We had this problem recently. A circuit breaker would trip as soon as we reset it. So, I set out to find the problem. I checked each outlet in turn through the dining room, down the stairs into the basement, and realized I was standing in six inches of water.
The basement had flooded!
A power strip was running from one of the outlets down into the water so the breaker would flip instantaneously. Needless to say this is quite dangerous, luckily nobody was downstairs when we were testing the breaker. Once we got the flood taken care of and replaced the power strip everything worked fine.
It was a good reminder to check the basic integrity of my surroundings rather than focusing in too closely on the specific problem.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
We have a circuit breaker that all of a sudden keeps tripping. The breaker box goes directly to the power pole and the only thing on the problem circuit breaker is the pump for our well. We've had this pump on this breaker for 15 years and just started having a problem in the last few days. We already tried replacing the circuit breaker. We replaced it with a 15 amp breaker because that's what was in there before. That did nothing. Can anyone help please?
By Tim A
The breaker is tripping from overcurrent. If it trips immediately, it is most likely a short to ground. It could also be a locked rotor on your pump.
If it takes time to trip, it is an overcurrent, and for some reason the pump is working harder than it used to. Maybe buildup within the pump or bearing failure.
Look for physical damage of the cable feeding the pump from the breaker.
If none is found, have an electrician megger the leads to the motor to see if you have a short to ground.
If you do not, you may need to have someone pull the pump and have the motor tested and/or replaced. If it has been the same pump for 15 years, it may be at the end of its life.
I bought my house a year ago. The electrical box was replaced because it did not meet code as well as some wiring and new outlets were installed. I have had absolutely no issues, never blown a breaker or anything.
I came home tonight to find only some of my house working. Half the kitchen, half the living room, half the basement, and my garage door won't open. I checked the electrical box and a breaker blew. I reset it and switched it back on and all it does is spark a little and shut right back off. I unplugged eerything in my house and waited a few hours and tried again and still nothing.
I live in Illinois where we've had the worst winter ever, averaging 70 inches of snow over the course of winter. Today however it reached around 50 so everything was melting and water just pouring down my house non stop. I read there is a box outside as well. Could that be an issue? Or a bad breaker? Please help! The electrician wants $150/hr.
By Missy Mo
That electrician might be worth every cent of that $150 /hour. Since you have had no serious issues before, and have just had everything replace, this sounds like a serious issue to me.
My trailer house has a breaker box in my trailer for different parts of my trailer, but it keeps tripping the breaker box on the outside pole that my trailer is plugged into. If I have the dryer and AC on it trips. If I have the microwave and washer on it trips and I have to go outside to reset the switch. Help.
By tootiel from Menominee, MI
Those appliances are pulling to much power. You or the owner of the trailer park need an electrician to up the ampage to the outside pole or to the house.
I have a 7.5 Kw motor started by a control circuit with breaker. The breaker is tripping while I stop the motor. What is the cause for this?
By Linga
There's an electrical problem of some sort that could be dangerous, that's why the breaker is tripping. Have the motor checked soon.
I have been living in my apartment for the last three years and have never had a breaker trip before now. My living room breaker started tripping a couple of days ago suddenly, and so far it has happened three or four times since then. It appears to only be affecting the outlet where I have a surge protector plugged in with the television, DVR box, Blu Ray player, and a small lamp attached.
I have changed nothing, and added no new items so I'm not sure why the breaker is tripping all of a sudden. Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm worried this could be something dangerous.If you live in an apartment, I assume you have a landlord or, if it is a coop or condo, someone to call for maintenance. I would not be attempting this myself.
I have a 15 amp circuit breaker that keeps tripping yet nothing is on related to that circuit. Parts of it go to an outside pond and 4 other outdoor outlets. The pond is unplugged; so again I have nothing running on any of the outlets. What could my problem be? A grounded wire that is buried?
Thanks in advance.
After disconnecting all wires to the outside, the remaining indoor lights worked fine and the circuit did not trip. I then checked each section until I found a section where the wires had grounded out and burned. It took several hours to dig up and replace the 12 GA wiring but once completed all now works fine. Previous owner did a poor job skinning and splicing some wires and ultimately they grounded out.
Two months ago, we had power outlets that were having issues getting plugs to stick, so my dad had us replace all of the outlets in the room, including mine, but my plugs were all working fine before yet he wanted them all replaced anyway.
