Workshop Electrical Repairs

We had an power surge (or rather a long period with too high of a voltage on one phase) a few weeks ago. The electrical problem was caused by a problem with the nearest power transformer and impacted our house and two of our neighbors’ houses. The power surge cooked the 24-volt transformer in our furnace relay board, some surge strips, the whole house surge protector, and caused a minor fire in the breaker box in the workshop.

I was lucky that Home Depot had the part in stock for the furnace, and I was able to fix the problem that afternoon (after much stress). I was able to get power back to the workshop temporarily while I waited for the new breaker box to arrive. Today the weather supported turning the power off to the workshop and replacing the breaker panel. It helped that Susanna and Izzy are off at Swedish School today, so I have the whole day to work.

The project took about a half-day to complete and only took three trips to Home Depot to pick up parts that I needed.

The old panel with burn marks on the top right caused by the electrical voltage surge
The new panel wired up. They didn’t have the exact same panel in stock, but I was able to get one with two more circuits that fit in the same space.

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