What could cause a breaker to keep tripping? That is the question that many homeowners ask themselves when they are trying to figure out what is wrong with their home electrical systems. Unfortunately, there can be many different reasons, and fortunately for you, we have compiled a list of them right here!
This post will go over possible causes of why breakers keep tripping in your home so that you can find the solution more quickly.
What Causes Breakers to Keep Tripping?
Breakers are one of the most important parts of a home. They help to protect your property from being damaged by power surges, and they keep you safe from electrical fires. Unfortunately, breakers can also be very expensive, so it is essential that you take care of them properly to avoid costly repairs.
There are many different reasons that your breaker could be tripping. However, some of the most common causes include:
Circuit Overload: One of the reasons why your breaker keeps tripping is the circuit overload. Circuit overloads can happen for several reasons. One reason is the breaker has been overloaded with electricity and overheated due to exceeding its capacity. A circuit is designed so that it will trip when demand exceeds available supply, but in many cases, an overloaded circuit will continue operating until something else trips first (such as another appliance). Sometimes what you think are appliances might be electrical devices like computers, televisions, lamps with halogen bulbs - these items require more electricity than standard household items, so they'll overload your circuits easily!
Circuit breakers are only one part of your home's electrical system; they do not take care of all power management needs by themselves or even need to be replaced before other components fail. For example, a new circuit breaker may help if you have too much load on just a few circuits at once, overloading them enough that their maximum protection point was reached and tripped off during usage. Yet doing this without checking for other potential problems will not fix the problem. But it is important to note that these types of issues should always be followed up with a professional electrician in order to find out what else could cause a breaker to keep tripping, like defective wiring or loose connections near outlets.
Electrical Short Circuits: An electrical short circuit is when electricity jumps from one wire to another, which will also trip your breaker. However, this could be a sign of wiring issues or an overloaded power strip, so it's best if you call in an electrician for help with that issue!
Bad Wiring: This includes loose wires, worn insulation on wiring, or even crossed-wired cords from an extension cord that has been put together incorrectly. These types of problems should always be fixed by a professional!
Ground Fault Surges: The most common cause of breaker tripping is ground fault surge. It can happen when you plug an appliance into the wall, and something breaks down below that connection point - maybe water gets in there for some reason, or it just wears out through years of use.
Grounding Issues: The breaker is designed to keep the voltage from building up on your home's ground wire, creating a situation where there are dangerous electrical arcs and power surges occur. When you have grounding issues, this can cause too much electricity to be drawn through the ground wire leading it to trip your breakers - even if nothing else in your house uses any electricity at all!
Underground Power Pollution: Sometimes underground soils contain minerals and other substances which cause electrical interference with nearby lines - this could trip your breaker if these materials are close enough to it. However unlikely this may sound, experts think this issue causes about 15% of breakers' trips.
How to Repair a Breaker That Is Constantly Tripping
The first thing you will need to do to repair a constantly tripping breaker is determining what caused the breaker to trip. There are many different causes for this, and each of them can be addressed with other methods. Here are the steps you can take:
Step One: If there was an overload on the circuit, we recommend shutting down all power or unplugging any devices from the said circuit.
Step Two: Test for a short circuit by unplugging the power cord to any device and plug it into an outlet.
Step Three: Check all wires in and around the breaker box, including those leading from outside sources like electric meters or transformers - these may be loose connections that need tightening.
You may also want to hire a professional electrician who has experience working with circuits like these before doing anything else yourself. If the breaker tripped because of an issue with your wiring, it's likely an electrical fault. You'll want to contact Daven Electric Corp. immediately for help. One of our technicians will come out to inspect everything on-site to determine what's going on as soon as possible. So give us a call today!
