Good catch. and thanks for reminding us that some times the contact between the breaker and the bar corrodes.
I saw some thing similar in a house, where the double 100 breaker brings the power in was corroded.
If it trips breakers for more than four hours, consult your electrician immediately.
You may have ED, Electrical Dysfunction.
Things like that are not in most books. It is a good idea to tighten all the screws while the panel is off also. I remember stories of the aluminum house wiring that would hapen to and could cause a fire.
A year or two, at my church we had a light circuit that instantly tripped the breaker. I worked on it for awhile. The paid guys stopped by. They took out the two incandescant filament bulbs, and put in curly cue CFL. Problem solved. Wish I'd tried that. Rainy weather, I figured it was wet wires in the attic. I'd be mistaken.
Yes, a blown bulb can trip breakers.
In the case of the lights at church, this here stupid twerp (named below) was bested by a paid guy. Sigh.
- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .
"E. Robinson" wrote in news:n7riv8$7og$ snipped-for-privacy@news.mixmin.net:
From the textbooks you list, it would appear that your EE degree is in Electronics Engineering, which would lead me to immediately conclude that you know absolutely nothing about residential electrical wiring -- whereas I would have the opposite conclusion about an Electrical Engineer.
Are you sure you don't have a pot rack? ( ?~ ?? ?° )
I am sure most would not learn about the pot rack and screw in an engineering school. Just one of the things learned by doing or hearing from another.
Some things are not really in the books. At work two electricians replaced the brushes in a 100 hp motor. There are 4 sets of 3 brushes each. The motor was driven by an electronic speed control. When the motor was started it ran backwards from the direction it was running. It just so hapened that the plant Professional Engineer was called about it and there was 2 other men from outside venders erer that day. They had been looking at it for about 30 minuits and talking it over.
I walked up and asked what was going on. Was told just the brushes were replaced. Thinking it over, the brushes are on a ring that goes around the armature. It is often loosened and rotated to get to the back brushes. I asked if that ring had been turned and was told it had but they put it back. However looking at it , it was put back in the wrong place. Putting it back to the correct place solved the problem.
Doubt that is in very many engineering books.
I am an Electrical Engineer, however, *most* of my graduate work is in microprocessor and chip design.
I spent the last 15 years designing chips, but went into management of chip designers for the next 15 years.
We didn't have "electronics" engineers way back then. At least not at my school.
To paraphrase someone here, every EE knows Ohms law. :)
The house won't burn down, unless the breaker is actually bad. The breaker seems to have done its job. My gut feeling is that there was a dead short.
The question is where.
However, it's cheap enough to replace the breaker, so, I'll buy a new breaker and replace it, as a cautionary measure.
I know what a potentiometer is, but not a pot rack.
But the wall switch was off and the breaker was still tripping.
I'm gonna replace the 15 amp breaker, no matter what. Not worth worrying about it *not* tripping when it needs to trip.
The wires are copper but the huge feeds are aluminum.
Trust me, home electrical wiring is not covered in the standard EE curriculum.
That is from someone elses post in this group.
Someone asked about why they would get shocked when they touched their stove and a rack that holds the cooking pots that is on the wall. That rack was fastened to the wall with somelag bolts and no electricity or ground to the rack.
Seems that one of the screws holding it to the wall had gone into a wire that was behind the wall. When touching that rack that was then connected to a hot wire and the stove that was acting as a gound the current would flow. Touching the stove or just the rack would not give a shock.
Something that many will not think about.
Most homes are fed with large aluminum wire and that does not seem to be a problem. The problems seem to be the smaller # 12 and # 14 wire to the lights and recepticals.
Sometimes the range will be wired with aluminum wire. The reason is that aluminum wire is less expensive than copper, or was at the time. To use aluminum instead of copper you have to go up a couple of sizes larger as it is less conductive.
At least you got this far without getting electrocuted.
Was anything plugged into outlets on that circuit? Could be one of them.
Could be the breaker has a small piece of plastic or other thing stuck inside.
NOW is the time to determine what outlets and lights are on that circuit. If it blows again, unplug everything and shut off all those lights. If it still blows, buy a new breaker for $5. *Shut off your outside MAIN*, replace the breaker with new one.
If that fixes it, you know the breaker was failing. If it trips the new one, you probably should call an electrician, or you may have a fire.
But if you keep the main power off, I suppose you could remove and carefully look at each light fixture all wirenuts, all wires, check for any bad or frayed wires, loose screws, etc. Same for all outlets on that breaker.
Take your time and look at EVERYTHING CLOSELY.
I was referring to another thread
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