Circuit Breaker problem...

[Blayze]

I'm currently renting a house, and they had to replace the oven today. After almost a month the landlord finally got it installed. They had to change something in the circuit breaker box, and thats where my problem is now.

The breaker box is outside. Tonight the dryer didn't work, so I went outside to check the breaker. Sure enough they forgot to turn some of them back on. They also took the breaker box apart to install whatever they needed to install. It was dark and the covers for it where in the grass. I picked them up and put them back over the box (as it was you could see all the wires and not just the switches). The screws that hold the plate in are gone, but the box cover does stay on and cover everything. The lid for the box also covers the plate and switches like normal.

Is there any cause for concern? Its supposed to rain tonight, and I'm afraid the house will burn down or something. There is two screws that hold the plate on, but like I said who knows what happened to them. Calling the landlord right now is a no go, and he is pretty much a pain to deal with. He really doesn't want to fix anything at this house, so if I called him I'm sure it would be a few weeks before they came to look at it.

 

[BigJ]

As long as the cover stays on you're fine.

My guess is the jackass landlord did it himself or had a few friends over to do it. No proper electrician would leave the panel in such disarray.

 

[edro]

I would try to find some screws that would work temporarily.

If it is going to rain... it won't be good. Your power may go out (main breaker will trip).

It will probably be ok though... Copper is still a better conductor than water.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Call your landlord and tell him that you died after you accidentally electrocuted yourself.

 

[Blayze]

Originally posted by: BigJ
As long as the cover stays on you're fine.

My guess is the jackass landlord did it himself or had a few friends over to do it. No proper electrician would leave the panel in such disarray.

Yeah he got his brother to help him install it.

The cover want come off, I was just worried about the screws missing on the panel.

 

[skyking]

An ouside-rated breaker panel has an outer door and an inner panel. It sounds like they lost the inner panel screws. Does the outer door hinge at the top?

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: BigJ
As long as the cover stays on you're fine.

My guess is the jackass landlord did it himself or had a few friends over to do it. No proper electrician would leave the panel in such disarray.

QFT,
but even the best ones lose those screws.
Get something to temporarily hold the cover on, they will serve until someone like me comes along with a stash of panel screws to put the right ones in.
Some use a sheet metal screw, some are machine thread, ypmv.

 

[Blayze]

Originally posted by: skyking
An ouside-rated breaker panel has an outer door and an inner panel. It sounds like they lost the inner panel screws. Does the outer door hinge at the top?

Yeah the door hinge is at the top. The door holds the inner panel on pretty tight. Its dark and raining out right now so I'm just going to leave it tonight. The screws might be in the grass somewhere. I'll try to locate them tommorow, and put them back on myself.

I really don't think water will get into the box, but if it does the worst that could happen is the breaker trip. Is that correct?

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Blayze

I really don't think water will get into the box, but if it does the worst that could happen is the breaker trip. Is that correct?

Short of an apocalyptic set of conditions being in place that would allow some other nasty stuff to happen, pretty much.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: Blayze

Originally posted by: skyking
An ouside-rated breaker panel has an outer door and an inner panel. It sounds like they lost the inner panel screws. Does the outer door hinge at the top?

Yeah the door hinge is at the top. The door holds the inner panel on pretty tight. Its dark and raining out right now so I'm just going to leave it tonight. The screws might be in the grass somewhere. I'll try to locate them tommorow, and put them back on myself.

I really don't think water will get into the box, but if it does the worst that could happen is the breaker trip. Is that correct?

The top hinged outer door does all the weatherproofing in that box. As long as no one sticks a finger in there, you'll be fine.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Worst that can happen is major arcing from before the main breaker but odds of that are slim. Parents' main breaker panel had water running through it due to a bad weatherhead and nothing shorted out, just rusted the bottom of the box out. I did replace it later though when dad got a generator panel. That was fun