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Can you add a larger breaker to run a second appliance on a circuit?
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
No, absolutely not. The breaker is there to protect the wiring within that circuit from overheating and catching on fire. If you add a larger breaker and the wire stays the same the wire is no longer protected by the correct amp breaker. You could cause a fire. The breaker must match the size wire being used. Do this and you risk burning your home to the ground and possibly killing your family.
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
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Can you wire 10 Gauge and 12 Gauge in the same circuit?
Yes but there are two stipulations, one that the join or splice must be made in a junction box that is accessible and has a removable cover and the second stipulation is that the breaker that is supplying the power can not be larger that the smallest conductor. In this case no breaker larger that a 20 amp breaker as #12 wire is only rated at 20 amps..
What is the difference between rated short circuit duration 3 seconds and 1 second circuit breaker?
The energy dissipated.
What is one and half breaker system in electrical lines?
One and half breaker system is an improvement on the double breaker system to effect saving in the number of circuit breakers. For every 2 circuits, 1 spare breaker is provided: Two feeders are fed from two buses via their associated circuit breakers and these two feeders are coupled by a third circuit breaker which is called tie breaker. During failure of any of the two feeder breakers, the power is fed via the breaker of the second feeder and main breaker (tie breaker).
What happens if you use an ac circuit breaker instead of dc breaker?
A circuit breaker is easier to design for ac than dc because alternating current (ac) naturally goes to zero 100 or 120 times per second and this helps to extinguish any arc. Therefore an ac circuit breaker would not be suitable for dc assuming the same voltage and current ratings.
What makes a circuit breaker go bad?
A circuit breaker can go bad from being tripped too many times. Many people don't understand that the tripping of a circuit breaker indicates a problem that needs to be corrected. They usually just reset the circuit breaker, leading to a very common second (or third, or fourth) trip. Circuit breakers tripping are for the prevention of fire due to excessive heat in the circuit. They're not supposed to be tripped repeatedly. This can wear the breaker out. Believe it or not, I've also seen circuit breakers fail to re-energize after being turned off. I speculate this was actually caused by the breaker never having been cycled (it was a main breaker), and the time elapsed since it was installed. Electrical equipment doesn't last forever. It's the same as anything else.
Why would a breaker trip after 30 sec with nothing plugged in to the circuit except the tv that is turned off?
First unplug the TV. Some TVs may still draw current when off, but not enough to cause a breaker to trip. However you still want to make sure you don't fry your TV as you troubleshoot. If there is nothing plugged in to any outlet on the branch circuit and there are no light fixtures the problem is a bad breaker or in the wiring. The ideal is to have an electrician troubleshoot since you can kill yourself while messing with the breaker panel if you don't know what you are doing. Turn breaker off, make sure with a meter that the breaker is no longer hot and remove the wire by unscrewing the lug screw. Do the same for another breaker of the same rating. Hook the first wire removed to the second breaker. Turn on the second breaker. If it doesn't trip the problem is first breaker, and you need to replace it. If the second breaker trips it is the wiring. With the second wire and breaker restored to original connection, leave the first wire disconnected. Measure the resistance with a meter of the disconnected first wire to neutral which are where white wires are connected in panel. If you have everything unplugged there should be an open circuit. If not you need to start disconnecting wires in outlets and fixtures on the branch circuit and determine where the short is. Since breaker stays on for 30 seconds it is likely the breaker since a dead short would trip breaker immediately. The exception would be a short that is causing a current to flow that is very close to the rating of the breaker. If the breaker is good then I suspect you have something plugged in you don't know about.
How does MCCB circuit breaker work?
A Miniature Circuit Breaker or "MCB" works as a normal electrical circuit breaker but is a much smaller device. As well as electro-mechanical relay technology it includes electronic circuitry to achieve its small overall size. MCBs are now used extensively for consumer power-distribution panels and inside small electrical equipment.For more information see the answers to the Related Questions and also the Related link shown below.
