Newbie with blown breaker

[Michael_in_DE]

Went into a room to find the breaker had blown. Went down, flipped it back, it sparked and immediately flipped again.

Unplugged everything in there was plugged in. Went to flip the breaker again. Again it immediately flipped back.

Breaker has overhead ceiling fan, 4 outlets with the following plugged into them:window AC, desk fan. All have been running for a couple of years without issue.

With everything unplugged the breaker will not reset. I have no clue where to go from here.

Thanks for any help or advice you could give,
-Mike

 

[rlitman]

Sounds like you have a short in the wire somewhere.

 

[AntonLargiader]

Could be a wire popped off the back of a receptacle, especially if the "back stab" terminals were used. You'll need to pull the receptacles out to find that. Same could have happened at the fan.

BTW, buy an inexpensive circuit tester. They're like $10~20. It's always good to check stuff when you're not super familiar with doing this stuff.

 

[Norcal]

Are you sure that there are not other rooms that are on that circuit with things still plugged in? Sometimes things can be elusive.

 

[PCustoms]

What sparked when you tried it the first time?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

what brand of breakers do you have?

 

[SGKent]

does the ceiling fan have a speed control on the wall or a light dimmer on the wall? Go into all the rooms nearby and see if anything else is not working, including lights in closets.

How old is the house and do you have ever have any critters in the attic or walls?

 

[Jim greengo]

Try unhooking wire from breaker,see if it will reset with no load on it.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Sounds like a short somewhere, either hot-to-neutral or hot-to-ground.

 

[ard]

I have no clue where to go from here.

So, what is your skill level? Can you use a voltmeter, ohmmeter? (ie continuity tester)

Let us know that....

As others have posted, first figure out if the breaker is working. Remove the wire, reset it. See that it gives you 120V

Next, there is a short between black (line) and either neutral or ground. You want to find it. There is a general approach: Start opening outlets, check wires for shorts.

 

[Michael_in_DE]

Are you sure that there are not other rooms that are on that circuit with things still plugged in? Sometimes things can be elusive.

I am pretty sure. This was an addition to the house. Everything in the room is on the one breaker. I will do a more thorough search of surrounding outlets and lights etc.

What sparked when you tried it the first time?

The breaker sparked. Freaked me out. Never seen that before.

what brand of breakers do you have?

I believe the breakers are 'Eaton' brand.

does the ceiling fan have a speed control on the wall or a light dimmer on the wall? Go into all the rooms nearby and see if anything else is not working, including lights in closets.

I believe the fan controls are directly on the fan only with the chain hanging down. We never actually use it, only the light portion.

Check other surrounding areas? Will do.

How old is the house and do you have ever have any critters in the attic or walls?

Original house built in the 30's, but stripped to the studs in the mid 90's and rewired, and re-plumbed. This room was also then added on. Critters? Yes and no. There are critters in a different part of the home, but not near this room and this room is well below the critter area. Critters also seem to be gone now. they nested, had babies, and now they are all gone I believe.

Try unhooking wire from breaker,see if it will reset with no load on it.

Ah, good call. Will try tonight.

So, what is your skill level? Can you use a voltmeter, ohmmeter? (ie continuity tester)

Let us know that....

As others have posted, first figure out if the breaker is working. Remove the wire, reset it. See that it gives you 120V

Next, there is a short between black (line) and either neutral or ground. You want to find it. There is a general approach: Start opening outlets, check wires for shorts.

I have mulit-meters, and clamp meters, but am a bit of a novice with both. I work mostly on cars.

Gonna do the loadless breaker test tonight.

Outlets? I will start checking them as well.




Thank you gentlemen for your help. I'll repost back with my findings.

 

[mike93lx]

I woyld grab a box of new, TR outlets and start replacing them. Then go to switches.

Its a good chance to update everything and ensure it is wired properly.

 

[ard]

In your mind, imaging a string of 'unknown boxes' attached to a wire that ends at the breaker.

If you disconnect that wire from the breaker and find the black is shorted to the ground or neutral, then ONE of those unknown boxes has a short. Just need to figure out which....


Now, if you open a receptacle somewhere along that chain, and test for the same short in both 'directions', one should be OK, the other still shorted. (Unless you happened to chose the right one to open.) This way you can narrow it down.

 

[PCustoms]

You've got a dead short somewhere, possibly at the breaker.

Post a pic of the panel please.

Trouble shooting stepsç

1. Kill the main breaker
2. Pull the breaker that is tripped. Check for damage or arcing at the buss. Damage=call an electrician (I'm basing this off your description of your experience), arcing possibly call in a pro depending on
3. Disconnect the wire from the breaker. Ohm it out, there is probably a dead short.
4. Start tracking circuit to find short. Start with 1st device in that circuit, if you can find it. If you start in the middle, disconnect everything, and figure out wich direction has the short, then follow it. Repeat until you find issue

What does the breaker feed?

If you get stuck above, detect voltage anywhere it should be off ĺtest EVERYTHING before touching) or otherwise uncomfortable call a pro.

If you sparked at the breaker, I think you'll find a bad conection there. Otherwise the spark should have been at the short itself.

 

[johnnyradiant]

If some one has used an easy box and a switch or receptacle is a little loose in the box it could have shifted so that a side screw is touching the box. Especially if the installer stabbed in the back and left the side screws out. Usually that will happen as you switch or un/plug something with an initial spark at the box and then back at the breaker when you try to reset if the device is still against the side. I've encountered that one in a couple different places. It doesn't preclude a methodical check of the circuit though 'cause if there is one fault like what I mention there is a good chance you will find other issues.

 

[thedrunkfish]

All good answers so far. Just 2cents from my experience ceiling fan motors can short to earth so make sure thats eliminated by switching off before you try and reset the breaker.

But here is where the electrician in me kicks in. By resetting the breaker you are creating the fault again. Each time you risk blowing the service fuse. depending on how the distribution is done in your neck of the woods this could be a pain.

Also are you sure its just a breaker and not an RCD? (i think you guys call them GFCI's)

 

[tonyprovo723]

Based on you calling yourself as newbie...do you know how to reset a circuit breaker? For aln electric panel I believe all brands need to be turned to off and then to on? Breakers in equipment often simply press the button 1 time to reset.

This certainly does not explain what caused it to trip.

Sent from my SM-G965U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[teamextreme]

You have a short circuit. The arc flash when you reset the breaker is not unusual for a dead short somewhere in the circuit and it doesn't mean it's at the breaker, you're just closing the circuit there and creating the short. They generally don't just occur out of the blue. Have you done or had any work done recently? Hang pictures, driven screws in the wall? A screw driven in the wall could pierce romex and cause a short. As mentioned above it could be caused by a loose receptacle that was shifted around and caused a hot terminal to touch ground, or a loose hot wire to fall out and touch ground.

To trouble shoot, I usually try to guess the routing of the circuit based on location of the dead outlets relative to the panel, then open up a box in the middle of the circuit and disconnect the hot wires there. See if that fixes the short or not. That will narrow the problem down to half the circuit. Continue doing that til you find the short.