Awe man... you guys jinxed me...

February FOTM Photo Contest Starts Now!
FishForums.net Fish of the Month
🏆 Click to enter! 🏆

Magnum Man

Supporting Member
Tank of the Month 🏆
Fish of the Month 🌟
Joined
Jun 21, 2023
Messages
4,604
Reaction score
3,330
Location
Southern MN
talking about electric use and circuits... I came home today, with some new fish, and my big group of tanks, were dark, and silent... 10 minutes later, I think I have it isolated to a particular power strip... yes, I have 2 circuits, but 3/4 of the cords, are one one circuit... I think I now have it isolated to one power strip, and unless the breaker trips again, I think I have it isolated to a cheap submersible pump, to assist with water changes, in a 10 gallon, that is only 2 inches off the floor... hoping everyone is not fried... it's the tank that has my Cherries and high fin platy's... nope, it tripped again...
 
Last edited:
well now I'm wondering if it's the breaker??? it's on of the originals, when the 100 year old house was switched from fuses, right now I have 3/4 of the power going through the 2nd breaker... funny, that I never tripped a breaker on the tanks before... I learned a lot about wiring over the years, and even the newer circuits here, are 39 years old... when I wired the addition, all 5 circuits goes through the pantry area, so I have 5 available ground fault circuits, where we plug in roasters and crock pots for entertaining
 
Last edited:
An old breaker that tripped a lot in his life becomes tired and will fail holding to normal use.

But Normally the protection on the power bar should trip first. These bars are grossly set to around 13 amps. This should leave 2 amps of play before reaching the breakers threshold.

Loading a breaker until it start to emit a little buzz, and they wont last long.
 
I can't find anything specific, the breaker never tripped before, so I suspect it's the fault of the breaker... I have 3/4 of the power on the 2nd breaker, and the problem breaker seems to be holding 1/4 of the power
 
Last edited:
well, that's a problem of old houses... I haven't gotten a better idea from my wife ( her families century farm ) as to when they would have switched the wiring over from fuses to breakers, but they did a major remodel before her older sister's graduation, that was 1969... of course the breakers have to match the wire size, or at least likely the previous fuse size, since old wires weren't marked like modern wire... almost everything is in 15 amps... I wired the new addition we put on, when we moved here, and only lighting circuits are 15 amps, all outlets are 20 amps...

again, I never tripped that 15 amp breaker before, and through process of elimination, didn't find anything that seemed to be pulling extra amperage... so I suspect the breaker is at fault

so I'll have to try buying a new GE 15 amp breaker, ( there are so many brands and styles, only the right one will fit ) and replacing this one from my best guess, the 60's...

# 16 in this box... a big old house with mostly 15 amp breakers... this original panel has 2 extension boxes on it
IMG_7439.jpeg
 
Last edited:

Most reactions

Back
Top