I feel like I got a good buy ...I would rather always have a live tree growing in my yard ...but Fraser Firs are not native here ... matter of fact, the tree farms had hundreds of them planted (probably 2 -yrs old or so seedlings) that were all 'brown' row & after row due to the 'severe drought' here in our IA & alot of IA. So we did buy an already 'cut tree' brought in from Michigan...usually we 'cut our own' on that tree farm. The last 2 yrs we've had 'firs' & I love the look & feel of them & easy to decorate. But, wow, OA ...I cannot imagine trees costing that much money! The vine tree was lit up last night here in my dining room & it didn't cost me anything...so far it's lasted quite a few yrs ...I love it! LOL! Thanks, Holiday-ers! Jeanne S. This post was edited by jeannespines on Thu, Dec 6, 12 at 10:54

Normel: Thanks for replying--I understand where you're coming from. I guess it still isn't too clear to me what the OP means by "hooked up with a 20a breaker on the left side and a 20a breaker on the right side". I don't know whether that means the breakers are on the same pole, exactly to the left and right of each other on opposite sides of the panel. My preference for MW cc's (and code now, I believe, in those jurisdictions using new NEC version) is to use two-pole breakers or, at least, to use handle ties. That more or less ensures the breakers are not on the same pole and also means the neutral won't be carrying current when one but not both of the breakers are turned off. But it's an issue that's come up before in this forum and there are at least a few sparkies here who argue that sometimes a feller's gotta put the breakers where slots permit, so long as he's sure they're not on the same pole. I think this OP's probably gone now, but I did want to raise the possibility that the overall wiring may be OK, but there's another garden-variety reason a breaker is tripping now and then. It seems to me that's at least as likely as concluding an electrician totally bungled the job. And while I agree that a miswired multiwire circuit can lead to an overloaded neutral, that's not likely to be the cause of the intermittant breaker tripping, given the infor provided in the post. I dunno. YMMV. Thanks again and cheers, Tom

Agree with petey, unless you have been nailing something to the wall or ceiling, nails are not likely to be involved. I have experienced HOT NAILS. They went thru one wire and did not cause any breaker poppage. When you touched the nail it was quite a thrill though. I would start by taking the switch plate off, (NOT the switch) and with a handy flashlight inspect for any wire touching the side of the box or other wires. Then if you seen nothing out of the ordinary replace the plate and flip the switch or manually flip the breaker. Is the light just a light or is it a ceiling fan? Fans can vibrate connections loose and cause this problem. If you know how, remove the cover and look in the ceiling box, With the info you have given you should find the problem in one of these two places. If this is getting into unfamiliar territory for you, CALL AN ELECTRICIAN, , it's not worth the shocks you could receive, just to save a few bucks!!

"Cold weather assists with keeping the load down? Want to explain this one?" Electrical wires have less resistance the colder they get. At the atomic level, stuff is vibrating. The warmer something is, the more it vibrates. The cooler something is, the less it vibrates. Vibrations would stop if you could ever cool something to absolute zero (something like -459F or -273C). Electricity "flows" by having electrons moving. The more things vibrate at that atomic level, the more difficult it is for the electrons to move and therefore more resistance. Think of a bucket brigade where everyone is randomly taking steps forward and back. The bucket can only pass from one person to another when they are standing side by side. The "hotter" the brigade, the more steps they are taking. The "colder" the brigade, the fewwer steps they are taking. The brigade that moves around less will have people side by side more often than the brigade that moves more. So the "colder" brigade will be able to move more water with just as many people as the "hotter" brigade. Batteries, on the otherhand, work the other way around. Batteries release electricity via chemical reactions. The hotter the batteries, the faster the chemical reactions can occur. But the colder the batteries, the slower the chemical reactions occur.