Circuit Breaker Keeps Tripping - 3 Common Reasons
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- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2024
- Here are 3 common reasons the breaker in your electrical panel will trip. This is basic information to give you and idea of what could be wrong and how to troubleshoot the loss of power in an outlet or circuit.
To reset a tripped breaker, you simply need to turn it off then back on. If the breaker immediately trips when you reset it, you have a short somewhere. Start by unplugging anything in that circuit and see if the breaker holds. If not, you have a problem in the wiring or inside a receptacle box somewhere.
Remember to disconnect the power before working with any electrical circuits. It is dangerous.
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Good, simple, straightforward. Good job.
Another superb video to help the "regular joe' homeowner to understand wiring, circuitry and home appliance trouble-shooting. We are very appreciative of your step- by- step visuals on this.
Great explanations Bill. Yes, I like your vids. Very well presented. As a mechanical and electrical designer by profession, I can honestly tell you how well your videos seem to be presented IMHO. Great job again Bill.
Thanks, Bill...for your common sense, straight forward approach, to trouble shooting a faulty circuit breaker.
Simple yet straightforward and informative!! Thanks, sir.
Thanks, I tried to explain to my sister but she couldn’t understand me. Thanks for making it easy so I didn’t have to repeat myself or calm down because she said I was yelling at her. Plus I’m in California and she’s in Queens N.Y. and there’s no way I’m flying back East to fix an outlet during this pandemic. I love my sister but she’s going have to pay someone.
Thank for the great video. Just had this happen in my garage....had a thought that it might actually be the original wall breaker plugin (maybe from age). I had trouble shooted the entire system. Replaced it and all is well :) thanks for the great video! Saved me probably 300-500 bucks! Much appreciated. Thumbs up!
1. Overload due to accessories on circuit pulling more than the breaker rating.
2. Fault due to dead short.
3. Loose connection causing high resistance.
This was great. Now to make a video and find out how to find out what it was .
Simple but very explanatory and detailed, thanks
You just saved me so much time and frustration. I had a wire that had a gash in it where my wifi router was plugged in
Thank you for showing examples!!
explained very simple, thanks.
Excellent job explaining things to someone no in the trade.
The 3rd one you just explained can also sometimes be attributed to the bad "jaw" of a plug-in type c.b. A simple non-contact thermal detector ( very common these days because of covid-19 to check human temperature ) is pretty handy to check the circuit breaker's temperature just to make sure its contact to the busbars is up to par, otherwise excessive heat from loose, pitted and dirty jaws because of arcing, can trip a breaker even with the right current load.
Thank you very much for those lessons. Very useful!
Thank you for helping us may you rest in peace
We had record low temps(-30 celcius) an outdoor extn cord was causing the tripping of the circuit thanks for the help!
Thank you so much for the educational video for this topic on why circuit breakers trip. Romano C.
Miss your videos
Mine trips when I turn my heater on and it never did that before. I tried unplugging stuff but still no luck, I hate this camper!!!!
Thank you so much, my friend. Very helpful, and you are straight to the point.
Thank you man ! Saved me a headache popped like 4 times in 10 mins. Never thought a weak breaker. Lol just been unplugging stuff
He has passed away.
Thanks brother appreciate it have a merry Christmas.👍😃😃
Crazy thing is probably all of the breaker manufacturer's inform customers in writing in their specs to change a breaker once it has tripped! I assume they say that only to cover themselves from liability. That would get expensive for owners though to change circuit breakers for everytime a breaker would trip. Good video, Bill.
Jeff
Journeyman Electrician
they do not tell you to change a breaker if it trips that would be a fuse. Breakers are made to be resetable thats why you buy them over a fuse. Also your breakers should ever be tripping frequently or your shit would fucked up.
Think you . well done strait to the point and well explained.
I have now subscribed...
Hi! I am currently renovating my second bathroom. I will be replacing an old electrical baseboard with a new one. While researching books and the internet, I now have a better understanding of electrical circuit and the max safe operating load. When I investigated other circuit in the house, I found a circuit with a 2000 watts baseboard, plus a 750 watts baseboard in another room and finally a 2000 watts heating fan in another room. This makes for a total of 4,750 watts. Now, in the breaker panel, for this circuit, the breaker is a 240 volts 20 amp. Am I correct to say that it is not safe? If I replace the breaker with a 30 amp, would I sleep much better? Thanks for the good video.
