Breakers Popping


  #1  
Old 06-07-19, 03:55 PM
B
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Canada
Posts: 1
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Breakers Popping

Greetings!

Hoping someone can give me some possible insight into a problem that I've recently encountered.

I have a detached garage that is feed from a 50amp breaker in the main panel in my house. This feeds a sub panel in my garage. Everything has been fine for years. Today I go into the shop after lunch and find that two separate breakers have tripped in this panel in my shop. One has a 120v compressor hooked up to it and a TV and cable box. The other has a fridge and a couple of tool battery chargers hooked up to it. Breakers are both 15A. The breakers on that side of the panel seem to be warm to the touch, can't say I've ever really checked them for how hot they are before so not sure if this is normal. When I reset the breakers the one with the compressor on it immediately trips when I turn the compressor back on. The one with the fridge seems to be ok for a few minutes and then it trips.

I moved the fridge to another outlet on the opposite side of the panel and it seems to be fine. Is this likely to be an issue with the incoming hot for the one side of the panel being loose? Or is it possible that these two breakers are faulty, seems weird to me that two breakers would be faulty at the exact same time.

Again there has been no issues for as long as I've owned the house. It would seem odd to me that a loose connection would arise all of a sudden.

Any help is appreciated!

thx
Mike
 
  #2  
Old 06-07-19, 03:59 PM
J
Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 7
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Time for new breakers! I would replace both!
 
  #3  
Old 06-07-19, 05:32 PM
B
Member
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Ct.,USA
Posts: 3,215
Received 293 Upvotes on 260 Posts
Check the voltage at the suspect breakers. It should be 120/240 vac. If voltage is low, this reduces flux in motor and it requires more time to get up to speed. This means the start windings (high current) are connected for a longer time possibly tripping suspect breakers. Both the compressor and refrigerator start under load.
 
  #4  
Old 06-07-19, 07:43 PM
J
Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: welland ontario
Posts: 8,038
Received 515 Upvotes on 420 Posts
Panel is not divided side to side. The legs alternate down each side.
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: