I was in my room playing my game when my game system suddenly shut down and wouldn't turn back on. In fact none of the outlets in my room nor in the room next to my bedroom were working. So I went down and checked the breaker box and all of the breakers were on. So I went and got my bud who knew about breakers and he came down and flipped the corresponding breaker switch off and back on and just like that the outlets were working again. I personally think that it was a partially tripped breaker, which could mean it's time to replace it, but IDK. What do you think happened?
Breaker
Nov 03, 2018
4 Replies
My bet is it was still a tripped breaker. Most designs there days trip to a "half off" position and require you turn them all the way off and back on. I would still investigate why it tripped. What else is on that circuit and was it overloaded (like an electric space heater or something)
Looking at the breakers you cannot always tell if it is tripped. Turn it off and then reset it.
No idea what tripped it. Did you add anything to the circuit? Toaster oven, refrigerator, hair dryer, and the like can be just the little extra to cause a trip.
A tripped breaker does not move all the way to the off position. It's easy to miss a tripped breaker. I assume that's where your story takes a left turn into "no such thing" land.
Showing that the breaker had tripped, you just didn't see it.
The "partial" concept makes no sense. A breaker moves 2 pieces of metal apart so a current won't flow. They are either touching, not touching. If, somehow, those 2 pieces of metal were barely touching, they wouldn't stay that way long, since there would be sparks, heat, and smoke.
Actually, after seeing his triple posts it makes a lot of sense. When he was a baby, his mother partially tripped and while she did not fall, he was dropped on his head.
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