What is a Short? What Causes Them?

🔌💡Welcome to another high-voltage episode of Electrician U! "What is a Short? What Causes them?" is the question of the day, and we're here to shed some light on the matter. You might think you know all about electrical shorts, but did you know that it's not just a one-size-fits-all term? From ground-faults to arc-faults, 120 shorts to 240, the electrician's world is full of these electrifying 'shorts'.
00:00 - Intro
01:58 - Materials: Lets look inside a Breaker
03:49 - Did You Know: A little history about Short Circuits and Grounding
04:53 - Memberships
05:44 - Safety: Vaporization
07:18 - Code: 240.6(A) , (B) and (C)
08:13 - Electrical Theory: Short Circuits, Arc-Faults and Ground-Faults
13:21 - Demonstration: See what happens with Short Circuits, Arc-Faults and Ground-Faults
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🎧🎹Music, Editing, and Videography by Drake Descant and Rob LeBlanc🎹🎧
#electrician #electrical #electricity
🔧 In the MATERIALS section, we're dissecting a breaker to see what's under the hood. Ever wondered how these vital devices prevent your house from turning into a fireworks show? Stay tuned!
⚠️ SAFETY is not a suggestion, it's a requirement! We're talking about the shocking consequences of electrical shorts, like the vaporization of copper - yes, it can happen, and it's as dangerous as it sounds!
📜 And because every good electrician knows their CODE, we're discussing table 240.6(A)and article 240.6(B) and (C). You need to know what breaker to use!
🔬 But what's the theory behind all these sparks and sizzles? In the ELECTRICAL THEORY section, we're following the flow of electricity from the transformer, through your panel, all the way to the circuits and back to the transformer again. We're breaking down Short Circuits, Arc-Faults, and Ground-Faults in a way you've never seen before!
🎥 Finally, for our DEMONSTRATION, we're showing you exactly what happens when things short out and ground fault. A big thanks to Eaton Electrical for providing us with some electrifying footage from their vault of arc-faults. (www.eaton.com/us/en-us.html) Trust us, you don't want to miss this!
⚡Join us in this episode as we bring the complex world of electrical shorts to life. Fasten your seatbelts and let's ride the current of knowledge together! Remember, we're not just learning to do electrical - we're learning to do it the BEST way. Let's light up this topic! 💡🔌

[@roycerabajanteiii7807]

Hi! I' m from the philippines. I'm an electrician. I just wanna say that your videos are super informative although there's a bit of difference in set up/system(2 hot conductors and a third wire as ground) compared to our system.Most of practicing electriciams here don't know anything about the technical side of electricity because they just learn the trade by merely watching other electricians in work. By simply knowing how to wire an outlet and light bulbs, you can call uourself an electrician here. Anyway, thanks for sharing your knowledge. You upgraded my know-how in this trade. Hope to see more informative videos from you. Have nice day sir.

[@atmacm]

Thank you for bringing to light the difference between a ground fault and short circuit. That’s a major pet peeve of mine.

[@georgec397]

Great educational videos! Thank you for the demonstration!!

[@kevinb5717]

Dustin, I loved this video. Demonstration, the knowledge was delivered perfectly. Thank you.

[@willfergusson724]

Great Video. I had a decent understanding of short-circuits already but this video helped add to it. I liked seeing the difference of series arc-fault and parallel arc fault, that I didn't know!

[@Hatim.13]

Dustin, you ve changed my life, I ve been a follower since "Journeyman to Master" and you were the one that convinced me to take Electrical as a career change at 30! Now I ve been doing Electrical for 2.5 years, started non union but recently joined the IBEW apprenticeship. The production quality is INSANE! Much love and appreciation brother! Thanks for everything!

[@corneliuscd]

Very helpful! Great content and genuine passion, keep it up!

