My bathroom outlet will not tolerate a blow dryer, so the other day I opened up the breaker panel and discovered that the single pull breaker has two wires in it. Obviously this must be why any load trips the breaker. The breaker also controls the master bedroom, another bath, and a kitchen light. Well, last night,everything in the bedroom and one bath shut down. The other bath and kitchen were ok. No breakers were tripped and I didn't see any arcing or burns. No, I have not taken the breaker itself out yet but that is my next move. And for no apparent reason, the power came back on to those rooms and has been on since.I'm baffled. Any ideas?
2006-07-11 06:42:12 · 4 answers · asked by blutoadmirer 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Do It Yourself (DIY)
It sounds like the breaker is overloaded. The circuit anyway. The blow dryer pulls a lot of amps. That's probably why it trips. Most bathroom outlets, especially near the sink, would be GFCI, or ground fault circuit interrupter, which is basically to keep you from electrocuting yourself by putting the blow dryer into a sink full of water. The GFCI circuits are usually quite sensitive. You need that protection. Does the breaker in the panel have two wires, one black (or red) and then a curly white one? A GFCI breaker in the panel would have the curly white one which is actually a neutral wire. without being ther to look at it, it would be hard to say for sure. If it isn't GFCI and there are indeed two black (or hot) wires connected into one single pole breaker, then you ought to install another breaker and separate the two. Go with a 20 amp for each, preferably with GFCI protection on both. If you do have GFCI receptacles in each bath, then I suppose regular breakers would work. I personally would not want two hot wires connected to one breaker.
2006-07-11 07:11:38 · answer #1 · answered by TN Seeker 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
first a 110 breaker can have two wires -single pull double breaker,
or - one wire single pull single breaker
it sounds like the receptacle is faulty and needs to be replaced
if ran in series this could be why loosing power to other areas.
and returning sporadically
suggest a gfic for bathrooms in case something should contact water - then would replace the breaker at the power supply - turn off all power (main) before attempting repairs and replace with a 20 amp breaker max. for house double check to make sure that the breaker is not a single pull double as it sounds if this does not help call an electrician for the repairs search listings not all are expensive there are some willing to help for fair cost
2006-07-11 14:15:05 · answer #2 · answered by bongodog57 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The breaker trips because it is overloaded. If the breaker is working properly, it WILL trip out if it's overloaded, it keeps the circuit from getting too HOT.
The strange behaviour may signal that the breaker itself might be failing, or the wire to one of the circuits could be broken and just barely touching, and re-connected when you wiggled the breaker. The other thing is, in the bathroom, you probably have a GROUND FAULT detector on the circuit which might affect the circuit depending on how it is wired, how much moisture there is IN the plugin in the bathroom, etc.
The single pole breaker, if it's 15A, should not have more than one circuit on it. Put another second breaker in if there's room and put the second circuit on IT. The bathroom GF circuit should be on it's OWN breaker.
2006-07-11 14:13:59 · answer #3 · answered by fiddlesticks9 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think your plug where the dryer plugs in is bad or going bad
questions if this an older house double wires on breaker are not that uncommon,
if you plug and dryer went out and the others were ok it means the breaker is doing what it is supposed to do,
replace the breaker in the bathroom with a GFI plug ( not Breaker)Be careful make good tight connection any time working with electricity
2006-07-12 08:03:48 · answer #4 · answered by mr_jim51 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