What to do When Your Circuit Breaker Keeps Tripping

A circuit breaker is designed to trip in cases of an overload on a circuit in order to prevent electrical accidents. However, it becomes a problem when the circuit breaker continuously trips. First off, if you live in a building that still has a fuse box installed, then it might be time to get an professional electrician in London for an upgrade. This is because circuit breakers are more reliable than fuse boxes.

When A Circuit Breaker Trips

A sudden surge of current will cause the breaker to automatically switch to an OFF position. When this happens, the power in the entire house is disconnected and will not return until it is manually set to ON position. How do you go about this?

1. Turn off all lights and disconnect appliances:

When the power outage occurred, there might have been some lights, switches and appliances connected to an outlet. The first thing to do is to disconnect such appliances. Your computers, televisions, fans and sockets should be turned off or else when the power is restored, the surge of current might be too much on the outlets, leading to a blow out.

2. Locate your circuit breakers

You can find your circuit breaker in a box on the wall of either the basement or garage. This is the general controller for power in the building. The circuit breaker looks like a lever and is usually arranged in series.

3. Flip the breaker back on

When you locate the circuit breaker, you should see a visible central button most likely coloured RED in an OFF position. Flip it in the opposite direction which will turn it back ON. Now turn on the appliances and outlets that were off before and make your observations.

After doing this, everything should be stable and back to normal. However, if you notice any anomalies like flickering lights or constantly tripping circuit, then it could be a more serious electrical issue and you need to get a professional.

One of the main causes of constant tripping of circuit breakers is the general wear and tear on the circuit breaker which is likely caused by one of the reasons below;

• Short circuit: This happens when a hot wire contacts a neutral wire in an outlet and can be potentially dangerous. There is an overload of current flowing through the circuit, and this creates massive heat. When this happens, the circuit breaker will shut off automatically, preventing electrical fire.
• Overloaded circuit: If the amount of current coming through your circuit is too much for the circuit to handle, this is an overload problem, and will lead to consistent flipping of the circuit breaker, and start a fire if unchecked.
• Ground fault: This happens when a hot wire makes contact with a ground wire inside the box. This will automatically send more electricity through the circuit, sometimes too much for the circuit to handle. This will lead to constant tripping off of the circuit.

Emergency Electrician in London

Our professionals at Electric Works London have the competence required to fix all electrical faults. The safety of our clients is our utmost priority and we ensure that it is always provided. If you start getting frequent tripping from your circuit breaker, all you need to do is get in touch with emergency electricians in London by calling 020 7183 4006 and we will trace the faults and fix them.