220 House Breaker Box Mystery

[Hometeam]

With the power that is being used for your heat and Ac it sounds like you have an electric heating element in your furnace instead of gas? With gas heating you would have a 220V circuit to the AC unit and only a 120V circuit to the furnace. So those 220V breakers make sense to me.

Do the panels in your shed have there own service to them? Meaning do you have multiple meters on your property?

 

[Admin]

 

[Robobrainiac]

This statement makes me think that breaker is hooked to some 220V heat tape that is wrapped around your water line somehow. How deep is your water line. Ours here are put in at 48” or deeper.

Our water is not deep. To give you an example of how our water comes up, it is on the side of the foundation where it comes up out of the ground, turns 90 degrees to go under the house, runs across the concrete foundation (approximately 40ft) then attaches to the well pressure switch and tank. Then is transfered to the house. None of this was wrapped. The well pump electric line runs with this pipe I described above. Follows it out to the ground and then runs to the pump. I wrapped all the lines under the house with electric tape, then wrapped that in round foam, then wrapped that with insulation tape. This is how I keep the water line from freezing. It is plugged into a 110 outlet directly under the house next to the pressure tank. Almost as if it was designed for it and whoever did the water never installed the electric tape wrap.

 

[Smitty335]

The last time I had the cover off I remember it has some pretty large wires going to it.

That's good!

 

[dweber23tr]

Personally I would shut the mystery one off and see what happens. If it is something important you'll find out. The fact that it's getting warm indicates something is pulling some heavy amps through it. Otherwise a good electrician will have the tools to track that down. Usually have to put a "tone" on the wire and use a portable scanner to find it.

 

[Smitty335]

Might look around the outside of your home for a electrical box mounted on the side of your home. I've got prewired for pool equipment and hot tub when we built our home.

 

[Robobrainiac]

Might look around the outside of your home for a electrical box mounted on the side of your home. I've got prewired for pool equipment and hot tub when we built our home.

We do have a pool and hot tub but it is 110 and comes from the pole barn.

 

[Robobrainiac]

With the power that is being used for your heat and Ac it sounds like you have an electric heating element in your furnace instead of gas? With gas heating you would have a 220V circuit to the AC unit and only a 120V circuit to the furnace. So those 220V breakers make sense to me.

Do the panels in your shed have there own service to them? Meaning do you have multiple meters on your property?

I do have electric heat. Could that mean I have 3 220 for the HVAC system?

I have a single meter on the property currently.

When we moved onto the property the pole barn was on a meter, the main house split from the pole barn to itself.

The cabin had its own meter at the time. We had the electric company remove that meter and bridge it all into a single meter. The electric company charges $35/month/meter and I felt there was no need for the second meter. The previous owners were two families living on the property.

 

[Robobrainiac]

Personally I would shut the mystery one off and see what happens. If it is something important you'll find out. The fact that it's getting warm indicates something is pulling some heavy amps through it. Otherwise a good electrician will have the tools to track that down. Usually have to put a "tone" on the wire and use a portable scanner to find it.

I have thought about that. I figured if I come across something that isn't getting power then I might be able to figure it out.

 

[Hometeam]

I do have electric heat. Could that mean I have 3 220 for the HVAC system?

I have a single meter on the property currently.

When we moved onto the property the pole barn was on a meter, the main house split from the pole barn to itself.

The cabin had its own meter at the time. We had the electric company remove that meter and bridge it all into a single meter. The electric company charges $35/month/meter and I felt there was no need for the second meter. The previous owners were two families living on the property.

No you would most likely have only 2-220 breakers for the HVAC in your application.

At this point I would do what was suggested by someone already and shut it off to figure out what it is doing. With heat build up it definitely is doing something but might be something that you don’t need and is just wasting energy. Hard to diagnose over the keyboard with all the changes to the electrical system over the years. This is very common in my world for these situations especially in the residential market.

 

[Robobrainiac]

No you would most likely have only 2-220 breakers for the HVAC in your application.

At this point I would do what was suggested by someone already and shut it off to figure out what it is doing. With heat build up it definitely is doing something but might be something that you don’t need and is just wasting energy. Hard to diagnose over the keyboard with all the changes to the electrical system over the years. This is very common in my world for these situations especially in the residential market.

My HVAC does currently have 2 220 breakers. I will shut it off and see what happens. The house is not very old (1998) it is wierd to see how whatever it was it appears to have been changed 2-3 times already judging by its label.

 

[Robobrainiac]

The mystery sharpied circuit breaker is officially off. We shall see what happens.