General Question About Circuit Breaker

A Circuit Breaker is a protection device and it will trip automatically when there is any fault on the load side. We all have at least one circuit breaker at our home and in an industry you will find different types of circuit breakers with different names. Some circuit breaker has a specific place where they will be used. In this article, we will learn why we need a circuit breaker, how it works, why it trips, and how to reset it. But at first…

Where I Can Find Circuit Breakers?

All Circuit Breakers are found in your home’s breaker box. Generally, breaker boxes can be found in the garage, utility, basement, and hall. Just look around and let us know where it is in a comment.

Why We Need Circuit Breaker?

Home electrical appliances and electronics need electricity to power up. But sometimes poor wiring can cause an overflow of current and the wire becomes so hot then it starts to melt and causes a spark. In this case, a circuit breaker helps to disconnect the load and prevent further damage. All circuit breaker has specific ampere ratings. That means you have to calculate the total amount of current before you install a circuit breaker.

How does a Circuit Breaker work?

In general, each circuit breaker is designed to ‘trip,’ or shut itself off at predetermined amperage loads. For example, you have a pump that takes 5 ampere of current. But you install a breaker with a maximum current rating is 4 ampere. That means your breaker will trip automatically when you switch on the pump. Same for electrical short circuits. When it happens large amount of current flows through the circuit breaker and when it crosses the maximum limit of current the breaker will trip automatically.

Common Reasons for Circuit Breakers Trip:

Normally an overloaded circuit can cause the breaker to trip. For example, your home is 10 years old. When you build your home that time you calculate that you need a maximum of 8 amperes of current when all home appliances are operational. For this reason, you install a 10-ampere circuit breaker. But today you bought a new electric vehicle (EV) and you want to charge it at home. Let’s consider your EV will take 4 amperes of current when it’s charging. Now your total amount of current is 12 amperes which is 2 amperes higher than your present breaker. So your breaker will each time when you charge your EV. There are some other reasons like short circuits, line-to-line faults, line to-ground faults.

How to Reset A Circuit Breaker?

Suddenly if you lose power to an outlet or area of your home means a circuit breaker may have been tripped. Now you have to find out which breaker has tripped. But first, you have to reach the breaker box. Once you reach your breaker box, resetting the circuit breaker is easy. You just need to open the door to the breaker box and look for the toggles. Most breakers should be pointing toward the panel center, indicating the ON position. Toggles pointing away from the panel center are OFF. Toggles in an in-between position are the one(s) that have tripped. Now you must turn OFF the breaker before turning it ON again. Without this operation breaker will not reset. Here one thing is important. The breaker was tripped means, there were some reasons. Make sure you solve the problem before you turn it ON.

Now if you have any questions regarding with circuit breaker's regular operation and problem then let us know in the comments. We will try our best to answer you. Thanks!