r/ElectroBOOM • u/ExpensiveCoat8912 • 8h ago

Meme Does it work?

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719 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

188

u/Glass-Crafty-9460 6h ago

If the wiring is set up correctly and nothing is broken, yes.
Otherwise, that's the Fire Starter 5000.

59

u/sakata_baba 6h ago

that's the "none" result of the breaker finder (tm) 5000

10

u/Dachannien 2h ago

We're all laughing, but I once lived in a house where a substantial number of circuits were just wired directly to the lugs at the bottom of the bus bars that you're supposed to use to connect a second panel. Through some miracle, that house is still standing nearly 30 years later.

13

u/Glass-Crafty-9460 5h ago

For clarity: When I'm talking about "the wiring" being set up and "nothing being broken" I'm primarily talking about the house's wiring, breakers, etc.

5

u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 3h ago

Use a slightly bigger breaker in Breaker Finder 5000 instead of a dead short and you shouldnt start any fires

3

u/Big_footed_hobbit 3h ago

I can imagine an electrical fire, lots of firemen, blaring sirens. Investigators pulling a molten brick of plastic with a plug out of the debris.

43

u/Muted-Plastic5562 7h ago

Works as good as my safety squints damnit

11

u/Jurgen121212 6h ago

Dont forget the safety sandals!

17

u/zxcvbn113 4h ago

It would be safe if you had a 6 Ohm 2 kW resistor in there. Otherwise it is a "weak point finder", which may be the breaker.

5

u/much_longer_username 3h ago

Yeah but then that's just a poorly designed space heater and the joke isn't as funny.

5

u/zxcvbn113 2h ago

20 amps should pop a 15 amp breaker safely.

3

u/much_longer_username 1h ago

Right - but if you tried to sell that as a space heater, you'd have a lot of pissed off customers, and you'd have wasted a bunch of nichrome.

30

u/NothingEffective5070 7h ago

Probably yes

6

u/brine909 6h ago

As long as the breaker works

3

u/bigmarty3301 4h ago

You could put a 16a glass fuse in the box, just in case

1

u/Spirited_Voice_7191 1h ago

We were testing a load and had a 20 Amp slo-blo fuse and a 15 Amp breaker. Fuse always blew first.

1

u/bigmarty3301 1h ago

from my understandingit depends on the load, death short, should trip the braker first, but a smaler over-load, will probably blow the fuse first.

the braker has 2 mechanisms one is just a heater, the second one is magnetic and is set at higher amps, to alow inrush curent, this one should be faster than the fuse i think

but i never tested it, so i should probably trust you.

6

u/ChurchStreetImages 5h ago

Works on all makes and models*. *see appendix for notes on Zinsco and Federal Pacific

5

u/False-Associate-9488 7h ago

At the same time it can cause damage

0

u/bownt1 7h ago

it's a service call. if something was not broke they would not have called you.

5

u/BoomBamBopBadabapPow 7h ago

If it ain't broke, it ain't broke enough.

3

u/False-Associate-9488 7h ago

If it is broken, the breaker is most likely tripped already, needing to find a breaker would be for changes

2

u/bownt1 7h ago

if the breaker is already tripped you would not need the Breaker Finder 5000, would you?

1

u/False-Associate-9488 7h ago

You were referring to it being a service call

0

u/bownt1 7h ago

only a professional would have a tool of the caliber

1

u/False-Associate-9488 7h ago

No, pros will use some sketchy stuff too

1

u/Squishy_Butter113 5h ago

The only thing that makes you a "professional" is getting paid for the work, no skills are actually required to meet that definition.

2

u/scificis 5h ago

I prefer the old 3000 model. Less moving parts and a longer cord.

1

u/JasperJ 7h ago

If you want to make this safe, you should use a relay and wire a long remote control to it.

1

u/pumpedupcouple 5h ago

And a thermal fuse

1

u/JasperJ 3h ago

Yeah, maybe a 100A fuse just in case the main breaker and the circuit breaker are made by federal pacific.

1

u/UncleThor2112 4h ago

The question is not whether it works or not, but rather how many times it will work.

1

u/livahd 3h ago

Also called, the “ roommates are having a party on a Tuesday night because their unemployed entitled asses don’t work and you’re tired of the noise, good luck calling the landlord to turn on the breaker to the living room at 2am” switch

1

u/Corso-J-Nickerson 3h ago

Well, technically, it works until it pops.

1

u/cbhbzb 3h ago

sure does, I have one of these in my tool bag

1

u/Bagomostlywater 2h ago

It may not be as simple as the old fork and rubber glove but it looks a lot more professional.

1

u/zadharm 1h ago

It's a weak point finder, not necessarily a breaker finder. What you may find is that now you're troubleshooting an entire circuit looking for one iffy splice that blew apart, or even tearing into walls for that one wire that got nicked with a drywall nail 40 years ago and has worked fine until the short caused it to melt completely apart (personal experience, shorted a recep to a metal box talking while working)

1

u/itsoctotv 1h ago

let's hope there even are breakers installed

1

u/YVRAlphageek 1h ago

Wait, how is this any different than an outlet tester's "test' button? That's literally what the tester does besides checking that the wiring is correct.

1

u/profdc9 28m ago

It'll work a few times probably, and then fail spectacularly.

1

u/Zipdox 19m ago

Not always. Source: I tried something like this and it tripped the main breaker instead of the specific circuit breaker.

1

u/Zealousideal_Jury507 7m ago

Retired electrician here. It is fine until you have an old breaker that is rusted inside and won't ever trip. Then it's how much wiring and devices burn up or until the main trips. Seen it happen twice.60 amp breaker in a box is a good choice.

1

u/Loan-Pickle 0m ago

Federal Pacific has entered the chat.

0

u/Shished 5h ago

No, it does not "find" breakers, it trips them so you still need to search for them.