First World Problems...

Power in but no power out suggests to even the most incompetent homeowner that the controller is shot. And that requires a replacement! The fancy new one in the photo even has a humidity gauge, so the attic vent fan will turn on when the mice up there are uncomfortable, not just hot!

But attics tend to be at the top of most houses...up a flight of stairs and some sort of magic carpet to get into the attic itself. And breaker panels tend to be in basements (at least around here), and basements tend to be at the bottom of most houses... DOWN a flight of stairs.

Yes, that adds up to two flights plus a ladder and an awkward climb into the attic.

And it gets worse! Most electricians and sane people suggest turning off the power before working with household power. Supposedly 120 volts AC at 60 Hz and a bunch of amps does not play well with the human body, in particular the bunch of small muscles called the heart.

Probably just a bunch of internet know-it-alls, but they might be on to something.

So how to figure out which breaker controls the fan? What? No, they are not labeled. At least not well enough. So I can buy a circuit breaker finder, which means I can clip it onto the power feeding the fan, then check each breaker until the magic wand goes beep. Or ... and this is less exciting ... I can go back and forth and up and down 27 times, turning off one unidentified breaker at a time until I stumble on the correct one.

I am confident that I will never use the circuit breaker finder after this little project, but if I don't buy it, there will be a project in the next two weeks that will require it.

That is a fine example of Schrodinger's Homeowner's Paradox. The repair both exists and doesn't exist. But I will be in existential OCD agony until I find out!

posted by CBD at 02:00 PM

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