Is it logical

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

Is it logical to assume that if breakers keep tripping to certain circuits at the pool house, the next order of business
would be to hire an actual electrician to diagnose each circuit. put each breaker under load and see why the breaker keeps
tripping, or am I just some dumb schmuck that likes to bloviate?

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Maybe I'm also a dumb shmuck but in Cathy's World, tripping breakers + water = call in a professional.

Remember the adage "once is an event, twice is a coincidence, three times is enemy action."

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

Considering this is ELECTRICITY, which can cause serious problems if it's not respected and addressed properly, you aren't being a blowhard - but your fellow homeowners (including the board) might be a few sammiches short of a dozen Happy Meals. Or they're just hoping the problem will fix itself....not gonna happen. I'm looking for an electrician now to replace a circuit panel and have been looking at various websites to pick up some tips on selecting them. Virtually everyone has spoken of the importance of getting a licensed electrician.

Fun fact on Cathy's adage - this has been attributed to Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond), who said "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action”. I've also heard it as "once is an accident, twice is a coincidence and three is a conspiracy." Or three times is a pattern - same difference!

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

ElleN (Idaho)
Posts: 4,420

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By LetA on 06/11/2024 9:30 PM
Is it logical to assume that if breakers keep tripping to certain circuits at the pool house, the next order of business would be to hire an actual electrician to diagnose each circuit.

Yes to hiring an electrician. If a non-electrician attempts to troubleshoot this and a part or person fries, do not expect insurance to cover it. If the insurer gets wind that the HOA is using non-electricians for this, expect insurance rates to go up.

Quote:

Posted By LetA on 06/11/2024 9:30 PM
put each breaker under load and see why the breaker keeps tripping

This is the incorrect and unsafe way to proceed. Professionals know to never test a safety device in the way you are describing. Professionals will open the breakers that are tripping and then check for ground faults in the circuit the breaker serves.

DeanJ
Posts: 1,786

Posted:

Even a broken clock is correct twice a day. Yea, they an electrician.

MarkM19 (Texas)
Posts: 1,459

Posted:

Ellen is correct. The breaker that is tripping is the only one that needs to be checked. It should be obvious what this breaker controls. Because it is in or around the pool area water intrusion is highly likely. We have had pool lights lose its seal and trip the breaker. All of the connections related to that breaker need to be checked for this. The other possible solution is breakers sometimes just get weak and fail easy. They can be replaced after all other options are checked. This is a job for licensed electrician.

GregoryT1
Posts: 315

Posted:

My cousin is an electrical engineer. However he has an electrician do anything electrical other than changing a light bulb. He knows what electricity can do.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

Cathy, I love your analogy...I'm stealing it LOL

A couple of months before I was elected to the board, maybe 2016 ish, someone broke into the pool equipment room and stole the pool heater, the one
that wasn't working and the Jacuzzi and pool filters. The crooks cut off the lock to the breaker panel on the outside of the pool equipment house.
In doing so the hasp that is riveted to the breaker panel was sheared off. The maintenance company the PM hired fix was to put a drywall screw through the hole.
I have been fighting for years to have this properly repaired and not some jack weed hack that would make Red Green say NO you FOOL.

Personally at my house I had an electrical issue where a breaker kept tripping. I hired a wait for it, an electrician. The electrician found
the neutral wire loose in the bus bar in the breaker panel. I suspect since the same builder built my house also built the pool house and hired the
same no talent hacks to install the electric.

I guess I am getting sick and tired of the pool guy just resetting the breaker and the root cause of the problem not being addressed. It is unconscionable
for anyone to be inconvenienced to use any amenity because it is not readily available to use due to lack of pro-activity on either the board or
the property manager.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

As a Board member, LetA, vote at your next open meeting to hire the right pro for the job.

Look, I know your Board is skimpy right now--and I truly sympathize-- and I'm not even sure you have a quorum for aboard meeting.

BillD16 (Texas)
Posts: 971

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By LetA on 06/12/2024 10:11 AM
Cathy, I love your analogy...I'm stealing it LOL

A couple of months before I was elected to the board, maybe 2016 ish, someone broke into the pool equipment room and stole the pool heater, the one
that wasn't working and the Jacuzzi and pool filters. The crooks cut off the lock to the breaker panel on the outside of the pool equipment house.
In doing so the hasp that is riveted to the breaker panel was sheared off. The maintenance company the PM hired fix was to put a drywall screw through the hole.
I have been fighting for years to have this properly repaired and not some jack weed hack that would make Red Green say NO you FOOL.

Personally at my house I had an electrical issue where a breaker kept tripping. I hired a wait for it, an electrician. The electrician found
the neutral wire loose in the bus bar in the breaker panel. I suspect since the same builder built my house also built the pool house and hired the
same no talent hacks to install the electric.

I guess I am getting sick and tired of the pool guy just resetting the breaker and the root cause of the problem not being addressed. It is unconscionable
for anyone to be inconvenienced to use any amenity because it is not readily available to use due to lack of pro-activity on either the board or
the property manager.

Yes, you really need to get a pro electrician in there to *fix* the problem.

I don’t know about you, but our governing docs have several paragraphs about spending money on emergency repairs. Just MHO, but “something wrong with the electricity at the pool” == “emergency”.

