For those of us that do our own electrical work this kind of video is very helpful. I call an electrician when I don’t understand what the problem is but generally reliable info on electrical systems is hard to come by. Forums are the worst. Keep em coming.
Do more troubleshooting videos!! Love this! As a Tech who troubleshoots everyday Its great to hear different perspectives from knowledgeable people. Great job bro 👍🏻
Dustin, another excellent video! For your viewers information, the manufacturers of breakers state in writing that circuit breakers should be turned off and on six times in a row annually. Almost nobody does it. But, doing this helps find bad breakers before you see the result of a bad one. Also, i don’t think you mentioned it but sometimes breakers just get weak. Example, there is nothing visually wrong, but with only a few amps of load on them, they trip every so often. This is usually a breaker that the owner keeps turning back on numerous times after tripping. Nuisance! Change nuisance tripping breakers rather than resetting, please. Also, NEVER test a breaker by touching live conductors together. Dangerous, and circuit breakers are only guaranteed by manufacturer to trip one time from short circuit. Respectfully, Kevin
After many years of service, at least 18 years, the 20A breaker that I used on my table saw and dust collection outlet started to be a Nuisance breaker, so I replaced it with a new 20A breaker, I'm still having the same problem, just a bad replacement breaker? or is there something else afoot.
@@fosterwayne6684 I would doubt that the new breaker is bad if it is doing the same exact thing. Can you explain what is turned on and running and if it takes a certain amount of time before it pops or is it just random? I’m going to suggest that you take a clamp on ammeter and see what the amp draw is for the dust collector compared to the motor nameplate. Should be less than the plate for FLA. Then put it on your saw and run a board through it to see it’s amps. Again, should be less that FLA on the motor nameplate. Also, get voltage readings before and after startup. Was there any electrical changes made just before the issue started? With that info and description, we may be able to come up with an answer for you. Respectfully, Kevin
@@fosterwayne6684 if you're comfortable doing it I would suggest checking any replacement cord ends to make sure they are still secure connection within. After that I would check for loose connections on the outlets as well. It's also worth checking any cords for damage. Then I would suspect something internal on one of the pieces of equipment.
@@KevinCoop1 I have 4 outlets on that breaker and it doesn't happen all the time, but more times than I would like, I had both the table saw and the dust collector rigged to come on at the same time, but that tripped the breaker more often, now I switch them on separately and the breaker does trip, but not as often. I also run a 12" table top disk sander on that breaker with my shop vac turned on and that sometimes trips the breaker, but rarely. I have had all four machines running at the same time without tripping the breaker, but that is a very rare occasion to have them running at the same time. I'm hoping that it's just a bad breaker, I've had no problems with any of the other circuits.
😂 39 seconds into your video and I'm rolling. I'm going into my 4th month of working for myself and after doing everything but carpet for the last 20 years and I'm learning alot about electrical from your channel. Keep up the good work man. One of the most rewarding things I've done, next to watching my daughters grow, was teaching (like, they were actually listening and not on their phones) two guys everything I could think to teach them in the time I had. In the beginning, one guy went from handing me a caulking gun when I asked for a torpedo level to doing level 5 smooth finish drywall. The fact that I turned him loose with his capabilities is such a cool feeling and I did that for him and another higher skilled laborer, but you guys are doing it for thousands! My hats off to you brother! Keep it wierd. Lmao. 😂
A lot of times, if the wire connected to the breaker's output terminal is melted it's simply because of arcing happening under the screw, simply because whoever installed it didn't tighten the screw enough to hold with a good connection over time, so taking the wire out and cutting it back slightly to fresh copper and restripping it and reinserting it into the breaker output terminal and *properly* tightening the screw will totally fix the problem... This problem is even worse and more common with aluminum wire, because it expands and contracts more than copper with a load vs. no load, so over time it will loosen an insufficiently tightened screw on a breaker (or device like an outlet, etc.), causing a loose connection and therefore arcing and overheating of the wire insulation and/or possibly the device terminal itself. If you ever see and fix this problem then you have to be sure to also check to see if the device's or breaker's terminal(s) are still good too and they haven't been overheated also. You can't just ONLY check the wire itself, you have to check both the wire AND the device's terminal(s) for any heat damage, and if the device or breaker's terminal itself has also been overheated from the loose connection, then the device or breaker must be replaced... But if after careful and thorough inspection, you find that it's ONLY the wire end that got overheated from that loose connection, then you can just cut it back and restrip and remount it and *properly* tighten the screw with sufficient torque, as mentioned previously.
Joe...when I see what you described, makes me to a "tightening test" on the rest of the connections. I also look for discolored neutrals which is a dead giveaway of overloads and possibly a bad breaker!
@@ottoroth3066 Discolored neutrals are also a sign that someone tried to split two circuits with one neutral and end up with both circuits on the same phase thereby doubling the amps on the neutral. Not allowed anymore.
Mushy handles, never heard about it, but wow had the same issue today. All the breaker visibly on but appliance was not working, after watching your video went back to breaker and tested softly as you said and boom found the culprit, reset it and now working even the handle is at off position. Will surely change it next week. So grateful to you, God bless you.
Have to give a shout out to you for making this video. Watched this last month, last week had a service call for problems with power suddenly went out. Customer had a ge panel, and showed no signs of triped beakers. I took your advice in this video of how to check ge breakers and boom found the tripped one! Love your channel and these types of videos you put out.
If you have a voltage drop across the breaker, it is usually bad. Usually, anything above .1 volts across the breaker means you have resistance, and resistance means you have heat. Pull the breaker and it will usually be heat damaged on the sides or where it connects to the buss bar. When the contacts are closed, there should be no resistance, no voltage drop, and no heat. It always worked for me.
Good information but only with respect to the current flowing through said breaker. A totally faulty breaker on a live circuit not passing any or little current would pass your test. Too much resistance is a good indicator and voltage drop more reliable than resistance tests but only with a known percentage of load.
@@trope5105 I had no choice but to run 200' of drop cord to make a repair a couple of weeks ago. I had 126 VAC at the panel and 125 VAC at the female end of the plug. Not bad. Not bad at all.
@@charlesford157 well ur talking about across a resistor, which is when u would expect it. u should never expect it across a connection like a breaker. ya gotta listen to what ppl mean when they say n write things, not take it at literal value, after all it was a conversation not just a statement
I'm a 57 yr young widow and I just bought a 1931 house . I have a 15 amp single breaker in my home that runs several rooms someone crosswired it which I cannot afford to have fixed yet but anyway it only tripped once in a while and now it trips every 10 minutes and I have no idea why until I watched your video I learned a lot I now know how to test the breaker. And everything was simply explained so well that I joined thank you so much no longer afraid to check the breakers.
If the breaker if flipping every ten minutes I’d worry something might be overloading the circuit. Approach your project with caution, but if in doubt calling a licensed professional may still be wise. Either way, best of luck!! 🙂
Sounds like lots of resistance, Loose neutral at one of the terminals - wherever they’re wired to. Shut it down and double check them all, look for burnt wires and be safe. Good luck!
I work as an electrician for a Refrigeration company and there are many manufacturing company that have put large refrigeration racks on the roofs of buildings. A main feeder is brought up and branch circuits are distributed from there. During the summer season I have had 15 amp breakers trip with a 5 amp load. From what I have found is the steel box enclosure that sits in direct sun light all day, heats up breaker a derates the handle value of a breaker and wont let it rest because the thermals are hot. One simple test is I pull/replace that breaker, allow it to cool and it would then be able to rest. I've even taken a thermal camera and have seen the breaker reading 140°+. We would then add vent fans to help cool the enclosure... a little.
Came across your video tonight because I had a breaker fail in my panel. Had to cross reference a Murray MP-T over to a Siemens QD type, and wanted to figure out how they can just stop working. Mine had that mushy feeling you described about one of the failures, so I guess the spring fatigues over time, and then mechanically it can't hold anymore? Super interesting, mine just stopped working out of the blue, no high load, nothing event wise that caused it. Replaced it and we're good to go. First time ever replacing a breaker. Super easy! Thank you for the info, I didn't know they were working loaded in the closed position
Your point about "mushy" handles helped me to figure out why my hot water heater stopped working. I had replaced the heater elements and thermostats and spent a couple hours pulling my hair out. Was on the verge of buying a new $600 water heater when i came across this video and i investigated the breaker to find the handle issue. Thanks for your knowledge and great video!!
