I have some strange probs in my new house.
Background:
1) I had the electrical service to my house changed from arial to buried. 2) Electician installed new meter base on the back of the detached garage - 320 AMP. Installed 200 AMP disconnect for the house on the back of the garage. Used triplex alum from garage to house buried in 2" duct. LB's bring the triplex to the service panel in the house. The house ground is a standard grounding rod that was installed at the time the panel was installed. 3) I replaced the original 1961 house service panel with a 200 AMP 30 space GE panel. 4) No new circuits have been run in the house. 5) I also had the cable and the phone service buried. It's carried to house in separate 1" duct. Cable is used for television and cable modem. Phone line has one hot pair and is feeding a single wireless, DC-powered VTech set.Problems:
1) I now have a loud 60 HZ hum and vibration coming from the new service panel. The panel's door hinges pick up the freqency which makes it louder. It's in a living area, so I would like to quiet the panel down. The original panel was silent. What could be causing this hum?2) The picture moves back and forth (side-to-side) on my computer monitor. It's driving me crazy. I need to make it stop.
3) The 30AMP dryer breaker popped. Upon resetting it at the panel, sparks flew out the top of the panel and it made a loud pop. I called my electician. He came out and reset the breaker without it popping (of course). He said there is nothing to test for unless he can reproduce the faut. Is there a way to troubleshoot this? What would cause this intermittently? The dryer has been working fine ever since. One more thing: the dryer breaker has some sort of resistor or cap bridging the two leads of the breaker. The electrician didn't know what it was for, but installed in on the new panel anyway. Why would sparks fly out of the panel? Shouldn't the breaker prevent this if it is doing its job correctly?4) I am popping light bulbs left and right. I am new to this house, so I am not sure if this was happening before. I wonder if this is related to the other issues.
5) Here's the kicker: when the electirican installed the new panel, he wired two 15A ceiling light circuits out of phase and sparks flew and there was a loud pop, which tripped the 200A disconnect out at the detached garage. He said that the circuits are looped or connected. He swapped one of the breakers to bring them into phase and they both work fine now. Is this a safe condition? Again, why would sparks fly out of the panel? Shouldn't the breaker prevent this if it is is doing its job correctly?Thanks in advance for everybody's help.