So I was trying to run wiring for a 220 outlet and I hit a lower leg with the metal cable snake, now a bunch of outlets loose power for a minute or two ever so often, 20 min give or take. What can be the cause? Only the top breaker tripped. How can this be repaired. Please help.
You may have loosened a connection. With the breaker off, check all the outlets on the circuit that's losing power and make sure all the connections are tight.
When you say lower leg I am assuming you hit the bottom part of a buss in the breaker box. You arced the buss. Pull out the breakers that the outlets are on. Make sure you turn off the main before doing this, or you may fry your brain too. Look at the buss that the breaker is attached to. Is there a small black spot? If so, you need to clean it up and replace the break. I metal finger nail file works great to clean it up. You may have bumped the grounding bar and loosened up one of the wires there. That's also easy to do inside the breaker box. If you simply hit the lower leg of an outlet, the wire simply got knocked loose in that outlet and it is effecting the outlets that it branches off to. If this is the case, you should know how to fix that if you know how to use a snake. Though you should be using a vinyl snake on live wiring.
Would I be right in thinking you sort of tripped on flexible metal conduit in which electric cables run and now the power is intermittent and trips the breaker? I would start by isolating the circuit so it is no longer live and checking the connections at each end of the cable run because any strain on the conduit could have tugged wires out of their terminals. I'd make sure that all the connections were tight and the wires properly anchored and also that each wire is in the correct terminal. I once made a mistake when replacing a socket outlet because the terminals in the new one were the exact opposite of the old one. Luckily, I found it straight away when I tested the circuit. If the connections all look good, I'd check the continuity along each of the cables. It is inconceivable that the cables inside the metal conduit were damaged as they should be continuous cable runs with no joins. The continuity test will tell you if any cable is no longer continuous, but I'd be very surprised as long as the original installation was done properly to code (or wiring regulations in the UK). Obviously, before you start checking the cables, you would unplug or disconnect everything that is connected to them. If the fault only happens when some sort of machine or appliance is connected, then it suggests the fault is with the appliance or machine and not the wiring. A 20 minute cycle of faults makes we wonder whether there is a fridge or a freezer connected the circuit. If so, I'd get it checked for faults and check that the power connection to it is correctly wired. I am not an electrician, just an experienced home owner, so please double check anything I've said. Good luck.