[@alecdacyczyn]

Dustin, your video about 12/2 and 14/4 wiring from a couple months ago kicked up a firestorm that is still going. Many people didn't like 14AWG on a 20amp breaker for the lights. You should do a video explaining Fixture Wires and how they are different from branch circuit conductors.

[@johnjaimecausapin9695]

Thank you for this. I can now show my students how faults work in action.

[@lmc2695]

Wow, so glad I found you! You make it much easier to understand when I have electricians give me a quote. My head isn't spinning as much now that I understand!

[@SushiiiFish]

I'm a knowledge nerd, happy to find this channel. the radio show this morning talked about a guy getting electrocuted after jumping in a lake. someone was able to turn the switch off to the box and pull the guy out - but he died at hospital. this makes me think wherever they were, there was no 'ground-fault breaker'.

[@chadrowland5234]

240 volt faults are exceptionally rare. The vast majority of faults are usually either 120 or 277 volt, phase to ground faults. The only 240 or 480 volt faults that I see are improperly wired double pole devices such as double pole switches, a fault that occurs in a 240/480 volt system found in older buildings, an easy one, forgetting to break off the tab when split wiring a receptacle. Something that I have done before. But the vast majority of accidental faults that occur are usually phase to ground like a loose wire touching the housing of a fluorescent light fixture for example, or phase to neutral like a defective device. But don't get me wrong though. Phase to phase faults do happen. I had one the other day when troubleshooting an appliance that was 240 volt but used 120 volt for the controls. The wire was damaged and the two phase hot conductors got fused together.

[@workingshlub8861]

what is the most important conductor in any circuit?? electrician asked me that once and of course i said the hot wire....this is when i first got in the trades and knew very little.....he explained how important grounding and bonding is..

[@kennylavay8492]

Another good educational video. keep em coming.

[@aidkik580]

Thank you!! Ive been trying to find the problem on my house for weeks, lost all power up stairs but no breaker trip, ive been tracing wires forever! N then I thought I found the problem, loose wires on a switch, turned the breaker 'cuz I had it off' and everything was cool until later that night, my gf went to plug the TV in and power went bye bye again, no breaker trip just no power, everything new I'm learning will help me find it....eventually

[@vandatan6686]

Very very well explained. That’s better than school

[@AsmodeusMictian]

Awesome video and super informative. Thanks!!

[@jeronimohv]

I've heard the term "thermo magnetico" for breaker. It makes more sense now.

[@kenmorris5512]

Very helpful explanations…thx!

[@datroofboa7988]

Thank you for all these videos ❤

[@HonestyHVAC]

Dude this is some real cinematic shit here, nice work

[@JohnThomas-lq5qp]

Was told in Vo Tech school a short is an excessive amount of electrons flowing down the pike. It's very important to always the proper size of over current protection either with circuit breakers or fuses. Scary first time standing next to a metallic conduit and hear the wires dancing during a short where they quick bumping into conduit wall makes a loud sound.

[@ElectricRob]

Dustin, as an electrical engineer, I applaud your knowledge and understanding of theory like this as an electrician! I've met so many electricians that just "follow the code" without truly understanding the theory and science behind the code rules. And thank you for taking the time to educate others like this!

[@Yasistasass945]

Love your videos man! Very informative.

[@johnhickman126]

Regarding safety and PPE, how about a video on one of the most underrated and least-discussed topics..... FOOTWEAR!! ANSI vs. ASTM, composite toe vs. alloy vs. aluminum vs. steel. Synthetic vs. natural materials. Loggers vs. hikers! Do we, as electricians, need EH or ESD? (I know my choice!)

[@chriscummings9778]

Great videos. I really liked seeing you on Homerenovision with Jeff

[@Sundance_the_Rapper]

Like hot glass touching cold water, all the electrons waiting for the pathway to increase, has minimal surface area to deplete in such a rapid succession, creating a heating coil with ground being the atmosphere to ignite a flame.