Similar concern. Had been inside a Service Panel working on a different Circuit/Project and "thought" I had been very careful and didn't touch any of the other wires... After completely the work, the Water Heater was "Dead". It's 240V Digital Timer wasn't turning on/off automatically or manually. Very Odd Coincidence but seemed the "only" reasonable explanation. Thankfully as I had had a bad breaker before that wouldn't reliably switch ON (It seemed OK (mechanical sounded/felt OK) but didn't actually pass current... Figured I'd have to check if the Breaker was bad only to find somehow 1 of the wires had pulled out of the Breaker. Didn't seem to be damaged or cause any, so was able to carefully reinstall and tighten up the wires. Now almost a year later, realizing/suspecting that a significant "buzzing" noise when the Water Heater kicks in "might" be from a bad/weak breaker? Best just to just have the replacement ready, regardless if it "looks" OK. Why take a risk?
Dustin, keep these videos coming! I had a problem with a breaker hissing caused by warm moist air from the house traveling up the service conduit and condensing back into water. The water then dripped down and into the first breaker. The resolve was seal off the conduit at the box and replace the breaker.
Had a VFD blow up on me from a mis-wired control circuit. The 20-amp fuses did not blow at the machine, Nore the 30-amp breaker in the sub panel, which was a GE. The 50-amp breaker in the main panel protecting the sub-panel tripped! It was a Semons brand breaker. This was in my home shop fed by single phase current. All my machines run on VFD's to power 3-phase motors on the machine tools. I am deeply knowledgeable of machine tool wiring and circuitry. My dumb mistake in wiring up the control circuit killed the VFD. I guess it's true you learn from your mistakes, even if they are costly! You're not too far me, I'm south by about 140 miles! Enjoy your videos, keep up the nice work you do!
It’s called selective coordination. Breakers will trip at certain points of an overload cycle. A 20 amp breaker if not coordinated with the main breaker. Could actually hold longer than the much larger main. Selective coordination is required in mission critical locations like emergency rooms in hospitals. You can’t have a 20 amp breaker that can hold 200 amps through a 1/4 cycle. Trip a 100 amp breaker that will trip in less time.
had some breakers go bad in a shop - popping at ridiculously low loads, etc. Square D QO, so I was curious WTF happened because the entire panel was brand new, so I drilled out the rivets... Stink bugs had crawled in through the vent holes, and martyred themselves across the contacts.
I've had brand new breakers fail, buzz on/off with a voltage drop, trip if someone looks at it wrong, continue tripping when the circuit is 100% ok. You must always verify good brakes with zero VD. Great info! Thank you
I had a 20A 120V breaker at work that would trip if plugged a small pancake air compressor into, plug into a different circuit was fine. I asked the electrician at work to look at it and he said sometimes the breakers get old and weak and trip at less than they are rated. He swapped it out and was then fine just like the other circuits.
I remember a 20A breaker that had a window A/C on it, and would regularly trip with it running for a while. Electrician came out, found it was tripping at 13A. He replaced it.
I enjoyed your video, except for the part where you said a breaker will only trip at 130% load. Thermal Breakers have inverse time curves. A 20 amp breaker will trip at 21 amps but it will take a long time. It will trip more quickly at 25, 30 or 40 amps. At 200% load it's not necessarily a short circuit, someone could just be having three hair dryers going at the same time, on the same circuit. Clients are often confused by this time delay. I often ask him what happened just before the breaker tripped and they will say nothing, but 15 minutes before then added an additional load to the circuit that had overloaded it but they didn't make the connection between that action and the breaker tripping
Thanks man. My best friend Mike passed a cpl years ago. He was a master electrician. I'm in construction and always been very interested. He was a great teacher. I picked up what I could from him. But there is SO much more. I may hv found my new electrical mentor in you. No small thing. I'll be seeing you often. To Mike , and to you. Thank you both, Rob price
I'm a retired ired fire alarm tech. We had a customer who had multiple expensive digital amplifier panels smoke because they had a 20A breaker opening for a 4A load. After I finally convinced them to replace the breaker they no longer have low current trigger problems nor several thousand dollar networked digital fire alarm panels bring damaged. Digital equipment do not like to be hard cycled, especially multiple times. I enjoy your presentations and am still learning so I can help others.
We had an operator at a stamp mill tell us a breaker had failed for the motor control center. This was the feed for several 1600 amp disconnects for various production motors. The electrician came back and said the breaker had failed. The supervisor asked him how he was sure . . . "Because the building exploded". Yup. There's your problem RIGHT THERE!
Thank you for this video. It;s so helpful. one issue i ran into at a friends house is lights and outlets are not working on one part of the house the breakers all are ok i tested them. and was wondering what the issre is the person said he reset the breaker two times after tripping and the second time it stayed on i tesed it snd it is putting out power. Im guessing a wire might have melted in the line somewhere.
I always mean to ask. You talk about 240 and 208 but I haven’t seen anything about 277 lighting circuits. Malls have that here in SoCal. Maybe you can enlighten me on you next show? Great channel Dustin. Digging it!
Not sure if it’s the right way, but had an issue where a dual 20amp CB was tripping in a resident’s room. They had a couple of stuff hooked up, but nothing crazy. My instructor told me to hook up amp meter on the hot line, and turn everything on within that circuit. It was only pulling 3.5 amps…he said it shouldn’t trip in that range. We replaced it and haven’t heard back from the client. Wondering if thats another way of troubleshooting these pesky things
Thank you very much, i have 1 side of my room no power and only 1 side is working ,and my basement no power. You explain very good , now i will try. Thanks 👍💯
Mmm so refreshing to see jush a neat organized panel. I moved into a house that my wifes stepfather owned. I started having electrical issues so I started poking around. Aside from having one half of the house on one 15amp breaker, thos box was a complete and total disaster. It looked like one of those hurricane path maps the weatherman uses. I went thru and organized a little bit with out making too many changes, but I sure would love to rewire this house correctly some day. Maybe step up the juice too.
You can try a non contact thermometer to see if you have a single hot breaker or multiple ones before doing anything. If the wire insulation melts then you had a bad connection or way too much load and the breaker didn't trip. I've had breakers actually melt the shunts on the bus bars but most of the time the issue is where the wire screws down on the breaker. You know you're in trouble when the breakers are stab in and when you try to pry it out all the breakers on that phase lift outward. The worse cases of melted bus bars I've seen were in critical power panels in hospitals.
Swap the load wire to another breaker of the same ampacity, on the same panel, and if the 2nd one trips off then you know the first one was good and detecting a valid overload!
In many circuit breaker manufacturing facilities, 135% of handle rating is used to determine an overcurrent trip time. (It's actually a very comprehensive thermal trip/time curve)This is mostly done in a series configuration for multi-pole pole breakers, or line to load for single pole breakers. The breaker must thermally trip within a specified time to pass this test. The 200% thermal testing is for single pole testing. Any one pole (including in a single pole, or multi-pole breaker) must trip within a specified time when 200% of rated handle current is applied to one pole only. (Isolated from any other pole in the breaker, if applicable) This is an extension of the 135% thermal test. "Short Circuit" (or short circuit current rating) interruption is typically the energy the breaker must dissipate in a specified amount of time, as advertised by the manufacturer, and still remain functional. It is generally designated as kilo-amps. AKA...a single pole 20A breaker has multiple levels at which a short circuit is dissipated, depending on the application: 10 kA 120/240 V AC 50/60 Hz, 10 kA 120 V AC 50/60 Hz, 5 kA 48 V DC.
I would like to see a video if possible on tracing in a breaker panel. I had a issue in a mobile home with the lights in the whole trailer flickeringz or would go dim and go back bright. The power company came out and looked everything over and then put a graph recording unit in a outlet for 24hrs which showed the power draw. But nobody was able to find out why. A friend who is a industrial/commercial electrician came over and said we had a issue with tracing in rhe panal. Replaced the box and breakers. No more problems. I believe it has something to do with the breakers Arking To the load bars leaving a trace in the box. Was told if I replaced just the breakers they to after time would follow the trace and start Arking. Please forgive if I use The wrong Terminology as I am not an electrician. Thanks for your time Great channel. Yarddoginohio
Glad you said that about the older ge breakers. I have a single 20 amp ge breaker that won't trip, but the power goes out for a period of time there's no resetting the breaker (until it cools off?) It's a high humidity basement. And in only trying to run 4 - 100 watt light bars on this single line. Your thoughts please! Oh and there is no panel shut off so I would have to do this live. Is that possible? I do have some experience with electricity so I will be comfortable doing the work. Just trying to find other options ty
Great vids, Im a diy guy I have installed plenty of fixtures, outlets and switches in my life no expert with that said I have an older friend that lost her husband 4yrs ago(great guy)and recently one of her indoor lights started to flicker and finally stopped working so we wanted a different fixture which she bought I installed it and now the light works than after an hour would not turn on decided to change the breaker since the other light would flicker and we got the same result worked than after an hour it stopped working, any ideas Thanks for any info you may give
Thanks very much about tapping. All mine looked ok, except the lights over the oven went out. So I am going to lightly tap and find the errant one. I hope it works. Thanks .
