Ideas on electrical issue

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b0m8ad1l

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Dec 31, 2012
10
Last week I turned off the breaker in order to power cycle my heater. That's the only way I've found to clear errors. After about 30 seconds, I turned the breaker back on and now I've got no power to any of my equipment (pumps, heater, blower, lights). The strange this is that when I turn on the switch for my pool light, I hear an electrical hum, but the light won't turn on.

The only thing I can think of is that I blew the relay switch. Is there anything that I'm missing? Am I out of my league and just need to call an electrician?
 
Sure, I feel pretty comfortable around electricity and do have a multimeter. I'm linking the pictures here. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k35f49bbs4kbpk7/AABta2RRzVak3VY79LbSFJ4_a?dl=0

Pic 1: wide view of all equipment. The breaker is pictured on the far left behind the heater. It is connected to the switch box and light switches on the far right.

Pic 2: breaker panel

Pic 3: switch box

Pic 4: relay switch

Pic 5: close up of switch box wiring

Pic 6: diagram of switch box
 
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That sub panel may/will be fed from you main house panel. Start there to verify voltages. With the hum you say you are getting I would assume you are at least getting power to the sub panel. I would at least confirm voltage anyway. A hum could be a transformer or a relay, hopefully. It also could indicate a short. Exactly where do you hear the hum?
 
Definitely go back to the main panel and cycle that breaker and verify voltage on the output of that breaker and then at the input to the subpanel and so on further down the line. Also cycle all the breakers and test/reset any gfci devices in the system. Things that hum and don't turn on can often be a sign of under voltage. Another thing to check is to plug something into the service outlet at the pool and measure the voltage on the panel for a drop under load which would indicate a loose connection somewhere.
 
Both your sub panel and control box are miswired. Bothe have the neutral attached to the equipment grounding buss bar. That should only be done in a main service entrance panel.

I don't think that's your problem.


You have no power to the heater or plugs?
 
Correct, there is no power to the heater or the plugs. I will confirm the voltage at the sub panel and at the service outlet when I get home this evening. I could not find the breaker for it on my main panel, but I checked to make sure no breakers were tripped.
 
OK, so I fixed the problem, but I'm still not sure what the problem was. On the advice of an electrician friend, I decided to replace the breaker. So I took the breaker out and into a hardware store to match it and replace it. That's when I learned that the "breaker" isn't a breaker. It's just a switch, made in the form of a breaker. I went home and popped the switch back into place and everything fired back up. Apparently it was just loose, or needed resetting.

Thanks for the help guys!
 
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