Why Does My Breaker Keep Tripping?

 If you keep experiencing a tripped circuit breaker, you know how frustrating it can be. Those continual circuit breaker trips leave you without electrical power in one or more outlets or even a whole room of your house … yet you’re in the dark (pun intended) as to the reason.

To shed a little light on the subject, here’s an explanation for why your circuit breaker keeps tripping and if you need to replace your electrical panel.

What is a Circuit Breaker?

The basic function of a circuit breaker is to interrupt an electrical current flow in order to protect electrical equipment plugged into the same circuit. The circuit break is installed in an electrical panel (or breaker panel) and all of your home’s electrical circuits are each attached to a singular breaker.

How Do You Know If Your Breaker Has Tripped?

When one or more of your appliances and/or lights suddenly shuts off, the cause is often a circuit breaker tripping in your residential electrical panel.

In the event of a circuit overload, the circuit breaker trips that circuit to protect it. You’ve likely experienced the circuit breaker tripping as soon as you try to run too many appliances or electronics at once, but a bigger concern is if your circuit breaker keeps tripping for no apparent reason that you can see.

What Is The Breaker Doing When It Trips?

Strange as it may seem, a breaker trip is actually a good thing. Your breakers are designed to trip in case of excess electrical current. This safety measure shuts off the current to help protect your electric circuits (and by extension, your home and family) from overloading, heating up and possibly causing an electrical fire.

Inside a circuit breaker you will find a spring hooked over a small piece of soft metal (a melt-able fusible alloy). Each breaker in the panel is then connected to an electrical wire that runs through your house to your electrical plugs and lights. The electricity that flows through your house runs through the soft metal.

When the connected wiring is at risk of overheating (especially when you have aluminum wiring installed), this small piece of metal melts, resulting in the spring extending and pulling the switch off and shutting down that particular circuit. When the metal cools down and hardens, the breaker can then be reset.

A regular fuse works in a very similar way, but instead of a spring, the “melt-able” metal is the bridge itself. When overheated, it melts (or pops) and breaks the connection. Fuses must be replaced each time there is a fault, while circuit breakers can be switched back to an “on” position.

If you’re having issues with breaker trips, contact Electricians San Francisco for a Bay area electrical panel safety inspection, electrical service upgrade, and/or expert electrical repair. We’ll keep your power on … safely.