Although I, as an electrical designer, would not load that circuit that close, it is wired correctly and complies with NEC. The load is non- continuous(runs less than 3 hours continuously) and can be loaded to 100% on the breaker. 4750 watts at 240 volts is 19.79 amperes. If it were a problem, the breaker would have been tripping. Adding another circuit to one of them would not be wrong if it makes you feel better.
Respectfully, Kevin
Many thanks to you friend...
Thank you for the video! My husband and I have lived in our home for 3+ years. Our bathroom and second bathroom outlets are on the same circuit along with one outlet of the lanai. We have nothing plugged in full-time. Once in awhile I was using the outlet for a vacuum but we upgraded to a wireless/cordless vacuum over a year ago. Some time a few months ago, the outlets stopped working. We didn't realize it until we purchased a Waterpik and tried to use it in the master bathroom last month. We have no idea of how long the outlets were not working as we don't use them.
After searching RUclips, we replaced the circuit breaker successfully. We plugged in a random light and it worked for a second.
We have an electrician called who is coming tomorrow at the tune of $65 an hour to figure out what is wrong. Any ideas? My husband is quite handy. He is currently disconnecting the outlet in the master and then has plans on doing the same to the second bathroom).
Thanks ,good video. Brief and to the point.
Thank you, NOT a lot of bla bla bla, SUPER awesome and to the point. I'd hire you in a snap
Thank you !
Hi Bill, thank you for your informative video. My question is why my GFCI outlet is not working; it has a solid red LED on. When I plugged a GFCI tester, nothing light up. The Circuit Line is hot when I tested it with a non-contact AC Voltage Detector. I even disconnected the Load line from the outlet. I greatly appreciated for any pieces of advice.
Thanks for this.. helped me out..👍🏽
Thanks for sharing video and good tips too. Regards.
are these problems fixable?
I can’t understand the dislikes here??? Guy is speaking sense ☝️💯
Help! I accidentally left water around electric stove for about 20 hours. I dried it now, but it keeps trip the electricity. Haven’t cooked for days.
if the screw hits your wire and trips it, and your not sure what screw it is , is there someway to pinpoint the problem without taking half of your drywall down?
Yeah you just gotta touch the screw with a hot/neutral cable
De energize the main circuit breaker and short both phase and neutral of house wiring, then use an ohm meter and start touching all nails while keeping the second lead to the short you made in distribution box using a long wire.
Yes. The safest way to do it would be to First turn on the breaker and see if it turns off again immediately. This will tell you that the short is still active. Sometimes a short will burn enough of the screw away where it will stop making contact with the copper.. In that case you're screwed and you'll just have to take out each screw one at a time and inspect it.
If it continues to trip the breaker immediately then keep the breaker off and use a meter to test for continuity between any dead plug in that circuit and each screw.
You will have to test both legs hot and neutral because you don't know if the hot and the neutral are shorted together or if a hot and ground are shorter together or if the neutral and ground are shorted together.
Run an extension cord from any dead outlet into the area that you're going to be testing the screws. Turn on your meter to continuity and connect one lead to one side (hot or neutral blade hole) of the female end of the extension cord and use the other lead to touch each screw.
If the screw Is contacting The conductor that shorted your meter will sing when you touch the right screw. If you get through all the screws and you didn't get continuity simply switch the meter leg to the others slot in the female extension cord and retest all the screws. One of the two should show continuity at least at one of the screws. If you find it, unplug the testing extension cord and simply back the screw out and reset the breaker. It may be the case that the screw didn't break the conductor and everything will be fine even though the plastic covering will be boogered up. If you find the screw and you take it out But the circuit keeps tripping you either have another screw that has shorted the wire or the wires damaged sufficiently that the copper conductors are continuing to touch even with the removal of the screw. If the ladder is the case you're going to have to open up your drywall at that screw location to determine the gravity of the damage and the course of action for repair. If the conductors are not severed and if there isn't a huge loss of copper at the point where the screw went in, you might be able to get away with slicing open the jacket of the main wire and then separating each wire and individually wrapping them with electrical tape and then finally wrapping all of them again to provide a new outer jacket for the set. after you have cut the outer jacket and separated the conductors and before you start taping reset the breaker and see if separating the conductors at the screw penetration point Is sufficient to stop it from tripping. If so, inspect the conductors to make sure that there's no huge loss of copper. If there is sufficient copper left simply tape up the compromised insulation on each leg and then retape the bundle to provide a jacket on the whole cable. Reset the breaker again to test your repair before you seal up your hole. As long as you don't cut a copper conductor you don't have to have a junction box. If there is a cut copper wire the proper thing to do is install a junction box at that location and hope like hell that you can get enough slack to get both sides of the legs into the box.
