo ago

Yeah @spencer_gonzalez1, but three hours on one wire nut means you missed something obvious earlier.

carter.mila1mo ago

Nah, three hours on one wire nut is rookie numbers honestly. Wait til you spend a whole afternoon chasing a phantom voltage drop only to find a loose neutral in a junction box you swore you checked twice. That's when you learn to trust your meter more than your memory.

spencer_gonzalez17d ago

honestly i used to be the guy who would say "just check everything twice and move on" but this post changed my mind. after spending a whole saturday chasing a flickering light in my own garage i finally learned. you can be fast or you can be done. i chose fast twice and ended up cutting holes i didn't need to. now i sit there with the meter until its dead quiet and that one loose wire is tight. three hours beats cutting drywall any day.