How a Circuit Breaker Functions Explained by a San Diego Electrician
A breaker was created to protect your wires from carrying an excessive amount of current, and to trip off on an overload or a short circuit. That is the reason why proper sizing of breakers is so important. This is all spelled out within the NEC. Never oversize a breaker to fix a tripping breaker issue. A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch made to protect an electric circuit from damage attributable to overload or short circuit. Its basic function would be to detect a problem condition and, through interrupting continuity, to be able to immediately discontinue electric flow. Unlike a new fuse, which operates & as soon as it is overloaded it blows and the fuse needs to be replaced; a circuit breaker may be reset to be able to resume normal operation. Circuit breakers are manufactured in varying styles, from small devices that protect somebody’s household appliance to large circuit breakers in large switchgear made to protect high voltage circuits feeding a complete city. If you need any kind of help about this then you can contact Premo Electric your San Diego electrician and circuit breaker expert.
The primary function of a circuit breaker is it stops electrical flow when it detects any overloading or short between any of the ungrounded circuit conductors. For example let’s say at your home the circuit breaker is rated at 10 Amps. If any current circulation above 10 Amps is sent through the circuit breaker it should immediately open the circuit breaker in order to break the connection. It is used as a safety net to defend all electrical products and homes.
Why am I changing this Circuit Breaker?
If you’re adding a circuit to a home for a microwave, dishwasher, laundry room or for more circuits on the kitchen countertop as a homeowner this would be necessary. The situation that I run into a great deal is people planning to replace a breaker given that they think that it is faulty, or features failed, or trips off all too often. It’s not that breakers don’t sometimes fail, but generally, the breaker is doing what it’s designed to do, and the issue causing the breaker to trip needs to be rectified first.
To evaluate a Faulty Circuit Breaker:
Unplug any devices which can be on this influenced circuit, shut off of all lights, after which see if your breaker will reset. If it resets you may have troubleshot part of the problem, then start re-connecting the devices 1 by 1, and turn on lights to ascertain they are not the root cause of the circuit breaker tripping. Next, after turning on your circuit breaker- make sure before plugging in any of your portable appliances or electronics or expensive equipment with a voltage tester take a reading and insure you have proper voltage between the neutral and undergrounded slots of the outlet. By checking before plugging in will ensure you that any electronics you have will not receive a surge causing the equipment to get fried.
Utilize a Voltage Tester:
In the event the breaker won’t reset, and doesn’t release voltage on the breaker terminal (use an reliable voltage tester or perhaps a volt meter to check and double check to see if the power is off). If no voltage is found on the breaker and its stuck in the middle position you need to call a licensed San Diego Electrician and have the problem evaluated before any further work is completed. The circuit breaker is met to turn off and will not turn back on when there is an electrical issue especially with overloading or when a short circuit has occurred.
