When current and voltage levels are too high on a circuit, the circuit breaker trips, cutting off electricity to the circuit until the issue can be resolved. If power has gone off in a certain area of your home rather than all over the house, or you have multiple outlets not working in a room, the problem may be a tripped circuit breaker.
Electrical circuits of your home are protected by either circuit breakers or fuses. All homeowners should know the location of their electrical panel or fuse box, and the opening should be easily accessible and not blocked by shelving, boxes or furniture. If there are two breakers or fuses for one area, such as the kitchen, take care to detail which part of the kitchen each of the two switches controls. To reset a tripped circuit breaker , turn off the breaker by moving the switch or handle to the off position, and then turn it back on.
Reset the circuit breaker for a few minutes before unplugging and plugging items to determine what might have overloaded the circuit or caused the trip. Often, however, an overloaded circuit occurs simply because too many things are plugged into the circuit. If a circuit trips because it has been overloaded, you can try disconnecting something from the circuit, and using another circuit for the electrical power instead. To help determine what caused the problem, unplug all the items on the circuit before resetting the breaker.
After it has reset and rested for a few minutes, turn on or plug in items, one at a time, to determine what may have caused the overload. If circuit overloads continue to happen in your home on a regular basis, you may need to install a new dedicated circuit and outlet for the area to handle the amperage load.
To prevent circuit overloads, put large appliances and home systems like your HVAC on their own, dedicated circuits. A short circuit happens when a hot, or active, electrical wire and a neutral wire touch, causing a large amount of current to flow and overload the circuit. A short circuit should always cause a breaker to trip or a fuse to blow and may also cause sparks, popping sounds and possibly some smoke. It may also be caused by issues like loose connections, a slipped wire or even from damage caused by animals chewing on wires.
A short circuit can be caused by a faulty electrical switch, receptacle, fixture, appliance, plug or cord. You can try to trace the short circuit, yourself or call a qualified electrician for help. A ground fault can happen when a hot or active wire makes contact with the ground wire, a grounded portion of the junction box or a grounded area of an appliance Hot wires are usually black, neutral wires are usually white, and ground wires are usually green.
When contact is made between a hot and ground wire large amounts of current go through the circuit breaker which can cause it to trip. Ground faults usually happen when equipment is damaged or defective and can pose danger since live electrical parts may no longer be adequately protected from unintended contact.
Keep in mind that circuit breakers and fuses are actually safety devices for our protection when electrical malfunctions occur. Although, it may be frustrating when a circuit breaker trips or when a fuse blows, this action has actually served to protect us and our property. Never repair electrical cords or equipment unless qualified and authorized.
Have a qualified electrician inspect electrical equipment that has gotten wet before energizing it. The sudden surge of power could adversely affect your home computer, fan, or gaming system, for example. Find your circuit box and search for the breaker s in the OFF position. Some circuit breakers have a red or orange color if they are switched OFF. Then, simply turn back on the appliances and devices you turned off in step 1, and you should be fine.
Repeated circuit breaker tripping caused by general wear and tear on the circuit breaker is usually due to one of the following issues: Short Circuit: A short circuit is common, but potentially dangerous.
This is when a "hot wire" is contacting a neutral wire in an electrical outlet, which causes an overload of current to flow through the circuit, creating heat. The circuit breaker automatically shuts off in cases like these to prevent an electrical fire. Overloaded Circuit: Another common occurrence is a simple, overloaded circuit. If your electrical system or certain circuits can't handle the amps coming through the circuit, it will flip the breaker, and possibly damage electronics or even start a fire.
Ground Fault: This is when a hot wire and bare ground wire are both touching the metal box housing them. When a circuit breaker trips, then you have to go outside or down the basement, wherever the circuit breaker is located, and get the power back on again. It is important that spacial attention is given when the circuit breaker is designed so that safe interruption of arc is produced during the operation of circuit breaker.
Even though the tripping of circuit breakers ensures safety, it can get quite frustrating to constantly experience them and getting the power back on repeatedly. If you know the reason behind the constant tripping, you can do something about it.
Let us look at the three main reasons that cause circuit breakers to trip. A circuit overload is one of the main reasons why circuit breakers trip constantly. This occurs when you want a particular circuit to provide more electricity than its actual capacity. This will lead to the overheating of the circuit which puts all the electrical appliances connected to the circuit at risk. For example, if your television is connected to the circuit which actually needs 15 amps but is now using 20 amps, then the circuit of the television system will get fried and damaged.
The circuit breaker trips to prevent this from happening, potentially even preventing a major fire. You can address this issue by trying to redistribute your electrical devices and keeping them off of the same circuits as recommend fellow electrical repairmen.
You can even turn off some devices to reduce the electrical load on the circuit breaker. Short Circuits Another common reason why circuit breakers trip is a short circuit, which is more dangerous than an overloaded circuit.
Whenever this happens, a large amount of current will flow through the circuit, creating more heat than what the circuit can handle.
0コメント