At one point, we were having to fiddle with one of the outlets' wirings in the living room because we couldn't get it to work without shorting out two of our other rooms. So they eventually got it to work, but then, except for my fan, I've had no power in my room for two months. So I just didn't bother with replacing my outlets.
Only now has my dad stepped in to replace the perfectly fine outlets in favor of these newer ones, saying this'll bring back power into my room. I don't know how, he just said it would fix it. So then I test it and it runs hot. All of the outlets are receiving power and yet I plug my lamp in them and I'm still not able to get it to turn on.
I am getting outright annoyed with this. What did we do to get the outlets to stop working?
Make sure the lamp works in another outlet before you assume your outlet is faulty.
One of my breakers at the box is tripping at night. I only have an electrical heater on with an auto temp setting. I have had it on nightly before without issues.
I live in 1976 mobile home. Could it be rodents or moisture? What should I do? Thank you.It could be either. As a firefighter/emt, I must say do not use it or that outlet again, until after you have an electrician check it out. It could be the heater having an issue and the breaker is tripping as it should, or it could be faulty wiring.
Rodents can do a lot of damage to wiring. If you know you have them, that would be my first guess. It's worth having a qualified person do the repair. Insurance will not pay for fire damage if a faulty repair caused the fire.
The ceiling fan and light will not work and when I flip the switch it trips the circuit breaker.
I live overseas, and have a 220V circuit. Yesterday, when I came home and turned on the light at the bottom of the semi-outdoor stairwell, the main circuit breaker shut off. I turned it back on and it was fine and I shut the light off from the switch at the top. It happened again today, but this time I switched it off from the top before I turned on the circuit breaker.
I plan to not use the stairwell light any more, but is that enough or is it dangerous to leave in that condition? I can call the landlord, but if it's not dangerous, my lease is almost up and I expect to be moving in a couple of months anyway so I'd just as soon not bother the landlord now. But I will if I need to.
By Joy C
I would alert the landlord just in case. You might save the life of the person that moved there after you.
As a landlord myself, I would definitely want to know about this problem so it could be fixed. Even if you are moving, please contact the landlord ASAP and let him know.
I would recommend telling your landlord about the problem because if you don't he/she may very well charge you for any repairs that have to be made or not release your bond when you leave.
I have 1 2000/1500w 240v heater on a dual 15amp breaker. The house is only 3 years old. Every time I try and turn on the heater the breaker trips.
Is it possible it's just a bad breaker or something more complicated?
I have had the same appliances, television and computer connected to the same 15amp circuit for at least a year. However last night I connected a lamp to that circuit and it tripped the breaker. When I reset the breaker with the lamp disconnected within a second the breaker tripped again. Next I disconnect all the appliances from that circuit (resulting in no load on the circuit) and tried resetting the breaker again.
The same thing happened the breaker tripped again almost immediately. In this scenario would I be safe in assuming the circuit breaker is bad and should be resplaced? Thank you in advance for your assistance.I live in an RV that has a double pole 15 amp breaker that's tripping. The load is 8 plugs and 2 110 volt AC window units.
The breaker box is full, so can I install another breaker box and split up the load?Another box would probably require another feed, maybe another generator or power source.
The breakers is protecting the wire within the walls. It does not allow more current to flow through them than what they are rated for. This is to prevent overheating.
volts times amps equals watts. 240 volts times 15 amps equals 3600 watts. This is where your breaker will start tripping. If each A/C unit is less than 2880 watts (12 amps) (80%) then they can be run individually but not together.
An electrician is always your best bet.
We live in a 10 year old home. The main breaker in our box has shut down our power two days in a row. We have been able to re-set it and get power back, but we are concerned.
Any advice? We haven't been operating anything new in our home, so our usage should be the same as it's always been.To be safe, call an electrician. This could potentially be a serious problem.
Breakers don't just shut off without a reason. Please call an electrician to help you figure out what the problem is. This could be a serious issue that could cause a fire.
Starting about 2 months ago the main breaker outside has shut off my electricity 7 times. I had to call maintenance each time as I do not have access to the breaker panel. In each case, there were no breakers tripped on the panel inside the apt. The maintenance man said I should not have the central air/heat running at the same time as the washer and dryer. Last week the air conditioner had been turned on a little while prior to it happening, but neither the washer or dryer was in use.