I used to have a house that was wired with aluminum and had a Zinsco breaker box. I had many problems with the Zinsco breakers going bad. The failures included welded contacts so that the breaker was actually on when the handle was in the off position. I also had breakers that would get so hot that the plastic case melted. We were in a large subdivision that was built with aluminum wiring so the local hardware store carried Zinsco breakers.
Great video! I got a question for you though... In a house I just bought, when I try to run my treadmill, it trips the breaker every time. It seems like the breaker is not able to carry the proper load. How would I check that (aside from the things you mentioned)?
Thank you for your video'. I do have a problem I hope you can respond to. I have a breaker that after it tripped I reset it and it would buzz for a second then trip off. It did it when I had the old sprinkler pump installed and after I installed a new one. Is the breaker bad?
I live in a older mobile home park. Our main shut off breakers are outside underneath the meters. Many many years old breaker boxes, how often should they be replaced? I have individual breakers in my mobile home but main is outside on a pole.
Hello , I would like to clear up a few misunderstanding you have about breakers. The first thing is breaker ratings, all standard thermal magnetic breakers are rated at 80 percent. Meaning if a breaker is a 20 amp it can maintain 16 amps continuously before entering the trip curve. When we test the thermal function on a breaker, we inject 300 percent of the rating of the breaker and time the response. This simulates an overload and tests that function. So, you do not enter the short circuit function at 200 percent. The magnetic function of the breaker which protects against short circuit is 10 times the breaker rating. So, on a 20 amp breaker this would be 200 amps. There are exceptions to this on large breakers or on adjustable breakers. However, 10 times is the standard for residential breakers. Also as a breaker technician your panel that has breakers from every manufacture installed in it drives me crazy LOL. Love the channel and all the advice you put out keep up the good work and I hope that info helps
That's great you answered a question for me! My circuits keep tripping in the garage but when I go to the panel everything is in the on position. I thought maybe I didn't understand how they worked, but now I think my old panel isn't working right.
I've had a few issues where branch breakers had continuous loads greater than 80%. After a year or so breaker starts to nuisance trip. There are some 100% rated, but mostly for service applications.
Thank you for all the content. You explain things in a way I can understand. Love the way that you explain the theory and then you go do it, and in many cases, you cross reference it with code. Cheers.
I installed all new DF GE breakers and had one that was faulty out of the package. The circuit only had three receptacles on it. And we rarely use them (garage). Of course me being a novice, it was the last thing I checked. It didn’t even occur to me that the breaker could be faulty. It was somewhat of a relief, as I thought that my run was damaged by the drywallers and I was going to have a fish a new run.
Reminds me of a time where I had a breaker problem with my Square D QO panel. If I was drawing too much current across a few different circuits all these affected circuits would lose power than gain it back a minute later. None of the breakers for those circuits tripped. Turned out the main breaker switch went bad and couldn't handle a lot of current passing through it.
I'm a first-time homeowner and about an hour ago I had a breaker with a test button trip while turning on a light switch but the problem is that the breaker actually goes to 2 different rooms. I've tried to reset the breaker by switching it to off and then turning it back on but the switch always stays in the middle. Is this simply a bad breaker or would this be a more complicated issue? I also have a circuit breaker that controls the main bathroom, master bedroom, attached bathroom to the master, and the space where the circuit breaker box is...all on one circuit breaker. Is that normal to have?
hey there great video, waa wondering if you have advice on a dryer breaker that stays on the trip position and will not stay in the on position. This is a brand new house and i know the dryer had previously, worked no problem with the dryer. thanks in advance for your help.
Check connections at every point and make sure it's good and proper. If it is. Replace the breaker. If the problem still persists. It's the equipment (dryer) or something else on that circuit.
Our home is 4.5 years old, we’ve had 2 breakers replaced already and now we have another one that needs replacing. The “Original” Electricians told us that the manufacturer sent them a lot of Bad Breakers and that they can be replaced free of charge. Trouble is, that Electrician refused to return after many, many calls. We found another Electrician however he lives about 50 miles from us, so even tho he was an excellent Electrician we hate to have him travel that far. Is the replacement of a breaker something that a Homeowner can do theirselves? Where can we buy a replacement for our breaker?
I've actually had more trouble on GE Slimline breakers. This was on my house...I accidentally shorted a circuit and went to the breaker to cut it off and none were tripped....decided to replace all the breakefs...but for the same price of breakers just went out and bought a nice Square D panel.
Took the super old super heavy panel cover off at a Dollar General in Indiana. Because it was so heavy it slipped out of my hands just a little but enough to for it to hit the also super old main breaker. This one flipped up and down not left and right. So I accidentally shut down the whole store, lol. Not problem, just flip it back on. Well, it wouldn't flip back on. I caused no damage to it, it was just a bad breaker that was still working somehow. The store was shut down for nearly 24 hours before we got a new one shipped to the store 😬............Opps. I like to think I prevented future problems by causing it now and getting it over with 😃
I have a Eaton / Cutler Hammer CC2200 - 200 amp main breaker. I don’t seem to be able to power it down. it’s springy like a momentary switch and of course that’s the first disconnect coming off the meter. I am contemplating swapping the breaker out for $300-500 because they’re obsolete. The other option is to swap it out for a Square D 200 amp main panel but I will need all new breakers as well. this is something I plan to do myself but having the meter pulled and reconnected is what I’m not sure about. and I’m sure I’ll need an inspection. it shouldn’t be too difficult, as all the wires come in from the top or bottom… maybe 6-8 hours. any suggestions are welcome! I will probably need to update the GFI’s to the lockout arc type, especially if an inspection is required. as a final point of interest, the next door neighbor had a lightning strike 2-1/2 years or so ago. we lost every device that was connected to power, the a cat 5 cable or to a coax cable. we determined what all had been taken out by the lightning strike BUT checking the breaker(s) never occurred to me 🤬. I’m sure it would have been covered by insurance then.
I put in a brand new 20a Square D arc fault onto a brand new subpanel and when I turned it on it buzzed then smoked.Obviously, the breaker is shit now but is the problem the breaker or the circuit?
Just subscribed! I’m a 24yr old woman and I don’t wanna be another person from my generation that doesn’t have any useful skills in life. This is really cool! Learned a lot of new stuff!
Great for you! I’m a 62 old guy and do a lot of diy, but never was comfortable with residential electric. For safety, I would recommend getting a non contact voltage tester and a multimeter with an audible indicator for continuity and view some videos on how to use them. Fluke is a great brand. I think HomeDepot has a value pack with these items. Sparky TH-cam channel is also a great source!
Nice video, I have four circuit breakers with GFI test buttons. All four of the circuit breaker GFI test buttons won't work. Two of the breakers are soft feeling.
Great video very informative. So what would cause my lights to not get power, and outlets do get power. We have the dual breakers square D brand 15amp.
Thanks for this vid. I lost a circuit in my garage and the breaker didn't seem to be tripped. Multi meter at the outlet showed no voltage. Went back to the panel and reset every 120 volt breaker, finally found the one breaker that had tripped but didn't show tripped. Now I know why, time to replace. Thumbs up!!
I work in sales I work with a distributor of Eaton when is the biggest problems we're having is the mass production of these breakers. And with the supply chain as it is there's a lot of bad breakers they're slipping through QC so I end up sending a lot of breakers back and I find bad breakers on my shelf all the time btw Eaton they make wonderful products but with the supply chain problems we have been having this has been quite frequent
Fantastic video! I'm having an odd issue, brand new home, been able to run box fan in one room for months but then the breaker tripped. Electrician came out and replaced breaker and suggested that maybe the box fan is faulty, but it works fine in any other part of the house. Then tried another box fan, that also tripped the breaker, new breaker installed again, trips again with another fan. What is weird is that after the first trip, the breaker when reset back to ON will sometimes trip after that first trip with nothing plugged in! Any suggestions as to what could be going on? Also don't breakers normally last a while even with multiple trips? Why has it been replaced two times now with only one or two trips per replacement? :|
Question @electricianu so I have a loud humming noise coming from wall .I found it’s the light circuit in my kitchen,I turned it off and noise stopped.what do you recommend? Or what is causing the noise ?