[@alexanderkvenvolden4067]

Great demonstration! I'm curious what happens if there is a short from the service lines (you connect the lugs straight from the transformer, no main disconnect or breaker of any kind). Normally the breaker would interrupt the current, but what would interrupt it in this case?

[@jacobh8834]

Utility usually has a fuse at or downstream from the transformer

[@SowutuomBurna]

Clean work done Dustin 🙂

[@waynegram8907]

DUSTIN, thanks for the lesson, make a lesson on various relays, switches, contacts Electricians will test the contact resistance because of "pitting resistance". If you test the resistance using a DVM meter when the switch is open then half way closed then fully closed the DVM meter is testing at very low voltage giving a False Positive reading thinking the switch is good which its not compared to using a MEGGER which it will test the "pitting resistance value".

[@ramunesoda73395]

What is the NEC regulation on outdoor lighting? I think there are many misconceptions on what is considered code and what isnt. Perhaps it may be an interesting subject to tackle for a video. Aesthetics vs legality/safety of inset old/new work plastic boxes vs 4x4 boxes with mudrings vs hubbell outdoor rated surface mounted electrical boxes.

[@JJones-cl4dm]

Phase to ground go pow, phase to phase go BOOOOOM

[@patrickoneill1011]

Had a short circuit in a small electronic device. No battery connected, Crossed wires by accident and a small capacitor inside discharged. Everything still works fine now. Did I get lucky, or will I see future problems?

[@alejandrogalarza3147]

It is curious because this ground system is called TN, in Europe TT is used and it has a device called "differential", for which the fault currents are 1000 times lower and it protects the entire installation instead of just one receptacle like in American GFCIs.

[@JohnThomas-lq5qp]

Worst short that I ever came across was when a 2,000 amp 240 volt circuit breaker tripped out during a heavy rain storm middle of the nigth. Breaker was in the main substation that was on concrete piers 25'above the ground. When I turned breaker back on the huge short sook the substation. That circuit feed a 240 to 2,300 volt step up transformer that feed another building. The high voltage cable shorted out inside of a 4" mogul LB. We were able to pull the cable out slightly to get some wraps of rubber & tape around it then wrap plastic around LB to keep water out.

[@timsullivan3525]

❤great video u learned me!

[@MrsCyImsofly]

This is nice. It looks like you changed your format.

[@TRMNNYC]

Great video, but I'm a little confused. I looked over membership benefits and checked out community posts. It seems they are all at least a year old. Could someone maybe add a little more detail on reasons for joining EU? If it's primarily for supporting all the content you are providing, that's reason enough. But is there more that I'm not seeing? At any rate, thank you for all the content. I've always aspired to learning about electricity, beyond installs and repairs. It's hard to find the resources that explain the ebbs and flows, so to speak.

[@justinj.6323]

Dustin, my name is Justin lol. I’m six months into a high end residential company. Do you have any concrete advice on how to progress faster?

[@_KaiRos-11]

When you said grounds weren’t incorporated until the mid 21st century did you mean mid 20th century?

[@olliollioxinfree]

I certainly hope so- otherwise he would have to be some kind of time traveler telling us about the amazing future technology of grounding wires 😂

[@MrDontcareify]

I’ve done Solar for a long time and everything is typically bonded down to the inverter/Solar combiner so I’ve always thought of a short and a ground fault as a similar thing but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case in regular, residential AC wiring.

[@John_Locke_108]

My father told me drinking coffee would make me short.

[@jamesalbert4520]

Lol

[@victorseaton9123]

Mine told me it would put hair in my chest.

[@John_Locke_108]

@@victorseaton9123 My Uncle said the same thing about Whiskey. Didn't work although I was only 12 at the time.

[@uppercutshurt5199]

My mom would tell me the same thing lol 😂

[@John_Locke_108]

@@uppercutshurt5199 Irony of it was that my Dad's breakfast consisted of a half dozen cigarettes and a pot of coffee. And he was 6 feet tall truck driver.

