A ground fault that hid in plain sight for three days
I was troubleshooting a random breaker trip in a 1970s office building last week. I checked all the outlets, tested the load, and even swapped the breaker, but it kept happening. The issue turned out to be a single, old-style fluorescent light fixture in a drop ceiling. Its ballast had a tiny, intermittent ground fault that only showed up after the fixture had been on for about an hour. I spent two full days on the wrong path before I found it. Anyone else have a story about a problem that was way simpler than it seemed?