In my experience breakers trip for many reasons and a one off is no big deal. If it continues to trip get someone to check it out. It is a symptom of a problem that should be investigated. It is never a good idea to continually reset a breaker. Just my .02 FWIW.
House Electrical Problem Diagnosis?
- Thread starter Onomea
- Start date
A long time ago I was warned about entrance panel GFCI circuit breakers. Don't recall the specific technical reason, but having to go into the EP to replace is a major pain.
Since then I've wired several barns. The first, I used individual GFCI outlets, only needed 5. 3 covered outlets for 2 stalls each (fans), one was a service receptacle for the aisleway and the last covered the tack room. That was nearly 30 years ago and I've replaced one. Very, very occasionally, one or 'tother will trip without load. Humidity?
The 2 much larger builds used a separate GCFI (wall mounted near the breaker panel in one, in the aisleway right by the light switches in the other) to handle all the stall receptacles. There were enough of those I didn't need service receptacles. [Each stall had it's own dedicated receptacle] Come to think of it, the receptacles in the tack room/water heater/water tank rooms had individual GFCI outlets-one each.
Since then I've wired several barns. The first, I used individual GFCI outlets, only needed 5. 3 covered outlets for 2 stalls each (fans), one was a service receptacle for the aisleway and the last covered the tack room. That was nearly 30 years ago and I've replaced one. Very, very occasionally, one or 'tother will trip without load. Humidity?
The 2 much larger builds used a separate GCFI (wall mounted near the breaker panel in one, in the aisleway right by the light switches in the other) to handle all the stall receptacles. There were enough of those I didn't need service receptacles. [Each stall had it's own dedicated receptacle] Come to think of it, the receptacles in the tack room/water heater/water tank rooms had individual GFCI outlets-one each.
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You never know how long a breaker will last. In this one large fab shop I worked in did not have a wall switch that turned on the very large, very many overhead lights. They were run from the service panel. Every work day morning the one breaker was turned on, end of day shut off. I worked there for 9 years and that breaker worked fine.-
Faulkner
Member
GFI's don't have the same robust construction and endurance that a Square D 20 amp breaker does. Here in he south I've heard that high humidity can make one trip that is located in, say, a garage where it can be exposed to the moisture.
THE PILGRIM
Member
Back when my Dau was in HS, she would dry her hair and spray it at the same time.
She gummed up her hair dryer and it tripped the GFI.
So get a new hair dryer and reset the GGI!
Could not find it!
After a lot of looking, finally found it about 60 feet away.
In the garage, opposite end of the house, behind some boxes on a shelf.
I won’t bore you with other sagas in the GFI chronicles.
But I do have other tales of the GFI.
She gummed up her hair dryer and it tripped the GFI.
So get a new hair dryer and reset the GGI!
Could not find it!
After a lot of looking, finally found it about 60 feet away.
In the garage, opposite end of the house, behind some boxes on a shelf.
I won’t bore you with other sagas in the GFI chronicles.
But I do have other tales of the GFI.
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DWalt
Member
The purpose of of a GFCI is a little different from that of a fuse or circuit breaker in that it is much quicker to trip. That is to safeguard humans from electrocution. A circuit breaker is slower, and is intended to prevent overheating of a shorted circuit and preventing a structure fire. But there are GFCI circuit breakers.
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I was curious as to how they work...
They are essentially a couple of ampmeters in the form of small coils. One is around the hot and neutral lines and the current in both SHOULD cancel out any measurement and should read zero. If the logic circuit detects current, it trips a solenoid cutting power. There is also a coil around the neutral and ground to detect leakage there.
I would presume that the logic chip is sensitive to overvoltage and age and weakens over time. It's good that when old and start to fail they trip early rather than later.
They are essentially a couple of ampmeters in the form of small coils. One is around the hot and neutral lines and the current in both SHOULD cancel out any measurement and should read zero. If the logic circuit detects current, it trips a solenoid cutting power. There is also a coil around the neutral and ground to detect leakage there.
I would presume that the logic chip is sensitive to overvoltage and age and weakens over time. It's good that when old and start to fail they trip early rather than later.
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That's cute but it doesn't work .Good point worth much more than $0.02
Then again there's always another solution.
