Jan 2 - my flippin circuit

Over the past few days I've experienced a circuit breaker tripping constantly. It's the breaker that supplies my computer in the den, which is pushed pretty close to 15 amps it seems. It's a special breaker -- not a "ground fault" which are required in any wet or potentially wet locations (by sinks, in the garage, outside receptacles etc.) -- but an "arc fault" which is supposed to be able to detect small shorts from electronic equipment in bedrooms. The Electrical Code here in Ontario requires these breakers for bedrooms, since a short in a bedroom is most likely from a clock radio or some other small appliance. The idea is that the amperage in a small short might not be enough to trip a "regular" breaker. This is a fairly new requirement so these things are not in most homes.

However, I think that this breaker is on its last legs. I'm going to have to replace it with a regular breaker because this is annoying -- and, by the way, these breakers are worth over $100. Also on this circuit are the receptacles on the wall behind it -- yes, in the master bedroom. I designed it this way because this circuit is in the upper part of the panel which is fed by the generator if / when we have a power outage.

The other thing that I've got to sort out is what to do about a circuit for the kitchen when running on generator. Right now there is one receptacle on the generator -- the one beside the sink -- which is a 20 amp GFCI. The problem is that it's not working ... also in that box is the switch for the food disposer. The issue is that since the food disposer is NOT on the generator, it has a different "ground" than the generator circuit, while running on generator. The generator supplies it's own ground and as a result, the

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I'm back -- the breaker tripped again and the computer shut down because the UPS was getting close to being drained. The breaker wouldn't reset so I had to replace it. At this point I've got the spare arc-fault in place because I did not have a regular 15 amp breaker. I've got 20's, etc. but no 15. Call the electrician !!! -- me !!!

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Continuing the thought above -- with the generator supplying its own ground there must be a minor voltage differential between the generator ground and the ground-ground. As a result, the minor voltage leakage is detected by the GFCI and it trips. All the other circuits in the kitchen are dual outlets and I don't have two spare breaker slots in the upper panel. I might try simply un-bridging the grounds between the garburetor switch and the gfci ... perhaps that might work ... but of course I have to run on generator for a bit to try that out. That's fairly simple in the absence of a power outage -- go up to the generator, start it up, go to the basement, flip the 60 amp breaker from utility to generator, do my testing, flip back, go up to generator and power it down ... sign ... nothing is ever simple though. Maybe I'll wait for warmer weather.

Switching topics completely -- Stef and Aaron gave me an ice-cream maker for Christmas. I've looked at them before but have not bought one not wanting to get hooked on home-made ice-cream. However, with one now in hand, I tried making ice-cream. Stef had brought heavy cream and whole milk so I made the basic vanilla recipe, adding a tablespoon of chocolate for good luck. Everyone likes it -- even Jim Matthews -- everyone, that is, except me, not being a rich ice cream lover. That's a good thing. I didn't want to get hooked on heavy ice-cream. However, now that I have the ingredients on hand -- including frozen berries and real-lemon that I picked up at the General Store yesterday -- I'm going to try my hand at lighter ice-cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and sorbet. They are all more my style ! I will also try making ice-cream without using cream. I like the lighter stuff. I assume that I can work out a recipe that I like that is much lighter (the instruction book gives some guidance on that) so it's time to experiment.

I never knew the difference between sorbet and sherbet -- sorbet is fruit, water, sugar vs Sherbet which is milk-based. I suppose that I could have worked that out on my own but it never occurred to me to check. I love orange and lime sherbet -- and now have frozen OJ and lime juice to try them out. I also have my own, home-made fat-free yogurt as a base for one of those recipes. What I'm looking for is a fat-free, sugar-free, great-tasting product. I guess that calls for a lot of imagination !!

There was no action under the ice yesterday. My minnows stayed out there all day untouched or at least uneaten. I'll try again today, naturally. I did get out on the 3-wheeler on the lake for a while. It's a blast. I also went into town, running my errands -- get gas for the SUV, pick up more minnows (I hope that's worthwhile), get mail and grocery items at the general store, get beer. It's amazing how much shopping you can do in a small place and it's great that all these locations are within the same mile of roadway.

Having picked up a paper and the mail for Bonnie, I walked over there with Abby and delivered same. Bob and Lorraine Troup were there with their two grandchildren so Abby made herself a nuisance saying "hello".

That's about it. It's colder today, hovering a little over 0F this morning. David should be back mid-day. Jeffrey will leave sometime today -- either earlier to see Stef on the way down or dinnertime and go straight through. I expect that David will head out sometime on Monday so he's here by himself for 36 hours ... by himself with us that is.

The sun just rose over the trees across the lake. It's time to get moving.