I had a new panel installed in my home. I was charged for new breakers and panel.. the whole deal. The breakers all look used though, except for three. Is this common to install used breakers on a job?
Man... Thank you for that tapping tip. Everything looked good on the device, circuit breaker looked like it was intact. I tried that tapping tip and sure enough, it started moving until it tripped.. other breakers didn't move.
question ...Recently my dish washer stopped working as it wasn't getting any power as far as i could tell and it is hard wired..In other words not the kind that is plugged into the wall..i traced it to my number 9 breaker on my control panel in the breaker box..I bought the home and only but a few are identified and numbered by writing which breakers control what areas of my home..i reset the breaker as it wasn't tripped but i reset it anyway..still no power..I chalked it up to the dishwasher as having a computer problem within my dishwasher..about a month later i had another issue and needed to shut a breaker down to hook up a light fixture and noticed my number 9 had tripped by itself and i know i had reset it a month earlier and left it on...I set it back to the on position and to my surprise the dishwasher came back to life..Is it possible this breaker is bad as it didn't trip off when the dishwasher first went out a month earlier ?..When the dishwasher first stopped working the breaker wasn't tripped but i reset it anyway and just left it on and somehow it tripped the breaker sometime later and restting it again it started working..A weak breaker possibly ???
@@realTlMBOSLlCE May have been too large of a load for the VFD to gracefully brake on a loss of phase condition without frying. Also, some OEM's will shut off various features to reduce faults on the delivered equipment.
Needed a phase loss detector/control to cut power when the equipment is that expensive. The manufacturer should have had that component added. Someday it's bound to loose 1 phase.
I have a Murray / Crouse Hinds 200 amp Main breaker . turned off the main breaker off when disconnecting the oven. when turning the power back on the switch now seems to be loose and not strong to snap on . do these big main breakers also go bad ? can they be repaired? a new one is around $1200 bucks
About a year ago, I installed a replacement Leviton (GFTR1-KT) GFCI only to find out it was bad, from the store. Question: how can you test them before you install? I did test once it was in circuit two ways: GFCI tester and the reaction of other connected circuits. It never reset or pop (button). I did finally install a good one.
I found a breaker that was bad by simply turning it off. Soon as I did that it popped off the bus bar. It was so loose it was causing it to trip. Put a new one in and no more problems
I have had to replace many electric panels with aluminum bus bars (the energized part that the breaker plugs on to.) Many times a breaker will burn up and it is because the aluminum bus is corroded and not making good contact. There is no good fix for a damaged bus bar. If you try to clean or sand it IT WILL FAIL very soon and burn up the new breaker too. ALWAYS check the bus bar before replacing a breaker for signs of arcing. Zinsco panels are notorious for this. I have seen holes burned completely through a Zinsco bus. Replace any zinsco panel at the first sign of trouble, or better yet before any sign of trouble. They are the second worst panel behind FPE.
Hi Justin, good info. Great examples. Was hoping to see if you would bring my issue. First time ever I've seen this happen: late 90's house. had to replace breaker because it would move slowly to off. thought I did something wrong. Replaced it and fixed issue. Now I have a 2nd breaker with the same problem. 15 amp breakers just had to turn off when changing out light fixtures. I'll update with brand . Surprised this keeps happening.
Thanks for the information. I thought I had a bad breaker, and your video helped me understand what is going on with the breaker. I was getting pissed off at myself, so the energy (your upbeat energy) helped me move forward.
Love Your videos man recently started working on irrigation store don’t know too much about electrical so it helps a lot to learn and because of what I can learn from your videos I can help the customers in the store better so thank you you
Hi is it normal for my residential central heater to cause flickering or fluctuating in my single phase 120v ac receptacle tester?On a side note, I'm on single phase throughout. Also how do I become a "1000 Volt" Member lol?
Question for Dustin (or the community) -- and kind of an oddball! We live off the grid in Wyoming, solar PV and small wind turbine (nom 1000w at nom 24VDC). When the system was built 18 years ago, DC breakers were rare things. Most installers used common 120/240v slo-blo breakers rated for expected current, which runs high. Anyhoo, wind turbine actually has two 60A breakers in line: a SquareD QOU double-pole, then a ginormous wound ceramic resistor (long story) on the +leg, then a single pole 60A breaker on the charge controller box. Turbine produces wild 3ph AC rectified on the tower to wild lumpy DC (variable V, A, and frequency). Wyoming is incredibly windy, so it is common for the turbine to run at or above rated power for hours on end. Historically, the control box breaker would trip repeatedly. But starting last year, the SquareD began tripping first, and often. The 'turn off then back on' action sometimes feels mushy. Breaker toast? I've ordered a new one, to replace during an inverter upgrade. Same unit. Is the sustained, low-voltage DC current to blame? Should I wire the coil resistor ahead of all breakers? Would a dedicated DC breaker be better?
Question is how much is the budget and how are you going to reconfigure? You can get a shunt as well as some capacitors banks to smooth out your power before it hits your chargers and that will prevent tripping. You can upsize the wires all around and up the "service entrance breakers" Seems like you got a pretty good handle on most of this.
I always check what kind of load was on it? How old is it? Has it been tripping by a bad load for a long time? Is it hot to the touch? If there’s spares in the same panel then I definitely change it
Don .... you got that nailed. I also use the "is it hot" test and an amp probe. I have found warm breakers at well under their rating, and they were only a few months old. When I say "well under" I mean like 35 amps on a 50 amp rating, so that's under the 80% rule of loading.
And funny when other electricians say you can put ge breakers into a Eaton breaker box , best bet just match the brand if it’s still made or check from model of the panel , as the other night it was 26 degrees outside and main breaker to my house failed it was a ge in the Eaton panel . And checked wirering none were loose but 1 side of breaker failed . Got a replacement went with an Eaton brand this time , hopefully this one lasts more then 2 years “ ge was put in 2 years ago when new panel was installed”
For those of us that do our own electrical work this kind of video is very helpful. I call an electrician when I don’t understand what the problem is but generally reliable info on electrical systems is hard to come by. Forums are the worst. Keep em coming.
Do more troubleshooting videos!! Love this! As a Tech who troubleshoots everyday Its great to hear different perspectives from knowledgeable people. Great job bro 👍🏻
Dustin, another excellent video! For your viewers information, the manufacturers of breakers state in writing that circuit breakers should be turned off and on six times in a row annually. Almost nobody does it. But, doing this helps find bad breakers before you see the result of a bad one. Also, i don’t think you mentioned it but sometimes breakers just get weak. Example, there is nothing visually wrong, but with only a few amps of load on them, they trip every so often. This is usually a breaker that the owner keeps turning back on numerous times after tripping. Nuisance! Change nuisance tripping breakers rather than resetting, please. Also, NEVER test a breaker by touching live conductors together. Dangerous, and circuit breakers are only guaranteed by manufacturer to trip one time from short circuit. Respectfully, Kevin
Yah touching the wires together is the best way to find out if you have Federal fire Pacific panels as in you just arc-welded the wires together.
After many years of service, at least 18 years, the 20A breaker that I used on my table saw and dust collection outlet started to be a Nuisance breaker, so I replaced it with a new 20A breaker, I'm still having the same problem, just a bad replacement breaker? or is there something else afoot.
@@fosterwayne6684 I would doubt that the new breaker is bad if it is doing the same exact thing. Can you explain what is turned on and running and if it takes a certain amount of time before it pops or is it just random? I’m going to suggest that you take a clamp on ammeter and see what the amp draw is for the dust collector compared to the motor nameplate. Should be less than the plate for FLA. Then put it on your saw and run a board through it to see it’s amps. Again, should be less that FLA on the motor nameplate. Also, get voltage readings before and after startup. Was there any electrical changes made just before the issue started? With that info and description, we may be able to come up with an answer for you.
Respectfully, Kevin
@@fosterwayne6684 if you're comfortable doing it I would suggest checking any replacement cord ends to make sure they are still secure connection within. After that I would check for loose connections on the outlets as well.
It's also worth checking any cords for damage. Then I would suspect something internal on one of the pieces of equipment.