The other thing you can do but it's up to your discretion and you take full responsibility as to make the repair in the ceiling with a conductor splice and soldering the connections and then using high quality wire nuts to cover the soldered connections and then tape the shit out of everything. In the old days they used to solder and bury connections all day long.
They would solder and then wrap them in a rubbery sticky tape and then bury the conductions in the walls. Again, burying connections in walls is now against code but sometimes you got to do what you got to do.
Just know that I am an electrician and I am not counseling you on what you should do. I merely telling you what has happened in the past. You will make your own decisions and take full responsibility.
Do you mind answering a quick question for me....I have a chandelier from home depot that I would like to convert to a plug in, rather than a "direct connection" (not sure what that is called). There are 3 wires. Neutral, Hot and a ground wire...however the ground wire has no sheathing on it. The directions state to route all 3 wires through the chains yada yada. Well I went and bought a two prong connector....thinking that the ground wire from the chandelier will be find to be grounded to the ground wire coming out of the ceiling/box. So that wire is grounded there...I ran the other two wires along the ceiling to a ceiling mounted 3 prong outlet. I plug the two prong from the chandelier into the 3 prong outlet and my 20A breaker trips. Again the ground wire (unsheathed) from the chandelier is grounded to a ground wire hanging out of the ceiling...is it because they are on two different circuits? Any help would be awesome.
Thanks, I somehow managed to replace a circuit breaker and cured a problem that has been on going for months. And thanks to you, I did not have to go to the ER to pull off the installation of a new breaker.
It's only 120 volts. Won't hurt you at all.
That's a real amazing video bro keep it man.....!!!!
I hear a slight buzzing noise from the specific breaker that keeps tripping before it trips off. Unplugged all devices on that circuit, tried again. Still have the same issue. Because I’m hearing that noise, should I isolate the problem to the breaker or should I now take a look at the outlets to look for shorts?
I enjoyed it thanks
Very cool trick.. how you make trip the circuit!! Never thought about it..
With plug and two small wire!!
Thanks for sharing, im a new electrician working here in the philippines this kind of information helps a lot. Tanks!👏👍
I have a breaker that I turn it on and after a few seconds it builds a small buzz, tiny spark and trips. It won’t stay on. Any idea? We’re gonna have an electrician take a look but came across your video and thought I could ask your opinion
Very good and clear.
Informative video!
How do you know which one it is? We have a duel pole that only runs one thing an air conditioner. Well, this year I have noticed after turning it on and leaving for my uncles for a week, or 4 days, I come home(to check the house as its only 45 minutes away) and find the breaker has been tripped. I don't want to spend money getting a new air conditioner if it is a cheaper fix of just maybe the outlet being old or the breaker. As another outlet that ran an air conditioner had an issue with its breaker but it wouldn't run for more than 30 minutes. This one is running for at least a few days before tripping.
How about when the GFCI in the bathroom (also wired to the lights) goes out after a couple hours (trips). then We can reset it and we might be good for 10 minutes or a day..? Do you think the 15 amp breaker could be going bad!?
if i drilled into my wall hitting a wire, how dangerous is that should cut out the drywall and see?
Thank you sir this video is very useful for, because I have need to do about breaker trip. 😁👌
Sir,
if LV cable insulation damaged , then CB will be tripped?
Thank you.
I've changed the breaker and the plug my light still going g out downstairs
Great info. Thanks.
