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Hopefully someone can give me a clue as to why this is happening.
My circuit breaker box keeps turning off the heat in the living room. It heats the living room for about 5 or 10 minutes and then the breaker switches off.
I figured maybe im drawing too much power on that circuit. I tried turning everything off last night in the living room and it still happened. All other breakers work fine throughout the house.
Are you talking about an electric space heater? They can draw quite a bit of power. There may be other outlets powered by that circuit that you don't know about. One of the circuits in my Mother's house powers an outlet in the living room as well as the microwave in the kitchen. Run the microwave and a space heater in the living room and the breaker will trip.
No not a space heater, my regular heat which happens to be electric. It just started happening this year. Like I said it heats for a few minutes then the circuit breaker switches for the living room go back to off.
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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How old is the baseboard heater? I would suspect something in it is going bad, causing it to draw more power, which sets off the breaker. It might be arching somewhere or something.
This is the type of fault that can end up causing a fire if not properly researched and corrected. It really needs on-site diagnosis by an electrician. Primary possibilities are one or more of the following:
Breaker is going bad (replace with one of same capacity)
Wiring has a junction that is failing and heating (all junctions should be examined and redone if needed)
Heater is somehow gong bad. (replace heater or heat strips)
Heat expansion is creating a short that occurs only after the wire or strip has fully heated up (diagnose by observation)
The starting point would be for the electrician to open all junction boxes and the breaker box and use a clamp-on ammeter over the wire to the circuit in question. That way he can quickly find if the breaker is the likely culprit. While he has you watch the meter he can observe and probe the junctions if there is no apparent trace of overheating. When you call the electrician, give the name of the breaker box and the capacity of the breaker, so he can be sure to have one on the truck.
This is the type of fault that can end up causing a fire if not properly researched and corrected. It really needs on-site diagnosis by an electrician. Primary possibilities are one or more of the following:
Breaker is going bad (replace with one of same capacity)
Wiring has a junction that is failing and heating (all junctions should be examined and redone if needed)
Heater is somehow gong bad. (replace heater or heat strips)
Heat expansion is creating a short that occurs only after the wire or strip has fully heated up (diagnose by observation)
The starting point would be for the electrician to open all junction boxes and the breaker box and use a clamp-on ammeter over the wire to the circuit in question. That way he can quickly find if the breaker is the likely culprit. While he has you watch the meter he can observe and probe the junctions if there is no apparent trace of overheating. When you call the electrician, give the name of the breaker box and the capacity of the breaker, so he can be sure to have one on the truck.
Best piece of advice you are going to get for this problem.
Excellent advice about letting the Electrician know what brand and size breaker it is also. I know I keep all the "normal" breakers and sizes on the truck, but it is always those oddball ones that throw you for another trip to the supply house/warehouse and a longer time spent on the job (which equals a larger bill for the homeowner).
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