Circuit breaker trips.

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pre65
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#1 Circuit breaker trips.

Post by pre65 »

I've got a problem at home, every now and then the circuit breaker trips, and everything is off. :shock:

I've unplugged everything not absolutely necessary, but it still trips now and then. This all started about 19:15 last night.
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#2 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by Nick »

Either something that is necessary is the problem or it's a wiring fault. I had it in the workshop with rats chewing the wires.
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#3 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by pre65 »

OK.

It tripped around 05:30 this morning, before the heating came on, and we did have a mouse problem some while ago, so that may be it.

I need my electrical system updating, and having individual circuit breakers for each circuit may help to identify the particular problem.
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#4 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by Ant »

I had the same thing before christmas, and couldnt work out what it was until everything was unplugged. Turned out it was the fridge tripping the breaker every time the pump or fan came on, hence it was completely intermittent as the fridge came on whenever the temp went up, which of course depended on what the temp in the house was.
That would be my port of call first if you dont have a separate breaker for the kitchen. At least mine just turned the kitchen feed off rather than everything
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#5 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by pre65 »

Thanks Ant.

I'm fairly sure it's not the fridge, or freezer.

My fuse box has 4 fuses.

Cooker 30A

Heater 5A (immersion) - not used.

Lights 5A

Sockets 30A

As a first trial, I've removed the 5A lights fuse and 5A immersion fuse, if there is mouse nibbled wire in the loft it should be lights.

I can use temporary lights from sockets.
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#6 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by ed »

strewth!
how old is your house Phil?........

All the houses I've owned or renovated in the last 40 years have at lease had a fuse for up ring, down ring, up lights and down lights...
are all your rooms really on one fuse?
a minimum 3kw immersion wont run on a 5 amp fuse....

you maybe due for a re-wire anyway
on the other hand you may have a boogaloo....but that still doesn't explain the immersion.
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#7 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by pre65 »

ed wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 3:56 pm
on the other hand you may have a boogaloo...
Aye. :)

The fuses have fuse wire so I can't be 100% what the rating is. I moved in 32 years ago and it's been alright in that time. I do need to see an electrician as I need some new wiring for a power shower.

EDIT> It seems the heater fuse is for the central heating, so 5A is enough.

The immersion has it's own fuse separate from the fuse board.
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#8 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by pre65 »

I did put the central heating fuse back in, but the trip's gone once more, so I've taken it out again.
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#9 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by pre65 »

SORTED. :)

I had one last search before going to bed, the trip was tripping quite often.

In the dark I could see a sparking in the twin and earth wire that feeds the fridge and freezer, it runs round on the skirting board. A bit of a bodge really, but it's been there since I moved in.

I've removed the offending piece of wire from the nearest junction box, and got the fridge and freezer attached to an extension lead for the time being.

I'm glad I found the problem. :D
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#10 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by Paul Barker »

As Im a full scope electrician but not practicing. I chose to limitless myself to heating work. There is so much in youre account Phil that just goes far beyond a safe place to live. Biggest risk with electricity is house fires. Thats how my father in law died.

You need to get a good electrician to do a periodic inspection, he will find and identify all dangers and you should ask him to quote to put every defect right.

Youre issue you found would have shown up with a periodic inspection. If you hadnt had a whole house rcd, you might have not woken up while youre house burned down and you were eating smoke. Which wont sustain youre life. Save up youre penny’s and get an inspection!
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#11 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by pre65 »

When I examined the piece of twin and earth that was the problem there is evidence of nibble marks, so a mouse (or mice) was involved.
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#12 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by Paul Barker »

Yes, its also been found they eat heating plastic pipes.
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#13 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by jack »

Bloody annoying things.

When I ran infrastructure for a finance company just off the Strand in London, we had a dreadful problem with mice.

They had got under the false floors and were impossible to remove.

Whilst there, they had developed a taste for the fibre-optic interlinks between Comms kit and the data centre. Absolute nightmare. Sections of the company used to just suddenly go off-air - trading floors, HR, fund managers, and more annoyingly for me, the executive board...

Had to completely replace all the interconnects with steel armoured fibre at enormous cost. Not just under the floors, but also in the vertical risers (lift shafts) that the little so-and-sos were using to move around the building. All Comms cabinets had to be made rodent proof too. They even ate the drop cables from people's PCs...

Happy days...
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#14 Re: Circuit breaker trips.

Post by shane »

Can’t help thinking that small animals are shock-proof.
Many years ago I ran a length of 30amp twin-and-Earth out to my shed, with a loop under the shed wall about two inches above the ground. After a long dry spell there was a shower of rain which resulted in the main circuit breaker tripping out. On investigation I found that our pet rabbit, who had the run of the garden, had stripped about two inches of insulation off the cable leaving the live cores completely exposed. I can only assume she was wearing rubber boots.
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