How to Find Fault in House Electric Wiring

Get a better electrician, who will instead connect/disconnect each item on the load side of the meter, measuring the amperage of each, and comparing with their ratings.

You can probably find the culprit yourself, by disconnecting/unplugging one item at a time, and checking the meter with each item...or, you can unplug everything, and plug one item at a time, in.

Do you have a 1 kWh digit on your meter? And does it not say, times 10 e.g.? This test will show it after many hours.

Best is to run a monitor power meter simultaneously.

LOAD - Definition by AcronymFinder

UNIT - Definition by AcronymFinder

:falt in your wiring" is a bit misleading, sounds like the wiring is fine, your question (I think) is about what you feel is over consumption or a meter reading that is excessive. I can reiterate what others have said and tell you step by step how to do it but I think it would be better to have your power provider look at your meter.....then you need someone familiar with the use of an amp meter to test each "load side" leg of your circuit breakers and shut them off individually as has already been suggested, record each finding, then compare that with each draws expected rating and you'll have a complete story as to where you stand. my guess is nothing is wrong, you just have more smaller draws than you're accounting for. good luck

Have a licensed electrician do the following. If none is available have a qualified person do these things.

Obtain a clamp-on amp meter. Take the cover off of the circuit breaker (CB) panel so that each wire connected to the CB's is accessible. While the electrically powered devices in question are operating, check the current being drawn on each circuit and record that value and the associated circuit number. The circuits with the highest value are the highest wattage drawing devices. To verify that this is being done correctly put the amp meter on a circuit, record the number and turn the CB to off. The device should stop, the current draw indicated on the meter should go to "0" and the main meter lowered by the wattage of the device; power <wattage> = voltage <volts, from the neutral to one leg> * current <amps>. This formula is not exact for AC circuits but close enough. For circuits with double pole CB's, add the current of both wires together to obtain the power used. Add up the wattage for each circuit and you have the total power usage for the house. Compare this value with that indicated by the main meter. These values should be the same.

If the main meter does not agree with your calculated usage, check the operation (usage, current being drawn, switches, starting current, etc) of the device for any abnormalities. Also, if the power consumed by any device does not agree with the nameplate power that should be consumed that device may be a problem.

The best and easiest way to eliminate the problem is to contact the power supplier and ask them to switch the power meter for another one. Tell them there are problems with the quantities of power being indicated by the meter and the actual usage. They should replace it then. If not, tell them you think it is not recording all the power used. This usually works if they think they might be losing money.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Salty took the time to list the things I was too lazy to type out an open jaw meter works too

That's a lot better for the average consumer...much less intrusive.

Though a loose conductor can be quite invigorating!

GA

Fredski-

Yea, either one works. I have both but often use the clamp-on one out of laziness and convenience. I can clamp it on and have it self-support itself leaving both hands free to do other things. This especially helps when I would otherwise put it down someplace and forget where I put it.

I use the open jaw meter primarily when I am checking a lot of wires and only need the meter over the wire for a short period of time. Laziness and convenience here too I guess, I don't have to open the jaws each time I go from one wire to another.

Working off a ladder I usually use the clamp-on. It enables me to put it on the wire and leave it there until I need it for another wire. It sort of lends a hand once in a while. Also if gravity starts to interrupt my perch I don't worry about the meter.

Some people say "Necessity is the mother of invention". A very good axiom of that is "Laziness is the mother of invention". Yea, sometimes I'm too busy or too lazy to figure the difference out between them.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Open jaw clamp meters are totally unreliable. You have to be precise positioning the cable in the jaws. I ran a series of tests on various makes. I would never trust one now.

TonyS-

Yes, very good point. If extremely accurate readings are not necessary the open jaw meter has usually been sufficient in the past. I usually use one under those conditions.

For the problem described by the OP I would use my 3 channel (for 3-phase systems) strip chart recording amp meter. It is old but it is dependable. Put the three clamps on the three most suspect circuits and go have a cold one, or two. Come back and look at the results. If the problem wasn't in either of those three put it on another three and go on like previously.

