Re: Why deliberately shorting equipment to blow breakers might be a bad idea . . .

["z" <gzuckier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert Green wrote:
> I can't recall whether it was here in CHA or in alt.home.repair (hence the
> crosspost) but I am certain I read messages from people who short outlets or
> wiring with a screwdriver (instead of using a meter or a fox and hound toner
> set) to find the controlling circuit breaker for that branch.  The article
> below points out the possible downside of that approach:
>
> Missouri: Inquiry Ties Wiring to Fatal Group Home Fire
>
>  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/us/20brfs-Fire.html
>
> By LIBBY SANDER
> Published: December 20, 2006
> Hours before a fire killed 10 people in a group home for the mentally ill
> and disabled on Nov. 27 in Anderson, a maintenance worker trying to repair a
> furnace short-circuited wiring in the attic, where fire investigators said
> they believed that the fire started. The worker told investigators that he
> did not know which circuit breaker operated the furnace and that he
> deliberately tripped the system, according to a report from the Missouri
> Fire Safety Division. The wiring may have become overloaded, the report
> staid. The fire marshal said the home did not have sprinklers. The report
> was obtained by The Associated Press under an open-records law.
>
>
> --
> Bobby G.

Then what the Hell good are the circuit breakers?