LESLIE: Going to Ohio to talk to Linda. What can we do for you today?
LINDA: Hi. I have a problem with my two garage door openers that are on the same circuit. And every time there’s a storm they turn off.
TOM: Hmm. The garage door opener keeps tripping?
LINDA: Yes.
TOM: But only when there’s a storm?
LINDA: Just when there’s been a storm, mm-hmm.
TOM: Got to be a short somewhere. I suspect that water might be getting into the line and that could be causing the short. And generally, if the circuit is tripping it’s doing it for a reason and it’s doing it because it’s designed to go off so that it doesn’t cause a fire. So I suspect that you may be getting some water perhaps even into the electrical panel itself. Have you had an electrician check your panel?
LINDA: No, I haven’t. It’s – but it is down on a basement wall which is not next to the ground though.
TOM: Yeah, but you know what happens? There’s a service entry cable that comes into the panel and very often the water will follow the service entry cable into the panel. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve opened up panels and found them to be rusted out on the inside.
LINDA: Oh, OK.
TOM: So you need to get this tracked down because if there’s a short then it needs to get fixed. I think the problem is more likely to be in not the garage door openers themselves but somewhere else in the circuit that’s causing this issue.
LINDA: OK. Well …
TOM: And it could be unsafe so you’ve got to get it checked out. It could be a bad breaker so it’s got to be checked out.
LINDA: OK. Well, thank you very much.
TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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