i have a circuit breaker that trips about every 3 hours?

Question

I installed a ceiling fan and now my circuit breaker trips about every 3 hours

Answer 1

Two probable causes..the first is a faulty breaker but most likely cause is overloaded circuit. Most lighting circuits in houses are wired with 14 gauge wire rated at 15 amps. If this is the case your breaker that is tripping should be a 15 amp breaker. If the problem started after you installed fan then it would appear you have overloaded the circuit. 3 hours is a long time for a breaker to hold while overloaded......one way to determine if overload is the cause is measure current in ciruit from panel with clamp on ammeter (electrician) or by eliminating some known load on circuit i.e. unplug something or leave some lights off.......WHATEVER YOU DO ....DO NOT INCREASE SIZE OF BREAKER!!!!

Answer 2

The idea of circuit breakers is to stop the current flow before wires in the walls can overheat, melt the insulation and cause a fire. It takes a little time for that to happen and the makers of circuit breakers take that into account. Why? Because there are many situations when the current flow through a household or shop circuit temporarily exceeds the rated amperage. Electric motors typically draw a very high current to get started. That is why most have a heavy capacitor to give them an extra boost to start. If two or more motors on the same circuit happen to start up at the same time, the current draw can easily exceed the rated amperage for a minute. By providing a delay before the breaker trips, manufacturers save users a great deal of inconvenience without compromising safety.

Answer 3

a breaker tripping 3 hrs...means its slowly heating up and drawing too much current......which means usually your circuit is overloaded but not to the point it will trip right away...it may simply be a coincidence it happened since you installed the fan yet maybe not...shut the fan off and simply see if that helps. I bet it wont. then go thru the process of eliminating appliances till you find the one setting it off.....and also change the breaker because after somany trips they do get too sensitive

Answer 4

That's one tripped out circuit breaker.

Answer 5

Your overloading your breaker: Get someone in here and have them advise you about how high you can go. Unless you know for a fact do not go any higher with you breaker. It's dumb to just through in a bigger breaker and walk away, you can watch you house burn down this way.

Answer 6

You might have to much of a load on that circuit breaker the straw that broke the camels back if you will or you have a short and the wire connection is grounding out . Both of these problems are fire hazards might want to call the pros in on this one. If you can't find the problem right away. Good luck

Answer 7

This is my guess, you connected it properly but at the same time you left some conductor (wire) exposed when you screwed on the plastic wire nuts. After you stuffed all the wires under the cover, the bare ground wire is close to the exposed wire. When the fan runs it vibrates causing the wires to occasionally touch tripping the breaker.
I would remove the cap shorten the excess wire comming from the fan and reconnect everything being careful to check for any exposed conductors.
Run the fan and see if it trips the breaker, then reinstall the cover.

Answer 8

If the light turns on you did not hook it up wrong... If you crossed the wires it would trip the breaker instantly...... Try replacing the breaker... when they get old they start to lose their holding power and will trip....

Answer 9

too many items on that circuit. something else was on that circuit prior to the ceiling fan. since you added that to the system of that circuit, it must be maxing it out, in turn over heating the fuse and causing it to trip.

if a light was there prior, normally in this set up a light stitch is also there. when this combo is available normally the nearest oulet is hooked to the circuit as well. unplug whatever is in that outlet operated by the switch.

if none of the above...then look at adding a larger fuse, more amps.

Answer 10

you are over loading the circuit. alot of lighting circuits are only 5 amp. you can quite easily increase this to 16 amp. you are now no longer allowed to do this yourself. you have to pay a sparks who is certified.