What might cause power to go off and on in the second floor when nothing is on but not in the first floor and the breaker is not tripped?
Call an electrician quick- and switch off the breaker for that circuit. It sounds as if there is a loose connection somewhere, and possible fire hazard.
Can you tie-in 12 gauge with another 12 awg wire?
Yes but there are two stipulations, one that the join or splice must be made in a junction box that is accessible and has a removable cover and the second stipulation is that the breaker that is supplying the power can not be larger that the smallest conductor. In this case no breaker larger that a 20 amp breaker as #12 wire is only rated at 20 amps.
What is the second function of circuit breaker?
The two functions a circuit breaker can do is protect the circuit from a high current short circuit and through its thermal trip it can protect the circuit from overload conditions. A circuit breaker will trip if too large a draw or current flow occurs across a thermal shunt inside, it can also have a ground fault circuit interrupter integrated internally in case of a difference in potential between neutral and ground resulting from voltage leakage from appliances or to protect against potential electrocutions A double circuit breaker provides access to the 2 legs of 120V in the back plane on the breaker panel. There are now typically 4 wires away from this breaker, a bare ground or earth ground, a white wire for neutral or bonded ground, a black wire for 1 leg of 120 and a red or blue wire for the 2nd leg of 120. You can use either leg and the white wire to access 120 or use the black and red/blue to access 240, white would then be used on the 3rd plug and ground goes to the ground lug or if missing it ties with the white and goes on the 3rd leg.
How can I find a short in my wiring that keeps popping the breaker?
The first thing to do would be to unplug everything that might be plugged into that circuit. It might be an external device that is tripping the breaker. If you know an electrician see if he will help you as thing can get complicated with this type of troubleshooting.Usually the wiring in the wall does not fault unless someone has driven a screw or nail into it. The fault will be in the junction box so look for burn marks inside the junction boxes. It could be as simple as a ground wire touching the "hot" terminal of a switch or plug that has just be changed out for a new one. If there was some DIY work done on that circuit, check that part of the circuit out first.The very first thing to do is to turn the breaker off, remove the electrical circuit from the breaker that is tripping and then turn the breaker back on to determine that it is not a faulty breaker. With the circuit wire removed from the breaker, the breaker should not trip. If it does change the breaker out for a new one.The second part of trouble shooting the circuit is going to entail turning the breaker on and off with exposed wiring open at junction boxes. If you are not confident that you can do this, hire an electrician. Trouble shooting this type of electrical fault is time consuming. I like to determine where the middle of the circuit is and open that junction box first. This will let you know if the fault is upstream or downstream from this junction box.Once you determine approximately where the middle junction box of the circuit is, it has to be opened and the wires removed from the device that is located in the box. Make a detailed diagram of how the device is wired into the circuit and what wires are spliced together in the back of the box that you are working on so that the box can be reconnected the same as before you took it apart. Once the wires are all seperated from each other, turn the breaker on and see if the breaker trips off.If it does not then the fault is downstream from this box. Put the wiring back together the same as it was and move on to the next box downstream and do the same procedureon that junction box. If the breaker trips then the wiring has a fault between the breaker and the box you chose to open the circuit at. Again put the wiring back together the same as it was and move on to the next box upstream and do the same procedure on that junction box. Continue with this same type of procedure until you find out what junction box connection is tripping the breaker.
Types of circuit breakers?
There are several type of circuit breakers now a day we are using these are as follows: 1. M.C.B. (Miniature circuit Breaker) Rating : 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 16, 20, 25, 32, 63 Amperes 2. M.C.C.B. (Miniature current circuit Breaker) Rating : 10, 16, 20, 25, 32, 63, 100, 200, 250, 400 Amperes. 3. A.C.B. (Air Circuit Breaker) Rating : 400, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 1800, 2000 Amperes. 4. A. B. Switch (Air Breaker) used in High tension line. 5. SF6 Breaker (Contact break in the Sf6 medium) used in High tension line.