Good Luck, Old Salt

I would give a good answer if I was certain the OP was competent and not liable to electrocute him or her self. Since I cannot be sure, I would not suggest this course of action.

Snapping circuit breakers off one at a time will tell the story.

Yusef1-

First line first sentence: Have a licensed electrician do the following.

First line second sentence: If none is available have a qualified person do these things.

Qualified person and not the OP should do this type of work, unless the OP is a qualified person. His post did not impress me as him being a qualified person. That's why I stated it as I did.

Thank for the forthcoming GA.

Good Luck, Old Salt

I give you dozens of good answers every month. I don't think this one is a good answer. It might even get him killed. I think you forget from time to time that the people you are talking to are less knowledgable than expected. As an electrician myself, I gringe when somebody tells a client of mine to "just take the cover off the breaker panel". I don't think your method is any more reliable than snapping breakers off until you find the one that is causing all the spin on the meter.

That being said, you get a good answer for the statement "Have a licenced electrician etc." as your first line. No problem dude. OTOH, he didn't come here to rent an electrician. He wanted to find it himself.

Yusef1-

Your point is well taken. I clearly understand why you have stated it and agree with you in your reason for posting it. I don't agree though that it takes a licensed electrician to do this type of work. Most of the people who would be doing this type of work are not licensed electricians; they are electricians or other trades that work for licensed electricians. Many, but certainly not all, of the licensed electricians whose work I have seen know more about the business end of things than they do of the technical part. They depend on the guy with the dirty hands and tired mind to get the technical part right. This concept is very common in the trades.

My premise is that it doesn't take a licensed electrician or a journeyman electrician to open a breaker box and use a clamp-on meter. It takes a qualified person, one with extremely good and safety orientated electrician skills to do it. If given the choice there are several people such as these that I would trust more to do a competent and safe job for me than the licensed electrician. History has proven this to be a good practice. I also clearly stated that the OP should hire a licensed electrician to do the work. I also stated that if one was not available that a qualified person do the work as described. I did not instruct the OP to do the work himself, just what he should relay to the qualified person. If anyone had mistakenly inferred that I was telling the OP to do the work himself that is clearly incorrect and presumptive. In reading the OP I surmised that the electrical skills of him were very lacking to do the work. He also stated at the end of the OP "Could anyone help me to know that how i know the fault in my house wiring or my meter need to change then how convince to electrician?" which I took as he would be talking to the electrician not doing the work himself. He stated he wanted to convince his electrician, not do the work himself. I also surmised that listing what should be done by a qualified person was safer than having the OP attempt to describe it to them. That is why the answer was posted to explain what was to be done, not to do it himself. None of us has any control over how an OP uses our answers. We can only post the best ones we can and hope that the OP uses stated or applicable technical and safety methods.

The stated method is much more reliable than the "snapping the breakers" method because that does not operate the whole system under the same conditions as those that the OP has the problem with. An analogy to this would be trying to diagnose a problem with a car that occurs when the engine is running while you do not have the car engine running. The meter tells you what is happening; the breaker method at best tells you only which circuit might be doing it. As previously stated I personally would use my 3 pole clamp-on amp meter strip recorder if warranted. In reality before I got to that step I would use a thermal imaging camera to look for hot wires, indicating higher currents in them, or poor connections. Doing it that way I can see the whole systems operating under the normal conditions that it does when the problem occurs. Many problems do not occur when not operating under the same conditions. If at all possible most testing should be done under actual conditions.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Once you find the breaker...then you start unplugging items on that branch. Seems like pretty easy peasy to me.

Then, if you find the burnt plug, or the hot plug...or whatever, the next step may well be to call an electrician. Though if, for example, he determined it was the crappy space heater (or whatever), no electrician would be needed.

