What Should You Do When a Circuit Breaker Keeps Tripping?

Do you need an electrician for a circuit breaker that keeps tripping? Most people have experienced a tripped circuit breaker at one time or another. The question is, when should you call an electrician? First, let’s review some reasons that your circuit breaker keeps tripping.

A circuit breaker trips or shuts off to save the circuit breaker from overheating or potentially causing a fire in your main breaker box. While in some instances a circuit will trip, and you can simply reset it and flip the circuit breaker back to the “on” position and no more electrical problems occur. However, there could be a serious issue if the circuit breaker continues to trip every time you reset it. Let’s review some of the reasons that you should call in an electrician to explore your problem.

Overloaded Circuit

What is an overloaded circuit? An overloaded circuit is when you have a 15-amp circuit breaker and you have 20-amps worth of devices plugged the circuit. By having an overloaded circuit, your circuit breaker will trip. This incident does not necessarily require an electrician. You should be able to reset your circuit breaker and redistribute your electrical devices to different circuits. To redistribute your electrical devices, you will need to look inside your main breaker box and see what rooms or areas are included on each circuit breaker. If the circuit breaker that keeps tripping is the bathroom circuit, you may need to move your hairdryer into a different room. Or, only use the hairdryer when the bathroom heater is turned off.

There are two reasons for calling an electrician regarding an overloaded circuit. The first reason is if you would like to redistribute your wiring to different circuits so that you have enough electricity to go to all your electrical devices. The second reason that you need to call an electrician is if your circuit continues to trip even if you only have one or two electrical devices plugged in at a time. It is possible that your circuit breaker is bad.

Short Circuit

A short circuit is when a hot “black” wire touches a neutral “white” wire inside one of your light switches or outlets. When the two wires touch, there will be a large flow of current surging between the two wires. This flow of current will cause overheating and trip your circuit breaker. The reason that this occurs could be because of a loose wire or improper wiring when your electricity was installed. If you are uncomfortable with searching all your switches and outlets looking for the problem, call in an expert.

Ground Fault

Issues with a ground fault are like a short circuit. A ground fault occurs when a hot “black” wire touches any neutral “bare copper” wire. Check your main breaker box for an any issues with ground wires. Again, if you are not comfortable with handling electrical issues within your main breaker box, call an electrician.

Contact The Electrical Pros Now

Yes, you can reset your circuit breakers and get by for a few days. However, you might want expert advice before you make matters worse. An experienced electrician can guide you through the process of diagnosing the reason behind your tripping circuit breaker and help you fix your problem. To speak to an electrician, contact The Electric Pros today. We are an experienced industry leader. To get started with a The Electric Pros, check us out online or call us at (844) 249-4733.