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Yes, a loose wire can cause a breaker to trip. When a wire is loose, it can create a short circuit or excessive heat, which can trigger the breaker to trip as a safety measure to prevent electrical hazards.

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4mo ago

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Related Questions

What can a loosely connected electrical wire in a breaker panel cause?

A short, which will trip the main breaker.


Can loose neutral wire effect the operation of Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker?

Yes, a loose neutral wire can effect the operation of Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker.


What can cause house electricity to cut on and off?

Loose supply lines on the supply line from the pwr pole connections. Bad main breaker in fuse panel Rare! but loose screw on wire feed in main breaker connection.


If live is kept open could it trip circuit breaker by connecting neutral to ground?

Yes, keeping a live wire open can potentially trip a circuit breaker if the neutral and ground are connected. This can create a potential difference between neutral and ground, leading to a fault current that may trip the breaker. It is unsafe to have a live wire left open and in contact with other conductors.


Why does the breaker continue to trip until hot wire is disconnected?

There is a short somewhere in the line. Start at the outlet end and what is plugged into it and work your way back. If it is a GFI breaker, they can be bad and trip as soon as any drain is put on them. I have had them trip as soon as a drill is plugged in without even turning on the drill.


How do you tell the difference between square d 3 pole 50a breaker and square d 3pole 50a breaker with shunt trip?

the easiest way to tell, is the shunt trip breaker will actually take up 4 spaces in your panel. the 4th space will have a neutral wire coming out of it, along with a lug for power INPUT. when voltage is applied to the shunt trip, it will cause the other 3 poles to open by tripping the breaker.


What is a loose connection?

Typically a loose connection is either wires in a wire nut not making a proper connection, or a wire not tighten properly in a breaker and/or device e.g., outlet, switch, etc.


How do you wire a shunt trip breaker so you can test trip it?

There are per-engineered shunt trip solutions such as the Littelfuse LPSM that have a transformer that isolates the line voltage from the control voltage. You simply wire the N.O. contact on the float in the shunt trip isolated contacts.


Can a burnt out wire cause you to lose a neutral connection?

Not usually. When a wire burns and grounds out the breaker will trip. Wire burns are usually centered around terminal connections points. If a connection becomes loose heat will be produced and this heating action is what burn the insulation on the wire. The neutral wire on the other hand is not switched so it is less likely to have terminal connection points that can become loose. In a circuit the neutral wire is connected under a wire nut with other neutral extensions in the circuit and then connected to the neutral buss in the distribution panel. There is very little to go wrong on the neutral return side of the load wire.


Why does the circuit breaker keep tripping immediately?

The circuit breaker may keep tripping immediately due to a short circuit, which occurs when a hot wire comes into contact with a neutral wire or ground wire. This causes a sudden surge of electricity, triggering the circuit breaker to trip for safety reasons.


Why are electric ranges wired to separate circuit breaker?

As a range is a high current device, the electrical code stipulates that it has to have its own breaker. The breaker protects the wire feeder. An electric range breaker is set to trip at 40 amps. Using a smaller wire that #8 is not allowed as their ratings are below that of the #8 wire. #10 wire rating is 30 amps, #12 wire rating is 20 amps, and #14 wire rating is 15 amps.


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.