@@KevinCoop1 I have 4 outlets on that breaker and it doesn't happen all the time, but more times than I would like, I had both the table saw and the dust collector rigged to come on at the same time, but that tripped the breaker more often, now I switch them on separately and the breaker does trip, but not as often. I also run a 12" table top disk sander on that breaker with my shop vac turned on and that sometimes trips the breaker, but rarely. I have had all four machines running at the same time without tripping the breaker, but that is a very rare occasion to have them running at the same time. I'm hoping that it's just a bad breaker, I've had no problems with any of the other circuits.
😂 39 seconds into your video and I'm rolling. I'm going into my 4th month of working for myself and after doing everything but carpet for the last 20 years and I'm learning alot about electrical from your channel. Keep up the good work man.
One of the most rewarding things I've done, next to watching my daughters grow, was teaching (like, they were actually listening and not on their phones) two guys everything I could think to teach them in the time I had. In the beginning, one guy went from handing me a caulking gun when I asked for a torpedo level to doing level 5 smooth finish drywall. The fact that I turned him loose with his capabilities is such a cool feeling and I did that for him and another higher skilled laborer, but you guys are doing it for thousands! My hats off to you brother! Keep it wierd. Lmao. 😂
A lot of times, if the wire connected to the breaker's output terminal is melted it's simply because of arcing happening under the screw, simply because whoever installed it didn't tighten the screw enough to hold with a good connection over time, so taking the wire out and cutting it back slightly to fresh copper and restripping it and reinserting it into the breaker output terminal and *properly* tightening the screw will totally fix the problem...
This problem is even worse and more common with aluminum wire, because it expands and contracts more than copper with a load vs. no load, so over time it will loosen an insufficiently tightened screw on a breaker (or device like an outlet, etc.), causing a loose connection and therefore arcing and overheating of the wire insulation and/or possibly the device terminal itself.
If you ever see and fix this problem then you have to be sure to also check to see if the device's or breaker's terminal(s) are still good too and they haven't been overheated also. You can't just ONLY check the wire itself, you have to check both the wire AND the device's terminal(s) for any heat damage, and if the device or breaker's terminal itself has also been overheated from the loose connection, then the device or breaker must be replaced... But if after careful and thorough inspection, you find that it's ONLY the wire end that got overheated from that loose connection, then you can just cut it back and restrip and remount it and *properly* tighten the screw with sufficient torque, as mentioned previously.
Joe...when I see what you described, makes me to a "tightening test" on the rest of the connections. I also look for discolored neutrals which is a dead giveaway of overloads and possibly a bad breaker!
@@ottoroth3066 Yep. 💯
I think I'm dealing with that now with some aluminum circuits. Wish me luck
@@ottoroth3066 Discolored neutrals are also a sign that someone tried to split two circuits with one neutral and end up with both circuits on the same phase thereby doubling the amps on the neutral. Not allowed anymore.
This is the BEST electrician channel on TH-cam! Thank you for filling gaps in my knowledge. Making me a better electrician every day!
Mushy handles, never heard about it, but wow had the same issue today. All the breaker visibly on but appliance was not working, after watching your video went back to breaker and tested softly as you said and boom found the culprit, reset it and now working even the handle is at off position. Will surely change it next week.
So grateful to you, God bless you.
Have to give a shout out to you for making this video. Watched this last month, last week had a service call for problems with power suddenly went out. Customer had a ge panel, and showed no signs of triped beakers. I took your advice in this video of how to check ge breakers and boom found the tripped one! Love your channel and these types of videos you put out.
If you have a voltage drop across the breaker, it is usually bad. Usually, anything above .1 volts across the breaker means you have resistance, and resistance means you have heat. Pull the breaker and it will usually be heat damaged on the sides or where it connects to the buss bar. When the contacts are closed, there should be no resistance, no voltage drop, and no heat. It always worked for me.
True, but keep in mind _breakers ARE resistors._ (that's how they work. unless you have a fancy inductive sensing, magnetic trip breaker.)
Good information but only with respect to the current flowing through said breaker. A totally faulty breaker on a live circuit not passing any or little current would pass your test. Too much resistance is a good indicator and voltage drop more reliable than resistance tests but only with a known percentage of load.
voltage drop is not usually bad, it is 100% always bad , 100%
@@trope5105 I had no choice but to run 200' of drop cord to make a repair a couple of weeks ago. I had 126 VAC at the panel and 125 VAC at the female end of the plug. Not bad. Not bad at all.
@@charlesford157 well ur talking about across a resistor, which is when u would expect it. u should never expect it across a connection like a breaker. ya gotta listen to what ppl mean when they say n write things, not take it at literal value, after all it was a conversation not just a statement
I love your enthusiasm about the electrical field!!! keep up the great videos man!
I'm a 57 yr young widow and I just bought a 1931 house . I have a 15 amp single breaker in my home that runs several rooms someone crosswired it which I cannot afford to have fixed yet but anyway it only tripped once in a while and now it trips every 10 minutes and I have no idea why until I watched your video I learned a lot I now know how to test the breaker. And everything was simply explained so well that I joined thank you so much no longer afraid to check the breakers.
I feel you. I do a lot of helping for people in your situation. You might be able to find someone to take a look for not the going rate.
If the breaker if flipping every ten minutes I’d worry something might be overloading the circuit. Approach your project with caution, but if in doubt calling a licensed professional may still be wise. Either way, best of luck!! 🙂
I can fix your problem if you're in buffalo ny.
@@Leopold284 wow. That’s cool. That’s where I’m from
Sounds like lots of resistance,
Loose neutral at one of the terminals - wherever they’re wired to. Shut it down and double check them all, look for burnt wires and be safe. Good luck!
Thank you, all of your videos are such a help. I've been an apprentice for almost 6 months and my anxiety is at ease with your help lol.
This video was very helpful. I've been retired for 18yrs,. as an appliance repair tech, this helped clear some of the cobwebs.
I work as an electrician for a Refrigeration company and there are many manufacturing company that have put large refrigeration racks on the roofs of buildings. A main feeder is brought up and branch circuits are distributed from there. During the summer season I have had 15 amp breakers trip with a 5 amp load. From what I have found is the steel box enclosure that sits in direct sun light all day, heats up breaker a derates the handle value of a breaker and wont let it rest because the thermals are hot. One simple test is I pull/replace that breaker, allow it to cool and it would then be able to rest. I've even taken a thermal camera and have seen the breaker reading 140°+. We would then add vent fans to help cool the enclosure... a little.
I’m a tool junkie and almost bought myself a thermal camera the other day. I bought a socket set instead. I will be getting one though.
Came across your video tonight because I had a breaker fail in my panel. Had to cross reference a Murray MP-T over to a Siemens QD type, and wanted to figure out how they can just stop working. Mine had that mushy feeling you described about one of the failures, so I guess the spring fatigues over time, and then mechanically it can't hold anymore? Super interesting, mine just stopped working out of the blue, no high load, nothing event wise that caused it. Replaced it and we're good to go. First time ever replacing a breaker. Super easy! Thank you for the info, I didn't know they were working loaded in the closed position
Your point about "mushy" handles helped me to figure out why my hot water heater stopped working. I had replaced the heater elements and thermostats and spent a couple hours pulling my hair out. Was on the verge of buying a new $600 water heater when i came across this video and i investigated the breaker to find the handle issue. Thanks for your knowledge and great video!!
You talking about the electric water heater correct?
Next time, use a voltmeter or a neon tester to check for power reaching the appliance.
Similar concern. Had been inside a Service Panel working on a different Circuit/Project and "thought" I had been very careful and didn't touch any of the other wires... After completely the work, the Water Heater was "Dead". It's 240V Digital Timer wasn't turning on/off automatically or manually. Very Odd Coincidence but seemed the "only" reasonable explanation.
Thankfully as I had had a bad breaker before that wouldn't reliably switch ON (It seemed OK (mechanical sounded/felt OK) but didn't actually pass current... Figured I'd have to check if the Breaker was bad only to find somehow 1 of the wires had pulled out of the Breaker. Didn't seem to be damaged or cause any, so was able to carefully reinstall and tighten up the wires.
Now almost a year later, realizing/suspecting that a significant "buzzing" noise when the Water Heater kicks in "might" be from a bad/weak breaker? Best just to just have the replacement ready, regardless if it "looks" OK. Why take a risk?
Just found this situation on my water heater 4hrs ago at 3am.
@@yousefqawasmeh1989 👍😂
Dustin, keep these videos coming! I had a problem with a breaker hissing caused by warm moist air from the house traveling up the service conduit and condensing back into water. The water then dripped down and into the first breaker. The resolve was seal off the conduit at the box and replace the breaker.
