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Circuit Breaker Blows ONLY When It Is Warm Outside


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Circuit Breaker Blows ONLY When It Is Warm Outside
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billybobsky
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2007-03-16, 12:26

The circuit breaker on my kitchen which is only supplying electricity to a NEW refrigerator, which replaced the old one when the landlord was convinced the wiring wasn't the cause of this odd problem, blew two days ago when it was 75ish here. This has happened in the past but ONLY when it is warm outside (not inside). My in window air conditioning unit (on a different circuit) doesn't even do this.

I am at a loss for what could be causing this particular problem.

I have some thoughts though:

1) Insulation on old parts of the wiring (I live in an apartment in a victorian era house) could be highly temperature sensitive and might expand enough with higher temperatures to expose bare wire.

2) The circuit breaker is just fubar.

3) There is a entire rodent clan that has it out for my cooking...

Anyone here experience this problem and have some thoughts?
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alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2007-03-16, 12:28

Could be that circuit runs to an outside box somewhere, that when it overheats sends bad current down the line that the fridge is on. I've seen that before.

Google is your frenemy.
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spotcatbug
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Clayton, NC
 
2007-03-16, 13:00

Maybe when it's warmer out, the fridge works just that little bit harder and the breaker trips.
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Anonymous Coward
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2007-03-16, 13:36

What is the rating of the circuit breaker?

OK, this is probably stupid, but how about this:
In warm weather more air conditioning loads are running.
Utility voltage goes down.
More current (particularly starting current) is drawn to compensate.

Edit: only as a contributing factor, of course.
I'd guess a bad circuit breaker. There's was a popular brand of circuit breaker/breaker box in which the circuit breaker clipped onto aluminum bus bars, I think. It might have been prone to pitting and arcing due to corrosion. However, with that brand, the problem tended to be that the circuit breakers would not trip when expected.

Last edited by Anonymous Coward : 2007-03-16 at 13:48.
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billybobsky
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2007-03-16, 14:05

Quote:
Originally Posted by spotcatbug View Post
Maybe when it's warmer out, the fridge works just that little bit harder and the breaker trips.
This would only make sense if my apartment WASN'T a constant temperature due to the airconditioning...

Alci probably is right given that the circuit the refrigerator is on goes directly outside before returning to the circuit breaker...
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Banana
is the next Chiquita
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2007-03-16, 14:50

Go and see your landlord.

Be sure to look around just before you face the landlord. Speak in very low, low voice, and use lot of euphemisms, and opaque references (e.g. "We both know very well that they do not approve of the wiring on outside. I'd hate to see what they would do to you if someone told them about the fact") and stand very close to your landlord in a benignly menacing way. When you're finished, walk off a bit then give him that Robert DeNiro "I'm watching you" gesture.

Should give him a idea or two. :P
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billybobsky
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2007-05-27, 22:40

Fuck.

I am now being bathed by the odor of fermenting formerly frozen chicken because the fucking circuit blew a few days ago and I didn't realize it. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I just sent a menacing email to my landlord so that they can forward it to the owners. Fuck. Why am I paying nearly $750 a month for an apartment from hell?

I need to buy a night light so it is easier for me to figure out when the circuit blows...

Last edited by billybobsky : 2007-05-27 at 22:40. Reason: Posts merged
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Fooboy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2007-05-28, 00:00

Most commercial circuit breakers use a bi-metallic metal strip which bends as it heats up. When it bends enough due to heat - caused either by conducting too much amperage &/or by ambient heat - it touches a contact and trips the breaker.

I would guess your breaker is undersized (it's trip point (in amperage) is set too low for your fridge's current draw). There is a small chance the ambient temperature has something to do with this as well, but if your apartment is kept at normal temperatures it shouldn't effect it.

Check on the back or your fridge (or in the manual) and see what the max current draw is, and then check your circuit breaker is and make sure its rated for the appropriate current.
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