Then yesterday, it happened again. This time, the central air/heat and the washer and dryer were off. There was a small electric heater being used in the bedroom, but we didn't even own the heater during the first 5 times the main breaker tripped. Also, last month our bill showed we had used over 5,000 kwhs! Our highest usage ever was around 2,000 prior to that. What is going on?Just a question, Linkeen1, but do your power circuits (the use of which are calculated and billed to you) include any outside outlets? Is it possible someone has been plugging in at your expense?
Well, you need to urge the people who are in charge to get an electrician in to check out that breaker. Breakers do wear out. I have never had a main breaker do so, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't. In the meantime, you should know that ovens, dryers, AC, microwaves, and electric heaters are all big draws on your current. Try not to run two of those at the same time. However, if you are using 2 1/2 times as much power as previously, you should contact the power company, as there may be some other malfunction. If you are in a rental property, your first move is to get management to call in an electrician to investigate why the breaker keeps tripping, and also why you might be using so much power if you are not doing anything differently.
My downstairs lighting circuit breaker trips every 30 minutes or so. It is a 10 amp breaker. Can you tell me what I should check?
It may be that everything is working properly. 10 amps is a small breaker and if it is loaded to between 10 and 12 1/2 amps it could take 10, 20, 30 minutes or even longer to trip based on the temperature around the breaker box.
Breakers do not trip instantly:
a standard 10 amp breaker I use trips as follows:
over 10,000 amp : max breaker rating, may not trip, may have other problems.
300 to 10,000 amp : 1/60 of 1 second to trip
200 to 300 amp : up to 0.4 seconds to trip
100 to 200 amp : up to 1.5 seconds to trip
20 to 100 amp : up to 50 seconds to trip
15 to 20 amps : up to 150 seconds to trip
12 1/2 to 15 amps : up to 250 seconds to trip
voltage x current = power
voltage=120 volts
amps= 10 amps max
power= 1200 watts max
Your total connected load at lights and receptacles on this circuit cannot exceed 1200 watts
If the circuit is loaded, which an electrician can verify with a meter, your options are limited. The wire size needs to be identified to see if it can handle a larger breaker, if it can then simply put in a larger breaker. (#14 awg wire can be protected with a 15 amp breaker).
If the wire size is too small then you will need to replace it with larger wire before increasing the breaker size.
Another option, which I should have suggested first, is to replace less efficient lighting such as incandescent with more efficient such as LED. This will shed load dropping your amp draw. A 60 watt incandescent will pull 60 watts of power. A 60 watt CFL will pull 15 watts of power. A 60 watt LED will pull 8 watts of power. (60 watts of power is 1/2 amp and your breaker only has 10 amps available)
Bruce always gives good advice. He knows what he is talking about. However, another thing that he should have mentioned is that breakers wear out if they trip frequently. If I were you, I would go with his advice to change your light bulbs, and then, if the problem persists, call in an electrician to test the wiring and check the breaker. It may be a very inexpensive fix.
The refrigerator, dryer, washer, and 2 outlets on a wall with nothing plugged into them is what's on that breaker. The breaker is setup like a things together. 1 20 on top, 2 30s in the middle and 1 20 at the bottom. It's the 20 on bottom that keeps tripping. We noticed for sure that the refrigerator and the 2 wall outlets don't work when it trips, but we have not noticed if the washer and dryer work or not. Do you think it's a bad breaker? It just started tripping, it tripped once last year before summer and has tripped 3 times in the past month.
If a breaker trips repeatedly, it is likely worn out. However, the fact that it has been tripping indicates that there is an overload on that circuit. You need to determine what it is that is causing the breaker to trip. In my case, it was running the microwave at the same time as the coffeemaker was running (along with many other things that were on that circuit.) In the short term, you should have the breaker replaced. Then, either stop using the two appliances at the same time that cause the breaker to trip, or have your electrician add additional outlets to avoid the overload.
Well when I asked my daughter about it she said she didn't run anything that day. But I did notice the breaker tripped 10 days apart. I logged the date and what was plugged up and or if anything was running.
I recently started renting a two bedroom house with my buddy. When we moved in half the house didn't have power. The land lord called a electrician and got that fixed but failed to fix the light in my bedroom. A new electrician came to work on my light and they have been here for 3 days claiming they are rewiring some stuff in the attic. However, since they have been here we have had problems with breakers tripping due to flipping a light switch.