Excellent video.. one other thing to mention in a residential panel. ... if you smell burnt plastic( abs casing ) you have a serious problem.
Had a VFD blow up on me from a mis-wired control circuit. The 20-amp fuses did not blow at the machine, Nore the 30-amp breaker in the sub panel, which was a GE. The 50-amp breaker in the main panel protecting the sub-panel tripped! It was a Semons brand breaker. This was in my home shop fed by single phase current. All my machines run on VFD's to power 3-phase motors on the machine tools. I am deeply knowledgeable of machine tool wiring and circuitry. My dumb mistake in wiring up the control circuit killed the VFD. I guess it's true you learn from your mistakes, even if they are costly!
You're not too far me, I'm south by about 140 miles! Enjoy your videos, keep up the nice work you do!
It’s called selective coordination. Breakers will trip at certain points of an overload cycle. A 20 amp breaker if not coordinated with the main breaker. Could actually hold longer than the much larger main. Selective coordination is required in mission critical locations like emergency rooms in hospitals. You can’t have a 20 amp breaker that can hold 200 amps through a 1/4 cycle. Trip a 100 amp breaker that will trip in less time.
had some breakers go bad in a shop - popping at ridiculously low loads, etc. Square D QO, so I was curious WTF happened because the entire panel was brand new, so I drilled out the rivets...
Stink bugs had crawled in through the vent holes, and martyred themselves across the contacts.
Wtf lmao
Yeah, that was about my response, too. Until that point, I didn't even realize there WERE vent holes.
😵😵🤯 🤣🤣
Had that problem in my AC. bugs got into the contact area and stopped the contacts from closing.
I've had brand new breakers fail, buzz on/off with a voltage drop, trip if someone looks at it wrong, continue tripping when the circuit is 100% ok. You must always verify good brakes with zero VD. Great info! Thank you
I had a 20A 120V breaker at work that would trip if plugged a small pancake air compressor into, plug into a different circuit was fine. I asked the electrician at work to look at it and he said sometimes the breakers get old and weak and trip at less than they are rated. He swapped it out and was then fine just like the other circuits.
I remember a 20A breaker that had a window A/C on it, and would regularly trip with it running for a while. Electrician came out, found it was tripping at 13A. He replaced it.
I enjoyed your video, except for the part where you said a breaker will only trip at 130% load. Thermal Breakers have inverse time curves. A 20 amp breaker will trip at 21 amps but it will take a long time. It will trip more quickly at 25, 30 or 40 amps. At 200% load it's not necessarily a short circuit, someone could just be having three hair dryers going at the same time, on the same circuit.
Clients are often confused by this time delay. I often ask him what happened just before the breaker tripped and they will say nothing, but 15 minutes before then added an additional load to the circuit that had overloaded it but they didn't make the connection between that action and the breaker tripping
Thanks man. My best friend Mike passed a cpl years ago. He was a master electrician. I'm in construction and always been very interested. He was a great teacher. I picked up what I could from him. But there is SO much more. I may hv found my new electrical mentor in you. No small thing. I'll be seeing you often. To Mike , and to you. Thank you both,
Rob price
Hey buddy! Probably the best video I've seen regarding electrical problems... clear, concise, informative! Keep up the great work!
I'm a retired ired fire alarm tech. We had a customer who had multiple expensive digital amplifier panels smoke because they had a 20A breaker opening for a 4A load. After I finally convinced them to replace the breaker they no longer have low current trigger problems nor several thousand dollar networked digital fire alarm panels bring damaged. Digital equipment do not like to be hard cycled, especially multiple times. I enjoy your presentations and am still learning so I can help others.
We had an operator at a stamp mill tell us a breaker had failed for the motor control center. This was the feed for several 1600 amp disconnects for various production motors. The electrician came back and said the breaker had failed. The supervisor asked him how he was sure . . . "Because the building exploded". Yup. There's your problem RIGHT THERE!
Thank you for this video. It;s so helpful. one issue i ran into at a friends house is lights and outlets are not working on one part of the house the breakers all are ok i tested them. and was wondering what the issre is the person said he reset the breaker two times after tripping and the second time it stayed on i tesed it snd it is putting out power. Im guessing a wire might have melted in the line somewhere.
I always mean to ask. You talk about 240 and 208 but I haven’t seen anything about 277 lighting circuits. Malls have that here in SoCal. Maybe you can enlighten me on you next show?
Great channel Dustin. Digging it!
It's higher voltage. 277/480. Should be high voltage colors. Brown, orange, yellow and a gray neutral.
@@71160000 Thanks. I remember now. It’s one leg of 480. The 1/3 value applies right?
Sorry. That’s wrong. I would like to see Dustin explain it if he has time
@@rogerk1710 square root of three into phase to phase voltage yields… phase to neutral voltage
I had a old zinsco breaker explode in a great ball of fire 🔥 on my panel when I reset it.
Highly motivated. To learn how to do things right now.
Not sure if it’s the right way, but had an issue where a dual 20amp CB was tripping in a resident’s room. They had a couple of stuff hooked up, but nothing crazy. My instructor told me to hook up amp meter on the hot line, and turn everything on within that circuit. It was only pulling 3.5 amps…he said it shouldn’t trip in that range. We replaced it and haven’t heard back from the client. Wondering if thats another way of troubleshooting these pesky things
Thank you very much, i have 1 side of my room no power and only 1 side is working ,and my basement no power. You explain very good , now i will try. Thanks 👍💯
Very simple ( but thorough ) explanation . Great video 👍
Mmm so refreshing to see jush a neat organized panel. I moved into a house that my wifes stepfather owned. I started having electrical issues so I started poking around. Aside from having one half of the house on one 15amp breaker, thos box was a complete and total disaster. It looked like one of those hurricane path maps the weatherman uses. I went thru and organized a little bit with out making too many changes, but I sure would love to rewire this house correctly some day. Maybe step up the juice too.
You can try a non contact thermometer to see if you have a single hot breaker or multiple ones before doing anything. If the wire insulation melts then you had a bad connection or way too much load and the breaker didn't trip. I've had breakers actually melt the shunts on the bus bars but most of the time the issue is where the wire screws down on the breaker. You know you're in trouble when the breakers are stab in and when you try to pry it out all the breakers on that phase lift outward. The worse cases of melted bus bars I've seen were in critical power panels in hospitals.
Thanks! I have a mushy handle to my garbage disposal. Not tripping but no charge to the on/off switch.
Right. Visually inspect everything. Thanks
Thank you for saving my hundreds of dollars today. One little thing you explained was the exact information I needed to fix the problem.
G.E. breakers ... in my area we call them GE for good enough :)
Square D are really solid it seems, and Eaton makes some good stuff too
GE the last two letters in garbage!
Siemans and square D always the way to go
@@Bluesman57 absolutely garbage
QO panel the only way to go
Hey nobody said Schneider
Swap the load wire to another breaker of the same ampacity, on the same panel, and if the 2nd one trips off then you know the first one was good and detecting a valid overload!
In many circuit breaker manufacturing facilities, 135% of handle rating is used to determine an overcurrent trip time. (It's actually a very comprehensive thermal trip/time curve)This is mostly done in a series configuration for multi-pole pole breakers, or line to load for single pole breakers. The breaker must thermally trip within a specified time to pass this test. The 200% thermal testing is for single pole testing. Any one pole (including in a single pole, or multi-pole breaker) must trip within a specified time when 200% of rated handle current is applied to one pole only. (Isolated from any other pole in the breaker, if applicable) This is an extension of the 135% thermal test. "Short Circuit" (or short circuit current rating) interruption is typically the energy the breaker must dissipate in a specified amount of time, as advertised by the manufacturer, and still remain functional. It is generally designated as kilo-amps. AKA...a single pole 20A breaker has multiple levels at which a short circuit is dissipated, depending on the application: 10 kA 120/240 V AC 50/60 Hz, 10 kA 120 V AC 50/60 Hz, 5 kA 48 V DC.
You nailed it with the GE breakers known for the mushy handles. Literally replaced one after 4 months of low load.
Thank you. As an HVAC apprentice this video taught me a few things.
In HVAC, an ammeter is one of your best friends. A compressor on a 4 ton unit is not supposed to draw 70 amps. Lol.
