Electrical Tips and Preventive Maintenance

Circuit Breakers

A circuit breaker is designed to trip when it detects too much power running through the wire it is protecting. There are three main reasons circuit breakers trip off:

1. There is a short circuit.
2. There is an overloaded circuit.
3. The circuit breaker has failed or is broken.

Short circuits occur when 2 electrical wires get crossed or unintentionally touch each other. A short circuit will immediately cause one of your circuit breakers to trip off or you may blow a fuse.

Overloaded circuits occur when too much power is running through an electrical wire. To protect the wire, the circuit breaker does its job by detecting the overload and tripping off. The solution to this problem is to remove or unplug item(s) that may be connected to the overloaded wires and add another set of wires to bring power to them. This usually requires the services of a professional electrician.

If you have questions regarding circuit breakers, please contact us.