A buzzing breaker

[Sam Takoy]

Hi,

On of the breakers in my panel buzzes. The circuit has a few dimmers on in - could that be the cause? I tried swapping out the breaker, the new one buzzes the same. What's the solution?

Thanks,

Sam

[Jeff The Drunk]

Ear Plugs?

[hallerb]

disconnect ONE dimmer at a time to narrow down the possible offender./

did you swap breakers or breaker leads? the maiun might have a flakey problem try swapping leads temporarily to see if buzzing goes away

[RBM]

If it's buzzing continuously, I suspect a bad breaker. If it buzzes momentarily when an induction load is starting, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Bill]

The circuit has too many things on it!

This circuit is very close to using too much electricity (amperage/wattage). Use just a little more electricity on this circuit and the breaker will trip.

The solution is to move something to a different circuit. Or install a new circuit and place some of the things on that.

[gfretwell]

Swap it with another breaker in your panel.

[J_Heffron]

You may be barking up the right tree with the dimmers. Dimmers have triacs or scrs in them. (semiconductors). They are supposed to have capacitor filters for noise, but you could have a cheap one, or a bad one. Since you already swapped the breaker, it's not the breaker. Shuit OFF every dimmer, does it still buzz? If no, it's one of the dimmers, turn them on one at a time to find which one is bad. If it still buzzes, disconnect the wire to each dimmer, OR just remove the lightbulb(s) connected to each one. Some dimmers are still active even when off. IF that still dont fix it, shut off or unplug everything else on that circuit. It's got to be one device on it.

You are sure it IS the breaker itself, right? You might have a doorbell or furnace/thermostat transformer buzzing on the electrical panel, or nearby. They are known to do that. Look for one of them, (search google for a photo of "doorbell transformer" if needed). The way to troubleshoot any elec. problem is to isolate the problem by removing everything on that circuit, then turning thm back on one at a time to find the culprit. Those small transformers are easy to change, but get the correct voltage/amp. Your elec. supply store can help with that.

As for your 2" knockout problem, just buy the reducers at your elec. supply store. You'll pay about $2. It takes a minute to install them. Why fuss with drilling holes (risk getting metal burrs in the breakers), or things against the code like duct tape. You likely MUST go to an electrical supply store. HomeDepot and places like that likely do not have em. (or they may). Next time, learn how to knock out the small hole (gently). It takes a great deal of force to remove the whole 2", compared to the small half inch.

[Stormin Mormon]

Do you think the second swap would do anything different than the first swap?

[Stormin Mormon]

If you're skilled with this. Please check the amp draw of the circuit. It may be almost about to trip. I've heard breakers buzz if they are high amps, but not quite tripped.

[hrhofmann]

The trick is to bend them with a screwdriver or pair of small pliers inserted into the first cut until you can rock the knockout back and forth and then do that rather than hammering on the knockout. Reducing washers are required now.

[gfretwell]

Sorry, I missed that

[clare]

Turn OFF all the dimmers. That takes them out of the equation - If it still buzzes you LIKELY have another bad breaker. There was one brand that was a lot worse than others for being noisy - can't remember which one but want to say westinghouse??????

[Jeff The Drunk]

This would be my educated guess also. Heard it plenty of times in industrial situations involving hvac stuff. The OP should feel the breaker and see if it is warmer than its neighbors.

[Ralph Mowery]

Those filters are for radio frequency noise. That is it helps to prevent the dimmers from generating electrical noise that can be picked up on a radio or tv..

It has nothing to do with the sounds or anything that will cause sounds to be generated by the device or wiring that you can hear with your ears.

[mm]

Answer the door.