An Electrician Can Help You End The Annoyance Of Frequent Tripped Breakers
Tripped circuit breakers are no fun, especially when you have to go outside to reset them. If you live in an older home, tripped breakers may be fairly common when you don't have enough outlets. Here's a look at why breakers trip and what to do about it.
Breakers Trip When A Circuit Is Overloaded
It might be annoying when a circuit trips, but a tripped breaker is a safety mechanism that protects your home from an electrical fire. Breakers often trip when you first turn something on. That's because an appliance, such as a microwave or high-speed blender, uses a lot of power to get started. If there are other things already using power on the circuit, then the breaker trips to keep your home safe.
Several types of appliances and electrical equipment around your home can trip a breaker. Hairdryers, small kitchen appliances, and power tools all draw a lot of power and they can trip a breaker if they have to share a circuit with other things.
An Electrician Can Install Dedicated Circuits
A good way to deal with the problem of frequent tripped breakers is to have an electrician install dedicated circuits. These are circuits that have only one outlet so you don't have to deal with power-sharing. This ensures your microwave has all the power it needs to start and operate without causing the breaker to trip.
Older homes don't have as many dedicated circuits since there weren't as many kitchen appliances in years past. Modern homes have larger electrical panels with more circuits to meet the power demands of today's living. An electrician can usually bring your old system up to the modern age by adding more circuits as long as there is room in the electrical panel.
You Might Need A New Panel Or Subpanel
An electrician can do a load calculation on your home to determine your energy requirements and the size of the electrical panel you need. If your panel is old, it can be replaced with a new one that has more circuits. However, another option might be to keep your old panel and add a subpanel. You might opt for this if you need a dedicated circuit in your garage for power tools or an electric car charger.
The main panel feeds the subpanel that has circuits available for garage outlets. Having the subpanel in your garage gives you the ability to reset a breaker or turn off the power quickly if needed. Once you have all the outlets you need, tripping a breaker could be a thing of the past or a rare occurrence. That makes your home safer and also reduces your frustration at having to reset the breaker frequently.
To learn more, contact an electrician in your area.