Circuit Breaker Keeps Tripping in Laguna Woods, CA; Short Circuits, Ground Faults & More

Does your circuit breaker keep tripping? There could be a number of reasons why your home’s circuit system may keep tripping even some of them are serious problems in your home wiring. Often the reason why your circuit system may repeatedly keep tripping is due to overloading your home’s power system. It can also be due to overheating. When your circuit panel trips, it is protecting your home and its electrical systems from damage or even electrical fires. Peterkin Electric will share a little more in depth as to what can cause your home circuit breakers to keep tripping and what you can do to repair the problem.

What Causes a Circuit Breaker to Trip?

Most people, when their circuit breaker trips, will simply go to their breaker box and flip the switches to regain power. However, it is important to discover the cause of the frequent tripping of the circuits to help determine if it may pose a more serious threat. Common causes for circuit breakers to trip are: Overloaded Circuit Systems, Short Circuits, and Ground Faults.

Overloaded Circuits

Overloaded circuits are one of the most common causes for your circuit breakers to trip. Overloading your circuits simply means you are running too many devices on the same circuit. When more power is consumed than what the circuit was designed to handle, then that circuit line will continuously trip. For example most homes have a 15 amp circuit with a 20 amps worth of power or electricity. When you plug in a device, such as a TV, hair dryer, or other electrical item, the circuit breaker will begin to overheat. To prevent electrical fires from hot wires the circuit breaker will turn off or trip. To prevent overloading your system either redistribute the power or move the device that requires more amps to a more general purpose circuit. You can also turn off certain devices when utilizing another one.

Short Circuit

Another possibility for circuit breaker tripping is a short circuit which is more dangerous. A short circuit occurs when a hot wire, which is usually black in color, touches another hot or neutral wire that is usually white in color. This usually occurs inside an outlet, when one of these two wires cross paths or touch each other, it creates a large current flow. In turn there is more heat than what the circuit was designed to handle. To help protect your home and its electrical system, the breaker will trip. Short circuiting often cause a burning smell that comes from an outlet, if you detect a burning smell, unplug all electrical devices from that particular circuit. Check each plug for black or brown burn marks to determine which outlet requires repair or replacement. Another cause for short circuiting to occur is when the wires come loose and need to be re-secured in place.

Ground Fault

Just like short circuiting, when a hot wire comes in contact with a neutral or another hot wire, it will cause a power overload. However, when it comes to ground fault, this occurs outside where the wire connects to the external outlet box that is on the outside of a home. Just like short circuiting, unplug all the devices on your outdoor outlet system and look for black or brown burn makes or have you exterior outlets tested and replace the faulty one.

Electrical Safety & Repairs in Laguna Woods, Santa Ana, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Irvine, Lake Forest & Orange County, California

If you need help determining the cause of your frequently tripping circuit breakers, contact Peterkin Electric for all of your electrical needs.

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