The switch keeps tripping, and now?

A common situation is dealing with a tripped circuit breaker. When a switch trips, it leaves a room or an entire house in the dark and without energy, but solving the problem is usually simple.

What to do when the circuit breaker trips?

The switch keeps tripping, and now?
Image credit: Flickr

When a surge of energy overloads a circuit, such as in the case of lightning or a heavily stressed socket that absorbs too much current, the protection of the switch is to bring the circuit to the OFF position. You can get your power back by following these three simple steps:

Turn off all lights and appliances affected by the power outage. Switch everything possible to the OFF position. If your TV has turned off and doesn't have a manual OFF switch, unplug it. It is better not to have the electronics that absorb electricity when the switch is reset (in step 3 below), or further damage could be done. The sudden increase in power could adversely affect your home computer, fan or game system, for example.

Find your circuit box and look for the switches in the OFF position. Some switches have a red or orange color if they are disabled.

Flip the switch from OFF to ON. Then, simply turn the appliances and devices you turned off in step 1 back on and you should be fine. If your breaker keeps tripping, it's time to call an experienced electrician.

Does the switch keep tripping?

If the circuit breaker continues to trip, there could be a serious problem, often caused by general wear of the switch itself, which requires the installation of a new one. Repeated tripping of the switch caused by general wear of the switch is generally due to one of the following problems:

Short Circuit: A short circuit is common but potentially dangerous. This is when a "hot wire" is contacting a neutral wire in an electrical outlet, which causes an overload of current flowing through the circuit, creating heat. The automatic switch turns off automatically in cases like these to avoid an electrical fire.

Overloaded circuit: another common circumstance is a simple overloaded circuit. If your electrical system or certain circuits are unable to handle the amplifiers passing through the circuit, this will trip the switch, and will likely damage the electronics or even start a fire.

Ground Fault: This is when a hot wire and a bare ground wire both touch the metal box that houses them. This triggers a chain reaction that pushes more electricity into the circuit than it should hold, which triggers the switch repeatedly. An earth fault, or an increase in earth fault, usually burns an outlet.

If the circuit breaker continues to trip, request a service call from the Southampton Electrician to verify the situation. Electrical safety inspections are one of our specialties and Electrician Southampton offers a level of convenience, safety, reliability and professionalism that has served millions of people. Call Southampton Electrician on 02382280103.

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