A new panel was installed but one of the rooms had no power even though the circuit breaker switch was "on." I was advised that this may be a "partially-tripped" breaker and told to flip the switch off and then back to "on." It worked! Power restored.
If the breaker switch was pointed to "on," why was the power off. And what is a "partially-tripped" breaker? TIA.
Circuit breakers can trip two ways. First a human can flip it all the way off. Second, excessive current can flip the breaker part way off (still fully disconnected) so that you know this tripped due to a safety issue.
To reset a breaker that has tripped due to an electrical problem (not due to a human), one must first flip breaker all the way to off, and then flip it all the way back to on.
A partially flipped breaker is a warn> A new panel was installed but one of the rooms had no power even
Yes, that's how you reset a tripped breaker: switch it off, then on.
There is no such thing as a "partially-tripped" breaker. When a breaker trips, it trips. Period.
Breakers have *three* positions, not two: on, tripped, and off. The tripped position is midway between on and off. Sometimes, when a breaker trips, the handle doesn't move very far, and the handle is still near the on position, making it appear at first glance that the breaker is still on. Sounds like that's what happened to you.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?
breaker trips,
And if the breaker was truly in the 'on' position, you have a very faulty breaker. Replace it. You can tell a tripped breaker by comparing its position against the ones above/below. It should be distinctly out of position.
Harry K
replying to Doug Miller, Corey William Burke-Smith wrote: Well, that's not the case with me. I was playing my Xbox one when all of a sudden it shut down and would not turn back on. However, my ceiling light was still on. So I went around checking my outlets. My outlets had no power to them. I went and checked the breaker box. All the breaker switches were on. So I got my bud who knew how to fix it. All he did was flip the breaker that powers my room, his room, and my brother's room off and back on again and the outlets starting working again. So yes, there is a such thing as a 'partially tripped breaker'. It's a breaker that trips to the point that only part of a circuit is getting power.
replying to Harry K, Corey William Burke-Smith wrote: Well I agree with you about the part about faulty breakers, but if a breaker partially trips, only part of the circuit that breaker manages is receiving power, the rest of the circuit isn't receiving enough electricity to respond correctly, thus seeming to not have any power at all, let's say for instance the breaker for the kitchen partially trips, and none of the appliances have any power, but the lights have power. Odds are the breaker is faulty and needs to be replaced, otherwise you'll be stuck turning it off and back on once every day.
replying to Marie, Corey William Burke-Smith wrote: A partially tripped breaker is a breaker that was partially overloaded and started sending most of the excess electricity to the ground wire, and had started restricting power to the circuit it manages, so sometimes the lights will work but the outlets won't have power. Or vice versa. To remedy this, just flip the corresponding breaker switch off and back on and it should reset it. Then the next day, check the room, if it's the same as before you reset the breaker, then that means that the breaker is faulty and needs to be replaced as soon as you can, otherwise you'll be stuck resetting it once every day.
If the appliances have no power but the light does, that means it was wired properly. It is for safety that lights and receptacles are on different circuits. Large rooms will be split side by side.
As for partial trips, you have no clue. Stop spreading misinformation. There is no such thing.
On 11/3/2018 11:14 AM, Corey William Burke-Smith wrote: So yes, there is a such thing as a
No, you are full of shit.
That's all incorrect. What they are talking about with a "partially tripped breaker", is a breaker that is tripped, but the handle only moves partially toward the off position. It's actually fully tripped, the circuit is de-energized, but the handle isn't all the way over to the off position where it would be if you turned it off manually. With a single pole breaker, it's impossible for part of the circuit to be energized and part not. With a double pole breaker, it might be theoretically possible for one half to be energized, but the only way would be some bizarre, probably impossible failure inside the breaker where one half could make contact while the other half could not. In a practical sense, if the breaker trips to that intermediate position and any lights, receptacles, etc are without power, all the ones on that circuit are also without power.
What you have is a breaker that tripped, the question is why.
What makes you think the receptacles and lights are even on the same breaker? They aren't. That's why the circuit with the lights had power and the circuit with the receptacles did not. Go check and you'll see.
I went and checked the breaker box. All the breaker switches were on. So
Just stop already. Breakers don't send any electricity to ground. They simply OPEN to disconnect the circuit, when the current limit is exceeded. And once they open, the whole circuit does not have power.
Or vice versa. To remedy this,
You've said the same thing 3 times and you've been wrong every time. In case two people telling you that is not enough to convince you. I'll be the third.
The lights and the outlets are on different circuits with different breakers. So you can have light in the room even if one circuit is off.
If part of a circuit has power the whole one does. What would keep the power from one part of the circuit out of the other part? It's not partially tripped. It's fully tripped, but the handle didn't move as far as it could.
Don't most residential circuit breakers have 3 positions of the switch ?
as in On-Tripped-Off See pic here:
And that's where the erroneous notion of "partially" tripped comes from ?
Possible. Many breakers are barely visible as tripped and as you point out, the lever is only partially to the "off" position. The comments about flow to ground and just enough for lights is nonsense though.
Yes, if the breaker is sending anything to ground, the breaker is bad and needs to be replaced before something very bad hapens.
Sounds like someone that doesn't know what they are talking about is shooting a line of bull.
Except for the GFI breaker, mine don't. My house was built in 1979.
You're probably right. His house probably does.
I have a circuit for my hot water heater. It does not trip all the way to the tripped position. It will only be slightly move back from the on position. It’s only noticeable by pushes it toward the on position and hearing it click in place. I may just need to replace that fuse.
It's not a hot water heater, it's a water heater.
It's not a fuse, it's a circuit breaker.
What is your definition of the "tripped position"? If you think that the "tripped position" is the same as the Off position, you would be mistaken. (I not saying that you do, that's why I asked.)
Most (all?) circuit breakers have a trip position. It's somewhere between Off and On. To reset it you have to turn the breaker Off, then On.
Before I'd replace the breaker I'd want to figure out why it's tripping. Can you swap circuits or breakers around to test the WH on a different breaker?
Right, typically a tripped breaker does not go all the way over to the position where it would be if turned off manually.
+1On the other hand if there is no available other breaker and no obvious signs of problem with the circuit, a new breaker doesn't cost much to try. More likely though there is a problem.
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