Tripping breaker

[Gene Wittmuss]

About 8-10 years ago I rewired my shop, and had it inspected. This morning I go out to use my miter saw, and had no power. I checked the breaker, and it was tripped. I tried resetting it, and it would immediatly trip again. I thought it might be a breaker gone bad so I rewired that line to a separate breaker that had a spare space on it. Same results. I turn the breaker off. Wait a few minutes, and turn it back on, and It immediatly trips again. I thought sawdust might have gotten into the receptical causing a short, so I took the cover plate off and blew out the box, but that didn't fix the problem. Does anyone have an idea as to what my problem may be? Any help will be appreciated, Gene

[Eric Apple - Central IN]

Is this a GFI circuit breaker ?

[Gene Wittmuss]

Is this a GFI circuit breaker ?
Eric, no this is a regular circuit breaker. As I said earlier I tried rewiring that line into a separate breaker. These are the double 20 amp breakers. Gene

[Eric Apple - Central IN]

Obviously there is a direct short in the system some where.

Remove all devices from the plugs and try again.

Try removing the wires from the recepticals. Hopefully a receptical has shorted.

If that fails, pull out you ohmmeter. With the CB open and everything unplugged, determine if the short is to ground or neutral. Do this by measuring hot to neutral resistance. The resistance reading should be off the scale. This will not solve anything, it will only give you a clue.

Next you will just have to use your judgement to start narrowing down where the short could be. Start removing pig tails and splices to try to narrow it down, checking with the ohm setting on the meter as you go.

Finally, there are devices which can inject a signal into the wire to pin point the measurement where there is a short. Since you know the wiring route, this should get you pretty close to the short.

An electrical, cable, or networking company usually has the equipment to provide this service.

[Byron Trantham]

I would disconnect anything plugged into that circuit and then try the breaker. If it still trips, you will have to remove and/or visually inspect each outlet for shorts. In fact, a quick test would be to again, make sure nothing is plugged into the circut, remove the wires from the breaker and put an ohm meter across the two wires. That should tell you if there is a problem with the basic wiring. I would presume that if the breaker is tripping with nothing connected to it then you will see a short with the ohm meter. If so, then you get to remove the outlets one at a time until the short goes away.

Now if the breaker holds with nothing connected, then start re-connecting each tool until the trip occurs again. Hope it's not this. An outlet is cheap, a power tool isn't.

[Gene Wittmuss]

I would disconnect anything plugged into that circuit and then try the breaker. If it still trips, you will have to remove and/or visually inspect each outlet for shorts. In fact, a quick test would be to again, make sure nothing is plugged into the circut, remove the wires from the breaker and put an ohm meter across the two wires. That should tell you if there is a problem with the basic wiring. I would presume that if the breaker is tripping with nothing connected to it then you will see a short with the ohm meter. If so, then you get to remove the outlets one at a time until the short goes away.

Now if the breaker holds with nothing connected, then start re-connecting each tool until the trip occurs again. Hope it's not this. An outlet is cheap, a power tool isn't.
I have unplugged everything on this circuit, and the breaker still trips. I will have to wait till my son-in-law is available to help me. I know nothing about the use of an ohmmeter, but he uses them all the time. Thanks for all the ideas for checking things out. Gene

[Byron Trantham]

I have unplugged everything on this circuit, and the breaker still trips. I will have to wait till my son-in-law is available to help me. I know nothing about the use of an ohmmeter, but he uses them all the time. Thanks for all the ideas for checking things out. Gene

I had the same thing happen to me for a different reason. The ground wire in the junction box touched one of the power leads and wamo tripped breaker. I will be willing to bet that something went wrong in one of your outlets. They don't last forever an will sometimes short usually caused by plastic fatigue - it broke. :mad:

Good luck and let us know what you find.

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

You have a short in the Circuit between the Panel and the Load, or loads. In this case, the load would be your recepticles. Check any Junction Boxes between the panel and load for a loose hot wire, or a hot shorted to ground. If that proves to be OK, then check your recepticles. A quick visual inspection should alert you to any problems. If that shows nothing, then starting at the furthest load point from the panel, and disconnect the device, or recepticle. With the device disconnected, and the Hot Lead wire nutted or taped up, turn on the breaker, and if it holds, you have found the problem. If it trips again, then unhook the next device back toward the panel, and try the breaker again. This basically is a process of elimination procedure, but it is the easiest and safest way to track down the problem if it isn't apparent. Good way to find the short if you are at all uncomfortable dealing with Electrical problems. Good luck, work SAFELY, and let us know what you find. Remember..........Electricity BITES, so be careful!