[@dougsiskin1070]

Could you give a little history about fuses and breakers

[@granthertenstein7841]

good video but i was wondering if you could expand on backfeeds / neutral shorts , i recently had a lighting circuit with 130v hot to ground and 130v neutral to ground. i’ve never once seen 130v let alone 130v on every conductor ..

[@throttlebottle5906]

probably a switched neutral.

[@birdnestington220]

Wish I could talk to ya cause electrician around my area don’t seem to understand what’s happening, gfi that won’t trip, breaker that doesn’t trip but have 123v at wire, when hook up new gfi and test outlet only get .030v, and with wire buried underground, how do I find if there’s a short in the neutral?

[@kevinvt4174]

Hi, do you ever come across the old Knob and Tube wiring?

[@LightTrainElectricInc]

Electrical U are we allowed to use your content on websites with reference to crediting it to your KZbin channel?

[@joshdaniels4313]

is there any plans to change the background on the website? I cant see anything

[@nobleroofinggeneralcontrac7961]

If current flows from hot to neutral in a circle because the energy always wants to go back to the source how does a device/load allow it to not short?

[@lyfandeth]

Seriously, I've been told that a breaker can weld itself shut if there is a severe overload in a DC circuit. Same risk possible in an AC circuit?

[@kyrianmoss8249]

Can you talk about what is back feed and how they occur.

[@sealstech8087]

Hey electricianU, in oklahoma we had a instance a couple months back where a new construction apartment build lead to the largest fire in okc fire history. The canton apartments Oklahoma city. A lawsuit against OGE power and red dirt underground llc. A “neutral” conductors was made live erroneously, this was blamed for burning the entire construction project to the ground by creating an unintended electrical pathway. For some reason this doesnt ring clear to me, please investigate this. How the HDD crew was named in the lawsuit when the power generator is the one that energizes the lines and not the contractor, wtf happened? Was this because of an unshielded neutral arcing directly to phase or ground? If the neutral was grounded, how did it cause a multimillion dollar fire? Was it phase to phase voltage within a “single” phase? There are holes in the news story that im dying to understand.

[@martf1061]

6:30 THATS THE BOILING POINT.

[@vaughnwalker1840]

That's like older houses with the nob & tube house wiring, I seen it look at a older house in Oklahoma.

[@marvinjoseph.8337]

thanks bro

[@masalachaimasta]

A+

[@ronstewart5945]

Interesting that it took grounds that long to catch on, since Ben Franklin invented them in the 18th century with lightning rods on buildings.

[@Sparky-2036]

Language is more important than y'all realize. You tell me there's a "short" and I will shut your entire job down instantly until it's found. You tell me something is "reading through" and I will happily ohm the entire one line of the job with you until we isolate the problem. There's a story behind this......

[@Autonomous_17]

I always end on the AC/home electricians side of youtube even though I only work with 12VDC or dc. most home electricians never talk about 12v much less dc electricty

[@garrymyagui339]

Let me tell all you electricians a story. I was 11 years old and my sister had a radio cassette player. Over time the power cable (being bent to often) had opened up and the wires were damaged, so the radio stopped working. I saw my sister crying because of this and that pushed me to do something about it. If this happened now, I would just buy a new power cable, but as a young kid with no income that wasn't an option. I put my repair man hat on, went to the garage. Grabbed a stanley knife, side cutters and some electrical tape. I went back into the house. Cut the damaged part of the power cable out, so now the power cable was in two halves (the power cable had two wires, a positive and negative) With the stanley knife I cut about an inch of insulation off both halves of the power cable. Plugged the power outlet end of the cable into a power point in the lounge room (turned the power point on) and the other end into the back of the radio and turned that on too. Now in the mind of an 11 year old child everything is so simple. I thought all I had to do was twitch the wires together, wrap them up in insulation tape and job done. I live in Australia. We have 240V mains here. As soon as I bought the two halves of the power cable together, there was an intense bright blue/white flash. My whole body tensed up and was jerking back and forth involuntarily. This went on long enough for smoke to come off my body and clothes. My Mother, Father, Brother and Sister were in the kitchen having lunch at the time. They would have heard a strange sound and smelled a strange smell (my cooking flesh) coming from the lounge room. Not to mention the very bright light. My Mother came to the lounge room slapped my hands and that separated the wires. How can I describe being electrocuted? It was like some giant reached inside me from the front, grabbed my spine and said "I've got you, you're mine now. I couldn't let go of the wires myself. It just wouldn't let me. As soon as the electrocution ended, I cried. Boy did I cry. It burned holes right through both hands. My hair was impossible to comb for at least a week and also at school kids in my class would say they could smell a burnt meat smell. I'm 44 now. I'll never forget that experience with 240V AC as long as I live.