I just changed a plug and replaced it with a new identical one. I put the wires securely in the same places and finished the installation. I went back and turned the breaker on and it trips, along with the main breaker to the whole house. This house (my sister's place) is just over 20 years old, and the old plug socket was working but the bottom plug had a black smoke stain on it ( it still functioned). Could it be the breaker itself? It's a 15 amp Kitchen split, a double breaker.
A 4th reason: If one of the nuts in the panel is loose, it can create arcing which causes the breaker to overheat. I'm speaking of the nuts that secure the connecting bars that run from the meter socket to the breaker bus bars. I had never checked those nuts because I assummed that a panel from the factory would have tightened nuts. Not so!
Thank you Bill
Hi I installed and replaced one of my breaker for my living room and I took out the old one and put the new one. After turning on the main breaker my family heard a loud pop in the living room. Is that a normal sound after installation??? Just curios. Everything is working fine now but just want to know????
I replaced the breaker but it keeps tripping. Not much plugged in and I didn't screw in or damage anything.
That’s for the info ...very helpful
Wow a weak breaker never thought of that 👍👍 , good advise 👍
WITH MY LUCK IM WITHOUT LIGHT TONIGHT. MAIN BREAKER TRIPPED & EVERYTHINGS CLOSED DURING COVID19 AT 8PM. FML! And it's going to be the coldest night of April. 34 degrees
For a quartz heater I installed dedicated 20amp Square D circuit breaker, 12 gauge wire to a single round outlet, the wire run to panel is only 18 feet. Works great until I turn heater switch to include the second quartz element, it trips the breaker.., does that sound odd ? All components are new, should I have run 10ga wire ? Connections are snug and perfect, maybe a weak new breaker? Maybe we’re at the current draw limit of our 200 amp service panel already?
My garage door opener trips the breaker. A repairman changed my surge protector. It worked a few times but now trips it again when I push the button.
Thanks smart guy. 😁
Hi Bill
Great job! I was wandering? will a short between load to net. Like the screw. always trip the breaker on that wire , or can it trip Main breaker?
Great video! But if it touches an ungrounded metal box it won't trip the breaker and will cause that box to become energized
Excellent! Thankyou
Just got a new 200 amp panel and its tripping off a toaster should i call the guy or move the toaster cuz it never did that on my old one
its been a while since I done any electrical work mostly forgotten everything
Awesome job thank you
I have power all through my house not in my bedroom and it was my AC that was keep flicking
on and off and my light would flicker too does that mean it's the breaker
Sorry to ask you this stupid question. According to my aunt's office staff, the reason why the office MCB keeps tripping on certain days over a period of six month is due to three x faulty (expired) UPS and ask her to replace those with new UPS. I was wondering why UPS can cause these trips on certain days and not everyday. I also notices that there were ongoing renovations and other seminars there with additional extension cables etc. My opinion is if the use of power tools during renovations could also cause those trips? Thanks!
He passed away 😢
Hey Bill great video mate
Why did you stop making videos? These are great!
I read in the comments that he passed away same year he posted this video.
electrocution ?
@@SweetDee928 electrocuted ?
Did u miss 1? when water hits it does it trip? My whole circuit has Burns, along with the plastic Circuit Breakers, which I keep changing. I wonder if changing 20 amps to 15 amps matters? I am with I like today during covid 19 I'm screwed.
I think I have a circuit drawing 8 amps rated for 15 amps. The house is only 3 years old. I'm wondering if I should just install some LED bulbs in the bathroom or actually figure out why that one breaker has tripped twice in the past couple weeks.
Commentary doesn't get reply only because when the RUclipsr gets a lot of views on his video, but he does not know that he always have to reply each and every comments to help his viewers in need because his video is all about problem solving.
You know this guy Bill passed away right?
Whats the most you can put in a 20Amp breaker is it 125%? If its not continious?
