Anyone know about circuit breakers? Help please!

[Molly Meow]

Ok, 4 times today, the power has gone off in both my bedroom and half of the living room. All the other lights and outlets work. I went next-door (where my circuit breaker is), and there were three switches in the off position - a 30 and 2 20s. This keeps happening over and over again, and when it does, it shuts my heaters off and it starts to get cold, quick.

I'm not running a lot of stuff, and I'm not running anything new. Does anyone know what I can do to keep this from happening, or to fix it? My DH doesn't get home until 11:30 pm, *crap, it just happened again!* so he can't do anything about it until tomorrow, as we can't go over there at midnight.

My landlord is out of town for 2 more weeks, DH doesn't know how to fix this type of thing, and the neighbors only speak Spanish. My dad is 10 hours away, and "doesn't know how to tell me over the phone." We can by no means afford an electrician.

If anyone has any advice, I would sincerely appreciate it! Thanks in advance!

 

[luvindisneyworld]

Sorry you are going through this.That definetly is aggravating.
I hope someone here can help.

 

[momsgonwild]

Okay, I have my DH standing here to poss help. He wants to know what type of heaters you have? Are they plugged into one of the outlets in the room or closet where you are loosing your power?

 

[damo]

You might have faulty wiring somewhere. Try unplugging everything except what you need.

 

[tinksdad]

A 30amp breaker would normally be used for a dryer or whirlpool tub with like requirements. Typically 20amp breakers are generally slated for the kitchen circuits or maybe garage. Normal living space general lighting and convenience outlets are 15amp.

If the breaker that you're looking at are off, then its not the problem. A tripped breaker will be half way between off and on, and maybe have a red indicator showing if it trips.

I agree, that it would be helpful to know if the electric heaters you have are hard wired in or plug-in space heaters.

 

[Molly Meow]

Thank you guys! I'm really stupid about this stuff.

Ok - let's see. I have electric heaters. The only things plugged into the bedroom where I lost power are the TV, heater, lamp (none of those were on), and an alarm clock. There are no overhead lights in that room.

In the part of the living room that went out, I have a small ceramic heater plugged in, along with a lamp. That's it, they were both on, the outlet is controlled by a switch. The outside light went off, too. There are no overhead lights in the living room.

Everything else in my house works fine.

Everything was already unplugged that I don't need, except the TV, which has been unplugged since it went off the first time.

I don't know what hard-wired means, but the heaters I have plug into an outlet.

All of the breakers in my box are either 30 or 20. There are no 15s. Maybe they were tripped - I don't know what a breaker in the off position looks like, but these 3 definitely didn't look like the others that were on, so I assumed that was off.

Thanks so much for the help guys!

 

[FroggyinArk]

i would think that maybe with out looking at it there is a shrt in the ceramic heater, those draw a lot at times and may be the source, if you can unplug everything and try and add one item at a time,, except for the ceramic and see if it s till is over loading,, there also may be and outside gfi ( ground fault interupter in the system some where wired into that circuit. if there is it may be getting wet or grounded out and be the cause of the problem.

 

[Molly Meow]

Well, I unplugged everything except for the alarm clock in the bedroom and 1 small lamp in the living room on the circuits that were going out. They're on separate ones.

It's still happening. I don't know what a GFI looks like, but I walked all around the outside of the house with a flashlight and can't see anything sticking out or any exposed wires. It's not raining here, either, and hasn't in a while so it wouldn't get wet anyway.

I'm very grateful for the advice. It's pretty frustrating, especially since I have to be up tomorrow early and my alarm clock doesn't have a place for a back-up battery.

Thanks for your help, hopefully this can get sorted out, and soon!

 

[momsgonwild]

Try plugging your lamp, clock, and heater into a plug in somewhere where the power is not tripping off. See if your breaker trips again, without anything plugged into these plugs. I am also wondering if poss outside gfi, or possibly the outlets are wired together in both rooms, and for some reason the plug is shorting out tripping the fuses.

 

[orvilleair]

hmmm

Is there a way to move the ceramic heater to an outlet to see if it works. If it trips out other breakers, then maybe the problem is with the ceramic heater. Usually, on the back of the heater is a small plate that will tell you how many amps the heater is using. If it is running on close to 20 amps then it is probably overloading the circuit breaker and causing it to trip.

GFI. They are required in bathrooms, garages and the outside. Sometimes they trip out. You push the red reset button on the outlet.

Whats odd is that three breakers are tripping, and that sounds like an electrician needs to open the panel and check for loose connections or trace bad wiring in your walls. Good luck.

Off topic, but I had a bad motor in my well pump, and it tripped the circuit breaker every once in awhile. We eventually had to replace the pump.

 

[Molly Meow]

Ok, first I followed Momsgonwild's advice and removed everything from those outlets, waited 10 minutes, and checked the breaker. Tripped again.

Orvilleair - Thanks for explaining what a GFI is - we don't have those. Our house was built in the 50's. Come to think of it, I've never seen those anywhere but hotel rooms. They're required? I moved the ceramic heater to another outlet, and everything's fine with that one. There's nothing on the heater that says anything about amps. It says it's 120 v 60 hz 1500 wt Air Heater. I think that's volts, hertz, and watts, right?

I guess when my landlord comes back in two weeks, I'll have him call an electrician. I'm just hoping it's nothing hazardous that will cause a fire.

I remember my parents having that problem with their well pump, too.

Thanks for the advice, I guess I'm stuck until the 16th.

 

[orvilleair]

Amps = Watts / Volts. (1500/120) = 12.5 Amps. Maybe combine that with other appliances and the 20 amp breaker might trip on an overload. I have that problem when I run the microwave and toaster oven at the same time.

 

[Shutterbug]

Not to alarm but please make sure your smoke detectors are working...just in case.

 

[GeorgeG]

It's possible there's more on these circuits than you're aware of. Do you know what the 30 amp breaker feeds?

If your house is as old as you say and the breakers are all 20 amp or higher, I'd have to say there's been some upgrading in more recent years. Did your landlord do the work himself? I've seen some scary work done by homeowners, as well as some very good work.

Circuit breakers can go bad and need to be replaced, but it's rare for three to go bad at the same time. A good point was made regarding all three breakers tripping at the same time. There are so many variables with older homes it's impossible to diagnose these things without actually seeing it and probably poking through all the nooks and crannies in the home. This should be done as soon as possible by someone who is an exerienced electrical troubleshooter.