Timeline for Tripping Breaker
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 28, 2016 at 15:37 | comment | added | coteyr | Yeah but with that logic I should never take a shower cause I might fall down. Trust me, the world is better off if I shower. | |
| Apr 28, 2016 at 15:30 | comment | added | Tester101 | @coteyr If you turn on the breaker and a fire starts in the wall/ceiling, it could be too late by the time you realize a fire started. An electrician will know how to troubleshoot the circuit, without turning the breaker on. We're not talking about changing a lightbulb here, we're talking about troubleshooting an electrical fault. | |
| Apr 28, 2016 at 14:02 | comment | added | coteyr | @Tester101, It seems completely unreasonable to me to contact an electrician to do this kind of testing. Breakers and fuse boxes are meant to be manipulated by common people. Why on earth would you call an electrician to change a lightbulb? To me this kind of testing is "first aid" and doesn't require years of experience or a degree. Just a tiny bit of common sense. Obviously if you turn on the breaker and fire starts you need help, But some simple, common sense trouble shooting is not beyond most people. | |
| Apr 28, 2016 at 11:33 | comment | added | Tester101 | While this seems like a logical approach to troubleshooting (and one that likely works in software development), it may not be the best way to troubleshoot an electrical problem. Every time you try turning the breaker on in a faulted system, you run the risk of an arc igniting something, the breaker failing closed, or causing some other damage to the building, system, or occupants. | |
| Apr 27, 2016 at 5:09 | comment | added | coteyr | My water cooler, just doesn't like arc fault breakers. The heater draws power "too quickly" in order to save energy. It's "rapid heat" element powers on for about 2 seconds every 20 mins or so. Excellent design, really small over all power consumption, will trip an AFCI every time. | |
| Apr 27, 2016 at 5:06 | comment | added | hildred | @ThreePhaseEel, You can't always blame lazy appliance designers, sometimes it is just incompatible specifications. for example good top of the line noise suppression power strips (which are designed to protect computers not people) are often incompatible with GFI circuits (which are designed to protect people, not computers. Likewise Dimmers and Arc Fault breakers don't like each other. In both cases all the devices were designed to the highest standard. | |
| Apr 27, 2016 at 1:21 | comment | added | ThreePhaseEel | If the breaker trips with nothing on it, it could also be a fault in the branch circuit wiring. Good procedure, though. And yes, some appliances sadly are GFCI or AFCI incompatible, blame lazy appliance designers. | |
| Apr 27, 2016 at 1:00 | history | answered | coteyr | CC BY-SA 3.0 |