Hi Bill, I have very strange problem ----- Mcb trips with or without load after 8 to 10 minutes. I did try replacing it, but the problem remains the same. What could be the problem?
what you don't have a main switch to turn off power,to change beaker
did you make a video for the other types?
nice video for an amateur like me
Hi bill this is Ed from southern California , listen I just bought a HYPER Touch 12A electric leaf blower from Walmart well yesterday I was using it and twice it popped the house braker and today I was using blower at next door neighbor house and it also popped the breaker do you know in simple tip on what can I do to fix this issue so I won't have to go and return it back to Walmart ? I really want to keep this blower and not go though the hassle of returning and all that jazz . I going to subscribe to your channel and I had few incidence when I accidentally cut my extension cord while I was using my hedge trimmer pretty scary
So whats at fault when i try to replace a blown bathroom globe, but when i turn to test it the breaker trips out and the new globe is blown ? Is it the globe point of contact, the ligt switch for bathroom or the breaker in the main box itself?
Hi, I have 2 AFCI breakers, both tripped, 1 instantly, and 1 after a few minutes. Nothing new was plugged in into these circuits. I also tried shutting off all breakers except these 2 but they would still behave the same way. Would replacing the breaker be my first option at this point? Thanks
my breaker is popping just running like 8 outside bulbs. no water getting in, wiring is good. the breaker is as old as the home so 23 years. they stay on awhile before they go off. does this sound like a breaker is going bad?
God bless you sir!
Could you explain why one of my Light Breakers trip while the lights are turned off,
Thanks
What may be the reason for both two-way switches to lose power without tripping the circuit-breaker? It is running a ceiling fan with 3 lights. Could it just be a defective fan? doesn't make sense to me to kill both switches.
If you are pulling the chain on the fan to turn off the lights and the fan, and there is no voltage on either side of the switches, then the switches may be switching the neutral instead of the hot, which would be incorrect. Are you the one that wired it?
Respectfully, Kevin
Our circuit breaker keeps going back to the middle when i left home. the only appliances plugged in was the refrigerator. Do we have a bad wiring?
Hello. I was watching one of your RUclips videos. I was very impressed. I hope you don't mind me asking you a question. I'll try to keep it short.
I have a house that is about 1150 square foot and was built around 1968. I'm renovating to sell. Tried renting and it was a nightmare. All 10 years of it. Iv replaced every switch, plug and light fixture successfully. However there is one light fixture in the bathroom that is throwing the breaker on the outside of the house. The outside breaker box of course. I know it's not a smart thing to do at all but I wired it hot and it worked fine but when I turned the switch off to turn the light off it immediately throws the outside breaker. I don't understand this at all. I do know that there is a ground fault plug on this circuit and highly suspect it may be the problem but don't know why. I have done some electrical work and took some classes but I'm far from an electrician. Oh and there is 2 lights in the bathroom where this fixture is, both on this same circuit but they are worked by separate, side by side, single, 2 way switches. And the circuit goes on from there. I watched another RUclips video that said I needed to mount both black wires to the fixture to the hot and ground fixture wires and wire nut the neutral wires together. I did not understand this at all but I actually think my neutral wires were wire nutted together but don't remember for sure. I would greatly appreciate any and all advice you could give me. Thank you very much, Robert.
Sorry, but Bill’s no longer with us. I’m interested to know if you found source of the tripping.
@@sunshine3914 Do you have an electrician theree?
Any way to diagnose the third one*(weak breaker)? Other than just replacing it
there is a video on YT
@@BigEightiesNewWave thanks. Turned out my issue was a bad relay on a commercial compressor. Swapped it out and the breaker no longer trips, so I guess I’ll never know......
Help! I have one of those bubble water chillers that hold the 5gal returnable jugs. Well, about 10 mins ago I went to put a new water jug on top as I always have. When the water jug dropped down into place it caused the 15a GFCI breaker in the panel to trip. I have reset the breaker and tried eliminating different sources, however, it only now trips with the water chiller. Something happened when I put the new water jug on top of it. All internal wires appear to be in normal configuration. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated. I have been using this water chiller for several years (indoors) I have never had a issue before. Calling an electrician would surely cost more than a new water chiller. I would really like some insight on what is going on. Thanks.
Good sharing👍👍👍
Thank you so much, in my case, the circuit trips as soon as I plug the phone charger to the outlet, the circuit is 20 Amps.
get rid of that Chinese charger.
It’s not the charger. I found out that the wire is nailed.
Why main breaker trips I were not using anything last night
Thank you champ 🤗