I have a breaker that keeps tripping. It controls outlets in my kitchen and outlets in my dining room. At first it would randomly trip so I replaced the breaker. It started doing it more often so my handyman bumped up the size of the breaker and it never worked again after that. Since I never had the money to hire someone to come out to look at it, I just ran an extension cord to use my mixer in the kitchen when I needed it. I recently replace the breaker with the original size that was there. It will work for a second then immediately trips even if nothing is plugged in. How can I find where or what the problem is so I can fix it?
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You really need to bight the bullet and pay for an electrician to inspect your wiring. Something is shorting in the installed wiring which is very dangerous. You’re risking a fire.
This time, call a licensed electrician, one who knows what he is doing and can properly diagnose the problem. Replacing a breaker or a fuse with a larger breaker is a good way to encourage a house fire and it should never be done, something I have known since I was about years old and which I thought everyone knew. Electricians cost money, sure, but nowhere near as much as a house fire does. Was that the actual original breaker you re-installed? Breakers do get old and wear out.
You have a short circuit. Since you know which outlets are controlled by the breaker, you should check each box to find out which one is mis-wired. Look for exposed wires touching each other or touching the box(hint : there may be scorch marks around the site). If you can’t find the site, then you will have to have COMPETENT electrician test the circuit. They can use a meter to find where the wires are shorted.
BTW – you should fire that handyman. Up-sizing a breaker is dangerous and illegal.
if a breaker trips without a load it is a bad breaker or has a short somewhere in the loop..you said you had the breaker replaced and it stopped working.then you put the old breaker back in and it only works sometimes..you have a short ..look in the breaker box for a bare wire on that circuit..be careful if you don;t know what your doing in the breaker box..it can kill you..
unplug each and every thing you think must be on an same circuit. that is not in simple terms on the gfci receptacle, yet must be some shops in that area. initiate plugging issues lower back in a unmarried at a time until eventually it journeys and also you’ll recognize a minimum of whats coming up the sufficiently vast modern-day draw to vacation it. once you locate the article you should in simple terms might want to hit upon a sparkling circuit to plug that one element into.
Breakers trip when there is more amperage flowing than what it is rated for. In your case, maybe whoever wired your home undersized the wire and it cannot adequately contain the amps it’s holding. Even though nothing’s plugged up there is still voltage potential there. Also, remember that the breaker can only protect up to % of the amps it’s rated for.
I agree with Karen L.
Source(s): Contractor yrs