I would like to see a video if possible on tracing in a breaker panel. I had a issue in a mobile home with the lights in the whole trailer flickeringz or would go dim and go back bright. The power company came out and looked everything over and then put a graph recording unit in a outlet for 24hrs which showed the power draw. But nobody was able to find out why. A friend who is a industrial/commercial electrician came over and said we had a issue with tracing in rhe panal. Replaced the box and breakers. No more problems. I believe it has something to do with the breakers Arking To the load bars leaving a trace in the box. Was told if I replaced just the breakers they to after time would follow the trace and start Arking. Please forgive if I use The wrong Terminology as I am not an electrician. Thanks for your time Great channel. Yarddoginohio
Glad you said that about the older ge breakers. I have a single 20 amp ge breaker that won't trip, but the power goes out for a period of time there's no resetting the breaker (until it cools off?)
It's a high humidity basement. And in only trying to run 4 - 100 watt light bars on this single line. Your thoughts please!
Oh and there is no panel shut off so I would have to do this live. Is that possible? I do have some experience with electricity so I will be comfortable doing the work. Just trying to find other options ty
Great vids, Im a diy guy I have installed plenty of fixtures, outlets and switches in my life no expert with that said I have an older friend that lost her husband 4yrs ago(great guy)and recently one of her indoor lights started to flicker and finally stopped working so we wanted a different fixture which she bought I installed it and now the light works than after an hour would not turn on decided to change the breaker since the other light would flicker and we got the same result worked than after an hour it stopped working, any ideas
Thanks for any info you may give
Thanks very much about tapping. All mine looked ok, except the lights over the oven went out. So I am going to lightly tap and find the errant one. I hope it works. Thanks .
I have on my home Federal Pacific 20 from 1979. What substitute could I buy ? Thank you
Do you recommend a circuit breaker with shut off switch for a workshop/garage?
I used to have a house that was wired with aluminum and had a Zinsco breaker box. I had many problems with the Zinsco breakers going bad. The failures included welded contacts so that the breaker was actually on when the handle was in the off position. I also had breakers that would get so hot that the plastic case melted. We were in a large subdivision that was built with aluminum wiring so the local hardware store carried Zinsco breakers.
Transitioning from the military your channel is so Great for me and all the knowledge I’m trying to soak up before starying my apprenticeship! Thanks!
Great video! I got a question for you though... In a house I just bought, when I try to run my treadmill, it trips the breaker every time. It seems like the breaker is not able to carry the proper load. How would I check that (aside from the things you mentioned)?
Thank you for your video'. I do have a problem I hope you can respond to. I have a breaker that after it tripped I reset it and it would buzz for a second then trip off. It did it when I had the old sprinkler pump installed and after I installed a new one. Is the breaker bad?
I live in a older mobile home park. Our main shut off breakers are outside underneath the meters. Many many years old breaker boxes, how often should they be replaced? I have individual breakers in my mobile home but main is outside on a pole.
Hello , I would like to clear up a few misunderstanding you have about breakers. The first thing is breaker ratings, all standard thermal magnetic breakers are rated at 80 percent. Meaning if a breaker is a 20 amp it can maintain 16 amps continuously before entering the trip curve. When we test the thermal function on a breaker, we inject 300 percent of the rating of the breaker and time the response. This simulates an overload and tests that function. So, you do not enter the short circuit function at 200 percent. The magnetic function of the breaker which protects against short circuit is 10 times the breaker rating. So, on a 20 amp breaker this would be 200 amps. There are exceptions to this on large breakers or on adjustable breakers. However, 10 times is the standard for residential breakers. Also as a breaker technician your panel that has breakers from every manufacture installed in it drives me crazy LOL. Love the channel and all the advice you put out keep up the good work and I hope that info helps
Thank you for the lesson on Breakers, all of your videos are educational. What is your opinion on Arc Fault Breakers? Thanks again!
That's great you answered a question for me! My circuits keep tripping in the garage but when I go to the panel everything is in the on position. I thought maybe I didn't understand how they worked, but now I think my old panel isn't working right.
I've had a few issues where branch breakers had continuous loads greater than 80%. After a year or so breaker starts to nuisance trip. There are some 100% rated, but mostly for service applications.
Thanks I was terrified to touch anything in breaker box but I did as you said turn off and then back to on position it worked 💙
Thank you for all the content. You explain things in a way I can understand. Love the way that you explain the theory and then you go do it, and in many cases, you cross reference it with code. Cheers.
I would like to thank this channel I been doing this type of work for 2 yrs now and i have learned a lot from yall. Thank you
That's great to hear! Thank you for watching!
There is one assumption you can make in electrical that is safe.
You have to test EVERYTHING.
I installed all new DF GE breakers and had one that was faulty out of the package. The circuit only had three receptacles on it. And we rarely use them (garage). Of course me being a novice, it was the last thing I checked. It didn’t even occur to me that the breaker could be faulty. It was somewhat of a relief, as I thought that my run was damaged by the drywallers and I was going to have a fish a new run.
Reminds me of a time where I had a breaker problem with my Square D QO panel. If I was drawing too much current across a few different circuits all these affected circuits would lose power than gain it back a minute later. None of the breakers for those circuits tripped. Turned out the main breaker switch went bad and couldn't handle a lot of current passing through it.
I'm a first-time homeowner and about an hour ago I had a breaker with a test button trip while turning on a light switch but the problem is that the breaker actually goes to 2 different rooms. I've tried to reset the breaker by switching it to off and then turning it back on but the switch always stays in the middle. Is this simply a bad breaker or would this be a more complicated issue?
I also have a circuit breaker that controls the main bathroom, master bedroom, attached bathroom to the master, and the space where the circuit breaker box is...all on one circuit breaker. Is that normal to have?
hey there great video, waa wondering if you have advice on a dryer breaker that stays on the trip position and will not stay in the on position. This is a brand new house and i know the dryer had previously, worked no problem with the dryer. thanks in advance for your help.
Check connections at every point and make sure it's good and proper.
If it is. Replace the breaker. If the problem still persists. It's the equipment (dryer) or something else on that circuit.
Our home is 4.5 years old, we’ve had 2 breakers replaced already and now we have another one that needs replacing. The “Original” Electricians told us that the manufacturer sent them a lot of Bad Breakers and that they can be replaced free of charge. Trouble is, that Electrician refused to return after many, many calls. We found another Electrician however he lives about 50 miles from us, so even tho he was an excellent Electrician we hate to have him travel that far. Is the replacement of a breaker something that a Homeowner can do theirselves? Where can we buy a replacement for our breaker?
Yes you can,watch an how to video first. Home Depo has all kinds of them.
I've actually had more trouble on GE Slimline breakers. This was on my house...I accidentally shorted a circuit and went to the breaker to cut it off and none were tripped....decided to replace all the breakefs...but for the same price of breakers just went out and bought a nice Square D panel.
Took the super old super heavy panel cover off at a Dollar General in Indiana. Because it was so heavy it slipped out of my hands just a little but enough to for it to hit the also super old main breaker. This one flipped up and down not left and right. So I accidentally shut down the whole store, lol. Not problem, just flip it back on. Well, it wouldn't flip back on. I caused no damage to it, it was just a bad breaker that was still working somehow.
The store was shut down for nearly 24 hours before we got a new one shipped to the store 😬............Opps.
I like to think I prevented future problems by causing it now and getting it over with 😃
I have a Eaton / Cutler Hammer CC2200 - 200 amp main breaker.
I don’t seem to be able to power it down. it’s springy like a momentary switch and of course that’s the first disconnect coming off the meter.
I am contemplating swapping the breaker out for $300-500 because they’re obsolete. The other option is to swap it out for a Square D 200 amp main panel but I will need all new breakers as well.
this is something I plan to do myself but having the meter pulled and reconnected is what I’m not sure about. and I’m sure I’ll need an inspection.
it shouldn’t be too difficult, as all the wires come in from the top or bottom… maybe 6-8 hours.
any suggestions are welcome!
I will probably need to update the GFI’s to the lockout arc type, especially if an inspection is required.
as a final point of interest, the next door neighbor had a lightning strike 2-1/2 years or so ago. we lost every device that was connected to power, the a cat 5 cable or to a coax cable. we determined what all had been taken out by the lightning strike BUT checking the breaker(s) never occurred to me 🤬. I’m sure it would have been covered by insurance then.
I put in a brand new 20a Square D arc fault onto a brand new subpanel and when I turned it on it buzzed then smoked.Obviously, the breaker is shit now but is the problem the breaker or the circuit?
Just subscribed! I’m a 24yr old woman and I don’t wanna be another person from my generation that doesn’t have any useful skills in life. This is really cool! Learned a lot of new stuff!
