Very Wierd Electrical Problem

[tomtoolman12345]

I am workin in this house in the city of Rochester, I first got called to this customers house because a duplex circuit on the second floor of his house went out. I trouble shooted the circuit to be a bad breaker. I replaced the breaker and everything returned to normal for about 3 months, Last night I got a call about 1:30am he said that the circuit went out again and that there was water coming out between the breakers. he said he took of the panel cover and started to soak up some of the water that came out between the breakers. I told him not to play with anything until I got there. When I got there I noticed there was no water, drain lines or anything that could cause water to get into the panel box. My question is, where the hell could the water come from in the panel box. Everything on the outside including the service entrance wires are all dry, there are no water marks or anything like that. The only thing I could narrow it down to is condensation. I am not sure, Please let me know what you guys think. Thanks Tom.

 

[inspectorD]

The dam gave way.
I have seen bees nests, mouse nests and even chipmunks build homes in conduit lines. If this is a buried line, same issues.
The dam gives way with all that stored water.
I would poke around to find out where it came from, but this is a possible reason.

If not it was condensation, plain and simple. They need a dehumidifier.

ORR you have a strange customer.

 

[tomtoolman12345]

I think I found out what is going on. The meter that is mounted on the exterior of the house is suppossed to have weep holes allowing the water to drain from the box if there is any mositure in it. Someone filled the weep holes with silicone causing the water in the meter not to drain and to follow down the service entrance wires into the box. I am going to punch out the weep hole and allow the water to drain. Hopefully this should allow the problem to be resolved. Thanks Tom -T&A Valley Construction-

 

[triple D]

Make sure you put a lot of goo on the wires leaving meter base, and pump it in to pipe well. This will prevent future leaking. water should leave meter on gaps around cover, so it should never get that deep in there. I'm guessin its an overhead meter? You might check mast hub and seal that too. Good luck.....