My Circuit Breaker is Tripping 3 Common Reasons
What are Circuit Breakers
Circuit breakers are protective devices to ensure your home, business or even manufacturing warehouse is safe from short circuits, overloaded circuits, heat, excessive moisture and many more reasons.
Circuit Breakers will protect you and your equipment and minimize possible damage, not to mention it’s main purpose, to keep your home from catching on fire from an overload or from damaged equipment.
What the circuit breakers main purpose is to protect the wires from overheating. It has protection for short circuits (to trip instantaneously) and time delay for overloaded circuits. Many appliances have a. electrical surge when started and this is the reason there is thermal protection (time delay).
Circuit breakers come in many amperages, voltages and poles. Almost all residential homes have 120 / 240 volt circuits. Some homes are still protected with fuses that when blown must be replaced unlike a circuit breaker that you can turn back on.
What the circuit breakers main purpose is to protect the wires from overheating. It has protection for short circuits (to trip instantaneously) and time delay for overloaded circuits. Many appliances have a. electrical surge when started and this is the reason there is thermal protection (time delay).
Circuit breakers come in many amperages, voltages and poles. Almost all residential homes have 120 / 240 volt circuits. Some homes are still protected with fuses that when blown must be replaced unlike a circuit breaker that you can turn back on.
What are the different types of circuit breakers?
Standard Circuit Breakers
The standard circuit breaker Has thermal and magnetic protections.
Ground Fault Circuit Breakers
Also called GFCI are very sensitive to water and moisture. Bathrooms, Kitchens and outside outlets will be protect by this type unless a ground fault receptacle is installed.
Arc Fault Circuit Breakers
Again, these are very sensitive to any arc of electricity and are primarily used in bedrooms
What Causes A Circuit Breaker To Trip?
The contacts inside the circuit breaker allow electricity to flow from your electrical panel to the outlets, lights appliances etc.. They must deliver the load without overheating from a power surge or arc. Too much current or heat triggers the circuit breaker and then causes the breaker to trip.
An Arc (flash or spark internally) happens when the current delivery is interrupted when the breaker trips. An arc is extremely hot and erodes the contact material in the circuit. When the contacts experience a fault the connection must be broken which is where the term “breaker” comes from.
The circuit contacts are made out of highly conductive metals, like copper and silver alloy. The higher the voltage, the longer the arc created when the connection is interrupted. The stronger the current, the hotter the arc is when the breaker trips. Circuit breakers and circuits are matched so they do not exceed the acceptable current and voltage fault parameters. The breaker switch interrupts the electrical connection if the contacts are experiencing an excess of heat or current flow. As soon as the fault is perceived, the breaker trips. To restore current flow the interrupted contact must be closed by resetting the breaker switch.
What Causes A Circuit Breaker To Trip?
Overloaded Circuit: An overloaded circuit is the most common reason for a circuit breaker tripping. It occurs when a circuit is attempting to draw a greater electrical load than it is intended to carry. When too many appliances or light fixtures are operating at the same time, the internal mechanism in the circuit breaker gets hot and forced a bi-metallic strip ( two metals together that expand at different temperatures) that will bend when heated and hit the trip bar that will disengage the contacts stopping electricity from going to the circuit, and
Sizing the circuit breaker
The circuit breakers amperage will match the maximum electrical load allowable for that circuit. If your electrical outlet is 15 amps, you need a 15 amp circuit breaker. The wires have to be rated a minimum size to meet or exceed the outlet.
Circuit Breakers that keep tripping
This is caused because of a couple of differ reasons
- The circuit is overloaded. Too many amps is being drawn for the circuit breaker and wire to handle.
- The circuit breaker is defective. As the circuit breakers trip, a small amount of pitting can occur each time on the contacts causing them to get hot.
- The connections are loose. The wire connected to the circuit breaker or outlet is loose. Also it can be the connection between the circuit breaker and the busbar.
- Short circuit of equipment or wiring will cause the circuit to trip.
- The circuit breaker is just bad. This can happen for many reasons. The internal springs that hold the contacts are worn, Contacts are pitted, Electrical surges or even when the power company is doing regular maintenance.
- Some manufactures of older circuit breakers like Zinsco and Federal Pacific are more prone to tripping and damage
Always contact a qualified electrician to inspect and repair any electrical problems. Electricity can be dangerous and improper repairs can cause injury or even death