Electrical assistance please (houselopnik)

"smobgirl" (smobgirl) 01/27/2018 at 00:00 • Filed to: None

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Please explain your answer to me in the simplest way possible, because this is a subject I want to know nothing about yet I need to be responsible here.

Tonight, in preparation for the Rolex (and also because promotional pricing) I decided to add cable, since cable + faster internet is cheaper than slow internet. Came home, plugged everything in. Modem to coax + power, cable box to coax + HDMI to tv (off), then plugged in the cable box to the surge protector...and the tv hummed and then smoked and now doesn’t work.

Obviously something is wrong. The internet implies that Comcast will occasionally have issues with techs not properly grounding their connections, but nothing else was damaged so it doesn’t appear that the coax experienced a surge. (I am willing to reconsider this though).

Please tell me what to look for. We have outlet testers at work so I can grab one tomorrow but other than that...? I want to figure out what happened before I buy and ruin another tv, or worse, burn the house down.

Stephenson Valve Gear > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 00:34

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This sounds like a classic case of a “hot chassis” component getting the hot and neutral swapped somewhere... smoke is invariably let out. However, this isn’t something that I can troubleshoot via the internet. The best I can do is to tell you to get the outlet tester, make sure that the outlet is wired properly, then plug the outlet tester into the surge protector and make sure nothing is swapped internally in it. I am going to assume that everything was plugged into the same outlet/surge protector? Anything further would involve a multi-meter and a some electrical troubleshooting skills... I think that a call to Comcast would be your next step.

smobgirl > Stephenson Valve Gear 01/27/2018 at 00:41

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Oh I can tell you how the Comcast call went already. After she asked what error messages were displayed on the dead tv and told me she could see that the cable box was online (when it was in the trunk of my car) I hung up on her.

I will definitely test the outlet. I’m wondering, though, if there’s a possibility the house itself isn’t (or is no longer) grounded correctly. From what I’ve read, it’s common to use metal water lines to ground the house, correct? If mine were switched to pex would this be a possible issue? (I’m sorry if that’s a really really stupid question, but I’ve just never had a reason to think about it before - and I haven’t looked at the box lately).

CTSenVy > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 00:52

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Was this a new surge protector too?

smobgirl > CTSenVy 01/27/2018 at 00:57

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No, same one I’ve had for the tv/Xbox/antenna for a year or so.

CTSenVy > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 01:10

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Hmm, there goes my idea of a bad outlet on the surge protector. I would guess there is something dangerous bad with the cable box, but that’s mostly a shot in the dark. I don’t think that the HDMI connection usually carries enough power to fry a TV like that.

I really can’t think of anything to try that wouldn’t involve a multi meter or risking a TV. The outlet tester would be a good start. If you have a Comcast store that’s convenient to get to bring them thr cable box and see if they can test it there.

Sorry I can’t be more helpful, just a very strange issue to troubleshoot via the internet.

smobgirl > CTSenVy 01/27/2018 at 01:16

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No, it’s totally cool. I’m just completely in the dark about power stuff - willful ignorance - so I will test the outlet and pester Comcast first.

I just also know that I live in a 100-year-old house in a low-income part of town, and if I need to call an electrician I don’t want to be completely ignorant. This is one of those times where I hate having to research stuff just to make sure I’m not getting screwed.

CTSenVy > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 01:25

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Right now I would lean towards the Comcast equipment having the problem and not your house, seems like everything was working until the Cable box got involved. Maybe the cable box has some internal wiring issues, that could mean it sent the wall voltage straight into the TV’S hdmi port. 110 Volts AC being sent into somewhere it doesn’t belong definitely would cause smoked components.

smobgirl > CTSenVy 01/27/2018 at 01:34

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I mean, that’s what I hope is the issue! From what I’ve read, this happens fairly frequently and they rarely admit fault. I’ll see what happens though.

CTSenVy > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 01:37

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Good Luck, I’ll keep my fingers crossed you get it sorted out before tomorrow’s green flag.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 02:00

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Having the pipes be the electrical ground is a thing that can be done, but it’s not hugely common because if the electricity does need to find a path to ground it could mean electrocuting anyone who touches a tap. I’ve experienced that. It’s no fun. Pretty confident it hasn’t been electrical code anywhere since, well, ever. Although a 100-year-old house may not have been wired after electrical codes started becoming a thing...

I don’t really have anything else to contribute. The only smoking TV I’ve experienced was after a power surge, but there were also things like exploding light bulbs that were a pretty good giveaway as to the direct cause. Beyond testing outlets and stuff... voltmeter in the HDMI and/or wall cable? should be able to google what sorts of voltage, etc, should be at which pin in an HDMI cable at least.

I don’t actually know anything about cable either. Haven’t had it since actually ever I don’t think. Maybe when I was like 6.

shop-teacher > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 02:01

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It is common to ground to a water pipe, but the pex would probably not be the issue, because it’s still a metal supply line going out to the street.

smobgirl > shop-teacher 01/27/2018 at 02:11

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It’s not though. I replaced the line a few years ago and from the street to my shut off in the water heater closet is one piece of pex. It was metal up until then and I wouldn’t have even thought about checking grounding until someone on teh internets had a similar issue in my research (his cable service had been grounded to a pipe with a presumption of metal below ground but he had a plastic line to his house).

smobgirl > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 01/27/2018 at 02:17

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I’ve never had it with a box! Had a couple apartments in college where we plugged in and had channels so we used them. I guess at least if I don’t solve this quickly I can at least stream on the app.

I’ve had an electric blanket and a couple space heaters unexpectedly stop working in the last year so I wouldn’t be surprised if something was off with the power. I just usually go with the conclusion that I break electrical things by looking at them and go back to living like an Amish.

shop-teacher > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 08:23

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Gotcha. That would be a good thing to check into then.

Thomas Donohue > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 09:47

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So, the TV was off (nothing is really ever ‘off’ anymore) when it hummed/smoked? It was already plugged into the same power strip?

Not sure how an HDMI connection could do that, so it’s likely more of a power issue with the cable box and/or power strip.

Had anything ever been plugged into the HDMI previously?

smobgirl > Thomas Donohue 01/27/2018 at 11:12

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Yup, tv was off. It’s been in that power strip for awhile - I plugged the cable box into the power strip outlet where the antenna had been.

And funny you should ask, because the Xbox was previously plugged into that HDMI port for a year with no issue. I switched the Xbox to HDMI2 before I went to the Xfinity store and plugged the cable box into HDMI1 when I got back.

You just reminded me, I have another coax connection upstairs I want to check. Not sure if it’s currently hooked up for Comcast or if it was for the dish the old owners had.

Thomas Donohue > smobgirl 01/27/2018 at 11:31

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I’d bring the box to store and have them connect it to TV there to make sure it’s legit. If it works, maybe a new powerstrip, as well as an outlet tester that lets you see if everything is wired/grounded properly. They are around $5 or $6 at Home Depot.