Great for you! I’m a 62 old guy and do a lot of diy, but never was comfortable with residential electric. For safety, I would recommend getting a non contact voltage tester and a multimeter with an audible indicator for continuity and view some videos on how to use them. Fluke is a great brand. I think HomeDepot has a value pack with these items. Sparky TH-cam channel is also a great source!
Dustin ..You are very well trained tech ..impressed...
Nice video, I have four circuit breakers with GFI test buttons. All four of the circuit breaker GFI test buttons won't work. Two of the breakers are soft feeling.
Great video very informative.
So what would cause my lights to not get power, and outlets do get power. We have the dual breakers square D brand 15amp.
Thanks for this vid. I lost a circuit in my garage and the breaker didn't seem to be tripped. Multi meter at the outlet showed no voltage. Went back to the panel and reset every 120 volt breaker, finally found the one breaker that had tripped but didn't show tripped. Now I know why, time to replace. Thumbs up!!
I work in sales I work with a distributor of Eaton when is the biggest problems we're having is the mass production of these breakers. And with the supply chain as it is there's a lot of bad breakers they're slipping through QC so I end up sending a lot of breakers back and I find bad breakers on my shelf all the time btw Eaton they make wonderful products but with the supply chain problems we have been having this has been quite frequent
Fantastic video! I'm having an odd issue, brand new home, been able to run box fan in one room for months but then the breaker tripped. Electrician came out and replaced breaker and suggested that maybe the box fan is faulty, but it works fine in any other part of the house. Then tried another box fan, that also tripped the breaker, new breaker installed again, trips again with another fan. What is weird is that after the first trip, the breaker when reset back to ON will sometimes trip after that first trip with nothing plugged in! Any suggestions as to what could be going on? Also don't breakers normally last a while even with multiple trips? Why has it been replaced two times now with only one or two trips per replacement? :|
Sounds like a short in the circuit. You need to have that outlet and the wiring to it checked asap.
Hi, Any tip to identifies a Pushmatic breaker in a old house, all seem to be ok, but we have a outlet down in the kitchen. Thanks
Question @electricianu so I have a loud humming noise coming from wall .I found it’s the light circuit in my kitchen,I turned it off and noise stopped.what do you recommend? Or what is causing the noise ?
I had a new panel installed in my home. I was charged for new breakers and panel.. the whole deal. The breakers all look used though, except for three. Is this common to install used breakers on a job?
Man... Thank you for that tapping tip. Everything looked good on the device, circuit breaker looked like it was intact. I tried that tapping tip and sure enough, it started moving until it tripped.. other breakers didn't move.
question ...Recently my dish washer stopped working as it wasn't getting any power as far as i could tell and it is hard wired..In other words not the kind that is plugged into the wall..i traced it to my number 9 breaker on my control panel in the breaker box..I bought the home and only but a few are identified and numbered by writing which breakers control what areas of my home..i reset the breaker as it wasn't tripped but i reset it anyway..still no power..I chalked it up to the dishwasher as having a computer problem within my dishwasher..about a month later i had another issue and needed to shut a breaker down to hook up a light fixture and noticed my number 9 had tripped by itself and i know i had reset it a month earlier and left it on...I set it back to the on position and to my surprise the dishwasher came back to life..Is it possible this breaker is bad as it didn't trip off when the dishwasher first went out a month earlier ?..When the dishwasher first stopped working the breaker wasn't tripped but i reset it anyway and just left it on and somehow it tripped the breaker sometime later and restting it again it started working..A weak breaker possibly ???
On one of our jobs we lost a phase on a 3 phase breaker supplying an air handler, fried 2 variable frequency drivers. Over $10,000 to replace.
VFD wasn't set to fault on a phase loss?
@@realTlMBOSLlCE May have been too large of a load for the VFD to gracefully brake on a loss of phase condition without frying. Also, some OEM's will shut off various features to reduce faults on the delivered equipment.
Needed a phase loss detector/control to cut power when the equipment is that expensive. The manufacturer should have had that component added. Someday it's bound to loose 1 phase.
I have a Murray / Crouse Hinds 200 amp Main breaker . turned off the main breaker off when disconnecting the oven. when turning the power back on the switch now seems to be loose and not strong to snap on . do these big main breakers also go bad ? can they be repaired? a new one is around $1200 bucks
Great explanation of checking your breaker
About a year ago, I installed a replacement Leviton (GFTR1-KT) GFCI only to find out it was bad, from the store. Question: how can you test them before you install? I did test once it was in circuit two ways: GFCI tester and the reaction of other connected circuits. It never reset or pop (button). I did finally install a good one.
I found a breaker that was bad by simply turning it off. Soon as I did that it popped off the bus bar. It was so loose it was causing it to trip. Put a new one in and no more problems
I have had to replace many electric panels with aluminum bus bars (the energized part that the breaker plugs on to.) Many times a breaker will burn up and it is because the aluminum bus is corroded and not making good contact. There is no good fix for a damaged bus bar. If you try to clean or sand it IT WILL FAIL very soon and burn up the new breaker too. ALWAYS check the bus bar before replacing a breaker for signs of arcing. Zinsco panels are notorious for this. I have seen holes burned completely through a Zinsco bus. Replace any zinsco panel at the first sign of trouble, or better yet before any sign of trouble. They are the second worst panel behind FPE.
Hi Justin, good info. Great examples. Was hoping to see if you would bring my issue. First time ever I've seen this happen: late 90's house. had to replace breaker because it would move slowly to off. thought I did something wrong. Replaced it and fixed issue. Now I have a 2nd breaker with the same problem. 15 amp breakers just had to turn off when changing out light fixtures. I'll update with brand . Surprised this keeps happening.
Thanks for the information. I thought I had a bad breaker, and your video helped me understand what is going on with the breaker. I was getting pissed off at myself, so the energy (your upbeat energy) helped me move forward.
Love Your videos man recently started working on irrigation store don’t know too much about electrical so it helps a lot to learn and because of what I can learn from your videos I can help the customers in the store better so thank you you
I watched this video and the helpful tips and got my inside garage lights back on. Thank you!😆
Can i check by doing a continuity test on the breaker ?
using it in my apprenticeship classes here in the inland empire in Southern California. Keep up the good work!
Hi is it normal for my residential central heater to cause flickering or fluctuating in my single phase 120v ac receptacle tester?On a side note, I'm on single phase throughout. Also how do I become a "1000 Volt" Member lol?
Question for Dustin (or the community) -- and kind of an oddball! We live off the grid in Wyoming, solar PV and small wind turbine (nom 1000w at nom 24VDC). When the system was built 18 years ago, DC breakers were rare things. Most installers used common 120/240v slo-blo breakers rated for expected current, which runs high.
Anyhoo, wind turbine actually has two 60A breakers in line: a SquareD QOU double-pole, then a ginormous wound ceramic resistor (long story) on the +leg, then a single pole 60A breaker on the charge controller box. Turbine produces wild 3ph AC rectified on the tower to wild lumpy DC (variable V, A, and frequency). Wyoming is incredibly windy, so it is common for the turbine to run at or above rated power for hours on end. Historically, the control box breaker would trip repeatedly. But starting last year, the SquareD began tripping first, and often. The 'turn off then back on' action sometimes feels mushy.
Breaker toast? I've ordered a new one, to replace during an inverter upgrade. Same unit. Is the sustained, low-voltage DC current to blame? Should I wire the coil resistor ahead of all breakers? Would a dedicated DC breaker be better?
Question is how much is the budget and how are you going to reconfigure?
You can get a shunt as well as some capacitors banks to smooth out your power before it hits your chargers and that will prevent tripping. You can upsize the wires all around and up the "service entrance breakers"
Seems like you got a pretty good handle on most of this.
Excellent troubleshooting. Nice to know to prevent fire 👍
I always check what kind of load was on it? How old is it? Has it been tripping by a bad load for a long time? Is it hot to the touch? If there’s spares in the same panel then I definitely change it
Don .... you got that nailed. I also use the "is it hot" test and an amp probe. I have found warm breakers at well under their rating, and they were only a few months old. When I say "well under" I mean like 35 amps on a 50 amp rating, so that's under the 80% rule of loading.
And funny when other electricians say you can put ge breakers into a Eaton breaker box , best bet just match the brand if it’s still made or check from model of the panel , as the other night it was 26 degrees outside and main breaker to my house failed it was a ge in the Eaton panel . And checked wirering none were loose but 1 side of breaker failed . Got a replacement went with an Eaton brand this time , hopefully this one lasts more then 2 years “ ge was put in 2 years ago when new panel was installed”