Most of the outlets in the house are wired to just a couple breakers. One being a 30 amp that trips when the light switch is turned off. The electrician wants to put a 35 amp in its place. Is this safe? Also they fixed my light but now it will not turn off. They say I have a bad light switch. Do these guys know what they are doing or should I be scared that they don't know anything about electrical work?By Lucas
I would phone the landlord and explain what is happening. He should be the one paying them, and it does not seem as if they are getting much accomplished. A professional electrician should be able to solve the bedroom light problem is about 20 minutes, especially if all the problem is is to replace the switch. That is a very simple task. Call your landlord.
I would be very afraid that these guys don't know what they are doing! Since they are rewiring, by law a permit must be issued and an inspection done. Call the city, county or state to see if this has been done (it should be posted where it can be seen).
Putting a larger breaker in means it won't trip if there is a problem and will result in a fire when the wire over heats.
Are there smoke detectors in this place? Make sure you have lots of renters insurance.
I rent a 3 bedroom house with, all together, 7 rooms. When I'm using the AC in one room I can't used it a other room. If I use it, I lose power for the whole house. When I check the breaker panel, there are 6-7 breaker switches in there, but only 1 breaker switch keeps on switching off the whole house. Does that mean the whole house is wired to the 1 switch, is that safe?
By Kiven
Get the landlord in there now. You have an overloaded breaker box and the landlord (in nearly all states) is responsible for making sure you have the legally required amps to run your household without fire hazard.
Insufficient amperage is a fire hazard. Overloaded circuitry and breaker boxes are a fire hazard. Fire will kill you and your loved ones!
If your landlord (as many will do) shrugs off your concerns and doesn't act in a timely fashion to remedy this, you may want to consider moving out-document everything in case you decide to try recovering your costs.
Although this is the landlord's responsibility, you are the one living in the house. Call the landlord, and insist that he call an electrician. If he doesn't get one there in a day or two, get one in yourself. Document all this, so that if there is work that needs to be done, and your landlord doesn't get it done, and you end up paying for it, you will have documents to prove all this, and you may be able to get reimbursed from small claims court or a provincial or state housing regulator - whatever may be in place wherever you live. Of course, if moving is an option, you may want to just move, but that may not be something that you can do on the spur of the moment.
An air conditioner uses a lot of power, but one breaker shouldn't shut off all the power in a house, unless it is a main breaker. I used to have such a thing -- a switch that shut off all the power in my house trailer. However, it is hard to know what you have in your house. It sounds like a job for an electrician, asap.
I have 9 smoke detectors, all hard-wired. I changed all nine out, two brand new ones. I changed the circuit breaker out. It's a 15 amp, but yet it still keeps tripping.
I have the Geyser breaker tripping on the DB board in the granny cottage.
I was told it could be the Geyser (water heater) element and thermostat so I changed them, but it still tripped. I then brought the element to my place of work where it was tested and it seemed to be faulty, I replaced with a new element and it tripped again.
The switch only trips after about 5-10 minutes when the water is luke warm.
I have two leads coming from the wall, two white and two black. I have joined the whites and blacks together. I connected a new fixture by connecting the one black wire and the one white wire to the supply in wires.
When I turn on breaker the light comes on in the "off" position. When I move the switch to "on" position the breaker pops.A breaker tripped every time it was reset. I searched everything on the circuit, but couldn't find any reason for it to trip. I took the wire off of the breaker and later found the disconnected wire still has full power. What should I look for?
One of the electrical circuits started tripping this morning. There are only 4 10amp plug points in this circuit. I tried removing all the appliances that were connected to these plug points and reset the circuit breaker, but after few seconds it trips again. I took all 4 plug points out and checked the wire connections and they all look good. While there was no power in the circuit, I used a multimeter and checked the continuity and found that neutral and earth is reading linked. I believe this shouldn't be. I would appreciate it if someone can advise me on how to overcome this situation.
My garage has a 20amp breaker, but I would like to occasionally be able to run it with a higher load capacity. I have 20 amp outlets, but all my outlets are wired in series therefore if one were to go out, there would be no power delivered to all outlets, however the lights are on a separate branch circuit in parallel with the 20amp circuit.
My question specifically is:
How would you use an extension cord with two male ends to plug into an outlet from my 30amp house circuit and into an outlet from my 20amp garage circuit to spread the load created by my welder and other power tools?