[@Cdswjp]

what does it mean to work live?

[@theastuteangler]

Thanks for being the dad I never had. How much do you charge to yell at me while I hold the flashlight wrong?

[@lyfandeth]

You forgot to mention Bermuda shorts.

[@martf1061]

15:56 How the hell am i supposed to know if its a ground fault , a serie arc fault, a parallel arc fault or a line to neutral short?.. Boss, the breaker just keeps tripping.. And the breaker doesnt want to tell me why... I think we are going to have to rewire the whole house and change the panel... $$$

[@luckyboltz29]

I just identified my shorts: they are basketball shorts 👍🏽

[@DavelyDriven]

Hot days cause shorts 👍

[@stonedgoddess420]

Ok so im only hear so I don't have to seem like an idiot and ask people I know in person I just had two ACs installed. Specifically the one in gonna reference to is in my room. It keeps making my lights spaz out. It'll blink I'm not expert but that can't be good, right ? Edit - for more referance. Its a really old mobile trailer home. Its not even fit to live in but hey. I'm poor , but I also don't want a fire. So uhm , is that normal? My friend has a HOUSE and his basement does it sometimes. He doesn't seem worried. , but i am cuz its a trailer... It never did it before the AC units It hasn't broken any fuses yet. So I guess that's good. I've had lamps do that already. I'm so sick of changing fuses lol I had to teach myself how to do it cuz mom was always blowing em. O said no dont pay some strangers let me look it up. 🤣 good skill to have. Now I can change fuses😅 But I'm not using YT for electrial guidance , I just wanna know if I have a problem then ill get a pro to fix it , I dont mess with electrocity. Even on the job we don't. Unless its simple and no risk involved(pool/landscape) even then we know a dude lol did that sht for 30+ years

[@aaizner847]

Oh, the irony of misusing words ("being descriptive of") in a sentence about the importance of using precise language.

[@martf1061]

6:25 I hear ; nine thousand nine hundred and 85 hundred degrees...🤷 Ok, lets say its 9985 degrees.. Degrees what???!? .. C, F, K... Wich one? Anyway.. its 1985°F .. AND THATS NOT THE BOILING POINT OF COPPER. ITS THE MELTING POINT

[@whistlindixiesmallengine2085]

Welding is nothing more than a controlled short circuit or arc fault

[@mackellyman5642]

Just want to make sure "you're" not part of the circuit!

[@markchidester6239]

Shorts are videos under a minute long

[@RedStorm.]

You mean 20th century.

[@Rgoddess733]

Are u a electrician? I need help with my outlets and lights are not working in my bedroom and the electrician can't find it either i need help

[@elainerussell924]

Ooooooooooooooooooooo I get it a short is wen you can't reach the top cuboard 😲

[@laysstandard]

lol stranded wire around a screw.

[@alecdacyczyn]

Yup. That's allowed.

[@martf1061]

Where???😲😲

[@nhzxboi]

Not rocket science.

[@mackellyman5642]

Unless it happens to you...

[@yasha4929]

I need to see 480v short!

[@Theyareout2getme]

Old school arch ladder think Dr Frankenstein