Symptoms of bad breaker. Lost all loads

[gathermewool]

My wife went to use the microwave today, but as soon as she pushed START the whole thing turned off.

Breaker was ON (not tripped). She HAS accidentally run the toaster and microwave at the same time on several occasions and knows what a tripped breaker looks like. I confirmed when she told mell what happened.

Again breaker is ON

All other loads (fridge, toaster) no power.

All sockets read 0VAC with breaker ON

Cycling the breaker multiple times gives no joy.

Everything works on an extension cord to another socket/working breaker

Bad breaker? I thought bad breakers usually just trip to often.

 

[supton]

Sounds bad to me. I'd swap it out. ALthough I'd first check to see if you have 120Vac on the wire coming off the breaker, if that is live then you lost the wire elsewhere (scary!).

 

[BigCahuna]

As long as it tripped is the important thing. They are cheap enough to replace if yor handy. Just use the same size or you could risk having a fire.,,

 

[cpayne5]

I've had two breakers go bad on me in the last 6 months. Both in my detached garage, which has a 125A subpanel off of my house.

The first one that went bad was a 20A 220v that powered my air compressor. I thought my compressor was bad, but I found the breaker to be bad during diagnosis. I'm 20 miles from a HD/Lowes, so I just swapped in two 20A 120s that I had on the shelf. I swapped in a proper 220 when I had a chance to pick one up. The second failed breaker was a 15A 120. Same deal. Sudden loss of power. Diagnosis showed a dead breaker.

My panels are GE and use the large breakers.

No idea how common this is. Probably not very, but it's happened to me twice in the last six months now.

 

[gathermewool]

Sounds bad to me. I'd swap it out. ALthough I'd first check to see if you have 120Vac on the wire coming off the breaker, if that is live then you lost the wire elsewhere (scary!).

Jeez, don’t jinx me! I’ll check in a bit, thanks For the advice

 

[gathermewool]

As long as it tripped is the important thing. They are cheap enough to replace if yor handy. Just use the same size or you could risk having a fire.,,

It has tripped in the past, but not this time. It just stopped passing current.

 

[gathermewool]

I've had two breakers go bad on me in the last 6 months. Both in my detached garage, which has a 125A subpanel off of my house.

The first one that went bad was a 20A 220v that powered my air compressor. I thought my compressor was bad, but I found the breaker to be bad during diagnosis. I'm 20 miles from a HD/Lowes, so I just swapped in two 20A 120s that I had on the shelf. I swapped in a proper 220 when I had a chance to pick one up. The second failed breaker was a 15A 120. Same deal. Sudden loss of power. Diagnosis showed a bead breaker.

My panels are GE and use the large breakers.

No idea how common this is. Probably not very, but it's happened to me twice in the last six months now.

Strange. I’ve never had a breaker go bad. At home, I mean.

 

[Wolf359]

Breakers are not lifetime, there's a limited number of cycles you can get out of them before failure. If they normally trip, you need to redo things so that it's no longer normal.

 

[gathermewool]

Breakers are not lifetime, there's a limited number of cycles you can get out of them before failure. If they normally trip, you need to redo things so that it's no longer normal.

Agreed. I don’t think its unusual to trip while running the toaster and the microwave, though.

 

[Wolf359]

Agreed. I don’t think its unusual to trip while running the toaster and the microwave, though.

That's two separate things, you're basically drawing too much current on that particular circuit. The kitchen should have at least two separate 20 amp circuits, should switch up which outlets each item is plugged into or add an additional circuit.

 

[walterjay]

I ran a seperate 20 amp circuit just for my microwave. When it is on with the light and fan running it needs lots of power.

 

[gathermewool]

That’s probably what should have been done. Right now there are three circuits. The one I mentioned, one for the other outlets in the kitchen (keurig and large toaster oven, not at the same time), and the range.

What we have isn’t ideal, but I don’t think it’s unusual. We also don‘t vacuum and run a space heater on the same circuit either.

 

[UncleDave]

Ok this is weird, had the same thing happen to me this am - laundry circuit out - no breaker trip- currently laundering off extension cords.

 

[sloinker]

What brand breaker and how old? There are some real crap panels out there in houses around the country. Does your kitchen have GFCI's?

 

[wdn]

Breakers can trip internally without visibly tripping. The paddle switch either does not move or moves to slightly you don’t notice it. It is still tripped. It is not good advice to just swap in another breaker without knowing the cause. In an older house it could be a Zinsco panel which are dangerous. You should have a licensed electrician inspect the panel.

 

[JC1]

I've had some of the kitchen receptacles die after a few years that's are used on the kettle and toaster oven.

 

[55hambone]

Have you turned the breaker off and then on again? The breaker toggle doesn't always move a noticeable amount, so it may not appear that it has tripped. Having the toaster, microwave and refrigerator on the same circuit is too much. Any two of those on at the same time will trip the breaker.

 

[eljefino]

It could be the breaker or any connection between it and the outlet you use.

Outlets get "daisy-chained", where power goes in, out, and onward. The "backstabbing" kinds get poor connections over time. They can arc, which adds resistance, which shuts things down, or starts fires.

You need to, today, come up with a new system where the toaster and microwave aren't on the same circuit. The fridge, too, should have its own circuit just by virtue of not losing the food if something pops.

 

[nomas]

If you are are competent with a multi-meter , you need to start doing voltage checks starting at the breaker .

 

[philipp10]

They do go bad. Had 2 in the last 2 years. Semed weird at first but I guess they fail somehow internally. Easy fix.