Part of Our Day: Troubleshooting

[daveh121]

This was a very entertaining project for me in many ways.

This electrical panel might not look right with those two extra wires hanging out. It’s in the new-ish garage we built 12 years or so ago. Replaced the falling down pole barn.

Last winter the dryer stopped drying. Upon checking it we realized it was still getting warm so the other option was the fan near the end of the vent outlet. The vent was long enough to require a fan for code requirements.

So we bought a new pressure activated relay and installed it. Didn’t work. We bought a new fan which was 2” longer than the old one. We had to reconfigure the mounting bracket and vent pipes going to it.

This is all up above the ceiling in the garage. Sort of annoying to get to and very toasty in the afternoon. I came down from there looking like I just took a shower and not toweled off.

Hooked it up and it didn’t work. I tested for electricity where the wires go into the fan. There was none.

I decided to check the breaker. I took the cover off the panel and found those 2 wires were not connected and the breaker for the fan didn’t have any wires hooked to it.

It had been this way for 12 years. Lint from the dryer eventually clogged up the fan intake and wouldn’t allow air to escape.

The electrician had apparently hooked up everything except the fan wires since it hadn’t been installed yet, then put the cover on the panel for safety.

My long time friend (I hired him for the park when he was 17. He must be around 50 now. We had a lot of fun) and contractor installed the vent pipe and fan not knowing the electrical wasn't hooked up yet. Neither one of us can remember testing the fan.

I guess the moral of the story is check the electricity first! I really should know better, being a ham radio guy.

I did have a good time teasing my friend though.

My brother says that fan should have “worked” for another 12 years and we wouldn’t have known the difference.

Did get in a good bike ride, tomorrow we kayak, go birding, fishing, and have a picnic lunch in our high country in the Sierra Nevada.

Hope everyone had a good day and can enjoy the story.