Breaker switch keeps clicking off

G

GRhino

250+ Posts
We just moved into this house last December (built in 1972). In the last couple of months the breaker switch that goes to our master bedroom & computer room has clicked off about 15 times. The bedroom also has one of those window unit AC's. Yesterday afternoon I was relaxing in there trying to watch the US Open & the switch went off 4 times in about 3 hours.

I'm obviously going to probably have to break down & call an electrician, but I was just curious if anybody else had a similar experience. Then I had questions like...do I have a short that could cause a fire..what will it cost to fix it..can it even be fixed..is there anything I could do to fix it without spending $500 on an electrician?
 
Either the circuit has more amperage on it than the system was designed to have, and/or the breaker is worn out.
If you are handy, the breaker can be changed out yourself, but you must turn the main power off to the breaker box, which is probably on the outside of the house by the meter.
Test with a circuit tester after you turn off the power-this is a cheap tool with a light bulb that shines if you touch the two probes to the wires on the circuit breaker.
You buy a breaker a Lowe's which will be under $10, and replace it. Once they blow, the seem to blow more easily after that.
It could be the window unit is too big a draw for the circuit, though.
 
It almost sounds like the circuit is overloaded. As a test, you may want to run an extension cord from an outlet on another circuit for the A/C and see if the problem stops or maybe follows the A/C unit to the other circuit. Ultimately you probably want to call an electrician though. Just to be sure that you dont have another problem.
 
Circuit is being overloaded (and/or the breaker could be bad),

Do you leave the computer and/or a bunch of accessories plugged in to one with a power strip? If turn off the power strip for a time and reduce the load on the circuit to see if it no longer overloads. You probably just need to run another circuit, wich is pulling some line and adding a new breaker to the box.
 
Same problem here. Breaker started flicking off. There's very little load on it. I'm hoping its just a breaker problem.

Worst case (aside from burning my house down) is what? Having to drop new wiring in a room? Could a pro fish wiring into the existing sockets, or would there be some serious drywall work involved?
 
Circuit breakers do go bad over time, or occasionally the contacts inside the breaker box can become pitted and cause poor conductivity/overheating. Simplest would be to rent/borrow an amperage meter to find the problem. This device just clips around the wire feeding the circuit and tells you how much current the wire is carrying. If ithe amperage is more than 75% of the breaker's rating, there is too much load on the circuit.
 
The worst case is that too much amperage is being put on that circuit, which may have been designed for a lamp and a radio, say, and you have a computer, six peripherals, a TV, an air conditioner, and 45 grow lights in your attic recreational garden.
You might need a redesign of the circuit with additional wiring to handle all that.
 
He has to come back & bring some gadget to test the breaker (not sure why he didn't bring it yesterday). Anyway, since everything in our bedroom & computer room is running off the same something (? electric line) he says he will probably need to run a 2nd one that is dedicated just to the AC unit.
 
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