I realize this question may sound dumb, but I'm attempting to learn and have yet to find how people solve this problem other than by installing a higher capacity breaker (ex. 30amp breaker).
I know that if you connect two COM wires in series that you can get 230v from a 115 volt house circuit.
Feel free to use electrical jargon to describe how I should approach this problem, but if you have resources I could learn from online I would appreciate that even more since I do want to learn more.
Thank you.
Titan91
The 20 amp breaker is designed to limit current flow through the wires (20 amp is 12 AWG or larger wire) to protect the wire from overheating (fire).
Your power panel is staggered between two legs with the neutral being center tapped. The voltage between opposing legs is 240 volts. The voltage between the same leg is 0 volts.
Running a drop cord from a separate circuit to your garage may trip breakers if they are on opposing legs. If they are on the same leg, it will allow too much current to flow through wires and receptacles resulting in overheating and possibly fire.
What you are proposing is very dangerous and not according to code.
The proper way to do this is to increase the breaker and wiring. I would encourage you to get an electrician.
I have a 20 amp circuit that goes to my barn and garage and the breaker is tripping even when nothing is turned on. I can run the garage doors and turn on the lights and it does not trip.
I check the next morning and it is tripped. I can't seem to get it to trip while things are running just when the circuit is idle?Breakers can trip from short circuits and overloads.
From what you describe, it is not overloaded (it is idle). An electrician can verify this with a ammeter.
A short circuit can be caused by water to a damaged or improperly installed wire. (an electrician can verify the wire is okay with a megger).
In the morning is there a dew? Has it rained? Can water be getting into the electrical boxes?
Is it possible someone is using the circuit overnight and tripping it out on overload?
The breaker is tripping. I put a new breaker in and disconnected all the light fixtures and it is still tripping. I checked all outlets and switches to see if any are burnt and all look good. Any ideas? Please help.
You are on the right track.
I would always recommend a qualified electrician to troubleshoot such a problem.
Removing loads to eliminate possible problem loads is a good start and usually identifies the problem. Make sure all loads have been removed from that circuit.
What an electrician would do is make sure all wires from each removed fixture are isolated with wire nut or tape. Then go to a receptacle nearest the panel and disconnect the hot wire which should be black and connects to the brass colored terminal. He/she would not disconnect at the terminal, but separate at the wire nut because this feeds the other loads down stream. After isolating with wire nut or tape, they would go back to the breaker to see if it stays on. If it doesn't, the problem is between the breaker and receptacle. If it does stay on, the breaker is turned back off and the receptacle is re-installed and the electrician moves to the next receptacle until the problem is found.
I have just bought a 1966 mobile home. It is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath with 2 breakers, 1 in each bedroom. There has been some remodeling done, new bathroom lights put into ceiling, in living room overhead light, in kitchen it has a double oven built in. The 1 circuit breaker runs the bedroom, kitchen, dining room (both kinda like one room), the 2nd circuit breaker runs the other bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, living room, and front porch light. There are also 3 air conditioners, 1 big old one in the bedroom of the 2nd circuit breaker, 1 newer small one in the living room, and 1 big one in the dining room.
The circuit breaker in the bedroom that runs kitchen etc. seems to work fine, but the other one that runs the living room etc. keeps shutting off. It seems like if the big old air conditioner is on and all lights are on it shuts off within maybe 10 minutes. I think it's longer if the old air conditioner is off. There is nothing plugged in except air conditioners and overhead lights and stove, no refrigerator. Just don't know if it's the air conditioners or something within the remodeling.I would strongly urge you to get an electrician to look into this.
At first, it sounds as though the circuit is overloaded and the living room breaker is tripping on thermal overload. ( a 20 amp breaker allows 25 amps to flow for a period of time while its internals warm up and eventually trip the breaker on overload) If the breaker is being overloaded by the a/c, shutting the a/c and breaker off for 1/2 hour will allow the breaker to cool. Turning breaker back on without the a/c will then determine if the a/c is tripping the breaker.
You also commented about the remodel of your 1966 mobile home. At some point in history it was not uncommon to use aluminum wire in mobile home construction. This was fine, but care had to be taken that all termination points of the wire could accept aluminum. Aluminum shrinks and grows more than copper with temperature change and the terminals where it lands need to be rated for aluminum. If wired incorrectly, this could cause hot spots.