Bill

HOA Board ex-President
Austin, Texas USA

“You can’t put too much water in a nuclear reactor”

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By BillD16 on 06/19/2024 4:50 AM

Posted By LetA on 06/12/2024 10:11 AM
Cathy, I love your analogy...I'm stealing it LOL

A couple of months before I was elected to the board, maybe 2016 ish, someone broke into the pool equipment room and stole the pool heater, the one
that wasn't working and the Jacuzzi and pool filters. The crooks cut off the lock to the breaker panel on the outside of the pool equipment house.
In doing so the hasp that is riveted to the breaker panel was sheared off. The maintenance company the PM hired fix was to put a drywall screw through the hole.
I have been fighting for years to have this properly repaired and not some jack weed hack that would make Red Green say NO you FOOL.

Personally at my house I had an electrical issue where a breaker kept tripping. I hired a wait for it, an electrician. The electrician found
the neutral wire loose in the bus bar in the breaker panel. I suspect since the same builder built my house also built the pool house and hired the
same no talent hacks to install the electric.

I guess I am getting sick and tired of the pool guy just resetting the breaker and the root cause of the problem not being addressed. It is unconscionable
for anyone to be inconvenienced to use any amenity because it is not readily available to use due to lack of pro-activity on either the board or
the property manager.

Yes, you really need to get a pro electrician in there to *fix* the problem.

I don’t know about you, but our governing docs have several paragraphs about spending money on emergency repairs. Just MHO, but “something wrong with the electricity at the pool” == “emergency”.

Bill

All I can say right now is wash, rinse, repeat. Electrician came out to fix problem A that should've been fixed correctly years ago.
Breaker tripped again GRRR slam slam slam slam slam hits head against imaginary wall.

Can we all agree that if a breaker keeps tripping, there is a problem with the load on that breaker.
I am not a certified union electrician, my father was and he was gone before I was born.
These are some of the electrical things I picked up from watching other pros work and asking questions.

Gee I wish I could've got in the business.

ElleN (Idaho)
Posts: 4,420

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By LetA on 06/19/2024 8:46 PM
Can we all agree that if a breaker keeps tripping, there is a problem with the load on that breaker.

Yes. Inform the electrician who did the "fix." See what he/she says. If the answer sounds like bs, get another electrician. Post the electrician's answer here.

It is possible the electrician just reset the breaker and went into "watch and monitor" mode, without explaining this to anyone. Because time is money yada and most folks lack basic home repair skills. It's not worth the electrician's time to explain things, especially given how abusive and stupid so many non-technical folks are with the trades.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By ElleN on 06/20/2024 7:54 AM

Posted By LetA on 06/19/2024 8:46 PM
Can we all agree that if a breaker keeps tripping, there is a problem with the load on that breaker.

Yes. Inform the electrician who did the "fix." See what he/she says. If the answer sounds like bs, get another electrician. Post the electrician's answer here.

It is possible the electrician just reset the breaker and went into "watch and monitor" mode, without explaining this to anyone. Because time is money yada and most folks lack basic home repair skills. It's not worth the electrician's time to explain things, especially given how abusive and stupid so many non-technical folks are with the trades.

I don't want to come off sounding like a tightwad, but this should have been addressed the first time the electrician was on the property a week ago.
Every time the breaker trip it renders the drinking fountain useless. It takes more than a week before the breaker is reset, only to trip again.

I would like to know if the breaker for the fountain is on the same line as the 3 GFCI outlets facing the pool deck. Sometimes people like to drag
down a big karaoke like speaker to the pool and plug it in, but I doubt that draws more current than an Kirby vacuum cleaner to overload the breaker
to trip it.

4FS, it's 110 degrees outside and people need a drink of water. It could get us shut down by the health department.

Another thing that gets stuck up my crawl, it the amount of money we pay for the pool cleaner and they skip off
with not all the jets in the jacuzzi functioning. If the cleaner is not the person to fix it, create a trouble ticket and get it
fixed. Dont't let the board keep complaining to the company owner that something is not working correctly. If I was a business owner
I would not stand for that, I would fire lazy employees. I am old school customer service. You wear the company name tag, act like the owner
and don't P-ice people off.

ElleN (Idaho)
Posts: 4,420

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By LetA on 06/20/2024 8:14 PM

I don't want to come off sounding like a tightwad, but this should have been addressed the first time the electrician was on the property a week ago.

I would say this depends entirely on what the electrician was told.

Quote:
Posted By LetA on 06/20/2024 8:14 PM
I would like to know if the breaker for the fountain is on the same line as the 3 GFCI outlets facing the pool deck.
Here are the basics:

When the breaker is shut, electricity flows downstream from the breaker to various outlets and/or electrical equipment, like the compressor motor for the drinking fountain.

The next time you know that the breaker has tripped, go to the three GFCI outlets, one at a time. At each outlet plug in something like a radio, a utility light, or even a phone charger with phone connected to the charger. Anything that will obviously be "On" when plugged in (with on/off switch in the "on" position) is fine. Is the GFCI outlet providing power to the radio (or utility light or phone charger et cetera)? If so, then the outlet is either not powered from the breaker when the breaker is shut, or the GFCI itself has tripped. Find out if the GFCI itself has tripped. If you do not know how to tell if a GFCI has tripped, google or youtube the topic.

Or for checking outlets, get a $6 electrical tester from WalMart (oh heavens) or Harbor Freight, like this:https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hyper-Tough-GFCI-Receptacle-Tester-TD35091B-Condition-New-Height-1-in/468927687

I think you really should be posting in a home repair forum to get a bit of education here, so you can work effectively with the electrician.

If you feel that's not your job, okay, I get it. But I expect the problem will take longer to get fixed.