I have not made any changes to anything electrical here in a while so this seems to be a problem where something has changed.
My living room is on a 15A breaker. Full inventory of what is on that breaker that has anything on;
TV and all of the tv stuff (DVD, cable box, Apple TV) checked amperage draw on that whole system .76A
a power strip charging three lap tops. Power draw .38A
a blink camera control module draw low enough that my lamp in meter said .00A
a ceiling fan / light combo. I don't have any good way to measure draw on this. It is on medium fan and it doesn't sound "funny".
how can I be kicking this breaker? If I go feel the breaker it is warm. Is there something else I should test? Should the breaker be replaced? Is this call a real electrician time?
How many light bulbs in the ceiling fan and are they LED or incandescent?
Sometimes (rarely) breakers get troublesome. Is there a chance that the wiring runs under the home in a crawl space?
Have you had lightening strikes or power outages nearby recently?
Bad breakers are rare, but do happen. And unless you have the fans light fixture Fully loaded with high wattage incandescent bulbs... you have a bad breaker. Very easy to change out, and cheap at the big box stores. Bear in mind, not all breakers are interchangeable, but generic brands of the correct style will suit your needs fine.
There are three led bulbs in the fan and they were / are turned off. I can get to the wiring where it enters the panel if I need to.
SV reX
MegaDork
9/11/22 6:23 p.m.
Is it a hard instant trip, or does it have to heat up?
If it's hard instant, you've got a short. Perhaps vermin have chewed on the wires, something touching in a box, etc.
If it's heating up and then tripping, you are either overloaded or you have a bad breaker.
You can check the load at the panel with a meter with everything running (if it will stay in for a while). Or, you can just swap the breaker. They are cheap.
I would find a clamp on meter that can tell you the actual amp draw on that circuit. If the breaker has started to get warm and eventually trip, it sounds like there is some sort of added resistance on the circuit. I would suspect small animal damage, or a wire got nicked somehow.
It is a slow break. And inconsistent. It kicked a couple times a few weeks ago and then it did it again today.
I have a breaker here (correct type and A) so I will try to swap out and see if that fixes it.
Thank you
While you are in the box check the screws that secure the common and ground wires. They can loosen up over time.
dean1484 said:
While you are in the box check the screws that secure the common and ground wires. They can loosen up over time.
This and pull the outlets and check the wiring on the back/sides. If they have the wires "stabbed" into the back and not secured on the sides with the silver/gold screws, remove them and put them on the screws. Outlets and breakers rarely go bad, it's usually the wiring that's an issue.