Is my reasoning all that bad? I know I hated to get called to exactly the OP's scenario, and after going through this I had to charge him an hour's labour. Which was twice the cost of a new space heater. Or more now we are in the cheap ass walmart world.

Oh, and another good answer to ya. Hard to disagree with you. But lets face it...you often DO give credit for competence which might or might not be there. This guy SOUNDS like he knows how much he doesn't know. Thats a damned good start!

Me...I trust nobody! Not around electricity anyway! Even myself got launched right into the cockpit from the back of the plane by a high voltage current from the flourescent ballast going through a sweat bead sliding down my probe to my legs. I don't even trust the sweat of my brow after that!

1

GA

I'm with you on that one.

Also, nobody mentioned that using any clamp on meter usually requires careful usage on ONE wire only OR to read the instruction leaflet carefully...(in my very limited personal experience of many years ago, that may have changed in between on some versions for all I know.)

Though this Youtube video suggests things have not changed much:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTIO87hY2ps

I had an electrician many years ago almost kill himself because he got a zero reading on a multicore cable with a recently bought meter of this type and thought it was disconnected!!!

So a rank amateur needs proper instruction and help if an Electrician cannot use it safely.

AN ELECTRICIAN!!!!!

You have a 40 inch TV but no stove? Is the TV on 24-hours a day and that's why you listed it but nothing else like a microwave, washer, dryer, hot water tank, etc.?

If you are "using" 4X the average load when you are looking, then is the average okay?

Or...

Is the average you are talking about a culmination of the neighbors who have the same equipment as yourself...and you use 4X that average?

Anyway,

Based on the only information you have provided...I would check the float status of the inverter with one battery, whatever the heck that is for...? Are you running your house off of an inverter? Why do you have a meter if you are using an inverter? Are you on a community grid that delivers DC and your inverter converts that to AC? What makes sense here?

If that is not floating the charge right, then it could be running 24-hours a day...and that's just a power sucking vampire.

True!

There is the possibility also that due to a bad/badly set up/wrong type charger, he is killing his lead acid batteries as well!!!

So it will cost he twice - high electricity costs AND a defective battery before its time!!!

DUUUHHHHH!!!

Local electrician confirms that when all breakers are off your meter stops spinning. I have one prime suspect.

How old is your refrigerator??

My old house came with a 15+ year old refrigerator that "seemed" to work fine. The second summer it couldn't cool below 48 deg F and started to make rattling/screeching noises. I purchased a new model. My electric use that month dropped almost 20kW-H (~$20). At first I though it was a coincidence, but it was a consistent usage drop from that date forward! I suspect the old appliance was running 10+ hours a day (should only be 1-2 hours/day) and I didn't notice until it started rattling and failed to hold 37 deg F.

An old struggling refrigerator might be your problem as well.

Before finding fault in house electric wiring, you should do the following:

Check calibration of the meter by Energy meter Test Bench.

Check insulation resistance value of your house wiring installation by insulation resistance tester.

Check each electrical appliance power/load rating(kW or Watt /current, voltage, etc.).Check running hours of each appliance and from which you can calculate electricity consumption.

Regards,

Manindra

W...T...F...?

<...10 unit /day...> represents a continuous load of just over 419W. The pattern of use of <...electric...> cannot be seen from here though this is not untypical for some homes.

<...how...find that...meter is running fast or...house electric wiring or any electric appliance have any problem....>

1. Switch off all known loads. Demonstrate zero consumption rate at the meter. If the meter is not showing zero rate, then dig further, looking for unknown loads and faults; remove these.
2. Switch on a load with a known rating. Demonstrate consumption rate at the meter.
3. Repeat 2 as required to obtain confidence.

If no fault is found there will be no need to do anything else. If there is a fault, then there are 2 options for remedy:

1. Record the serial number and ask the utility supplier for a calibration record for the meter. If one is not available, ask for it to be calibrated at the premises.
2. Get the meter changed for one with a currently-valid calibration record; insist that a copy of the record is left at the premises.