Main Breaker Keeps Flipping HELP!!

[jronnn]

I have a 100 amp main breaker and im using a max 60% of that and my breaker keeps flipping. today it flipped 2 hours after flower lights turned on. then i reset it and turned off my minisplit in veg and it flipped AGAIN 3 hours after that!!!

i took the temp of the ouside of the breaker and the top half of the main breaker is around 135 degrees and the bottom half is like 110 degrees. is this normal? the house was built in the 70's so i assume the breaker was too. could the breaker just be faulty?

 

[jronnn]

Also, I started flower last monday and it was all good (breaker didnt flip) till thursday when it started tripping/flipping out of nowhere

 

[visajoe1]

could be an old breaker. how sure are you that you're only using 60%?

 

[mjinc]

Anything new added into the system? Could it be something is shorting and causing the breaker to trip?

 

[GBAUTO]

To be sure you're going to need an inductive ammeter. Try to make sure that the load is as evenly distributed in your panel so that you're not overloading one of the legs of the 240. If that seems to be ok and you can't source an ammeter then throw a new main breaker at it.

 

[sonson176]

It varies with location, but for a brief period in the 70's quite a few homes were wired with aluminum wire. If the terminations aren't checked and tightened they often become loose rather quickly, as aluminum has a rather high expansion rate. This can lead to breakers tripping if you're lucky, but most often sets the surrounding area on fire in short order. The first place to check would be inside the panel. Shut the main off and make sure all the lugs are tight. Sometimes they get loose even with copper conductors. If the breaker is hot that means the wire is even hotter. Worth taking a look. What brand of panel do you have?

 

[rkymtnman]

I have a 100 amp main breaker and im using a max 60% of that and my breaker keeps flipping. today it flipped 2 hours after flower lights turned on. then i reset it and turned off my minisplit in veg and it flipped AGAIN 3 hours after that!!!

i took the temp of the ouside of the breaker and the top half of the main breaker is around 135 degrees and the bottom half is like 110 degrees. is this normal? the house was built in the 70's so i assume the breaker was too. could the breaker just be faulty?

are you calculating your load as resistive or inductive?

 

[berulakide]

what these guys are saying is good info, I am no electrician but usually it would be overloaded , a short or a bad breaker. With the heat I would check where the power goes from there to see if anything else is that way to make sure you dont get a fire like told above. good luck

 

[jronnn]

could be an old breaker. how sure are you that you're only using 60%?

I am positive im not using more than 60% but even if we called it 70% thats still should be a managable load on 100 amps and what makes me think it could an old breaker issue is because theres a 20 degree temp difference between both poles on the main breaker. plus my regular home lights always flicker

Anything new added into the system? Could it be something is shorting and causing the breaker to trip?

the only thing i remember is when i installed my minisplit, i accidentally cut thru the wires that wire my kitchen (breaker flipped when i cut them) i spliced them back together but i remember a couple days after that was the first time the main breaker tripped out of nowhere. this was like 3 months ago. now its doing it more often out of nowhere

 

[jronnn]

To be sure you're going to need an inductive ammeter. Try to make sure that the load is as evenly distributed in your panel so that you're not overloading one of the legs of the 240. If that seems to be ok and you can't source an ammeter then throw a new main breaker at it.

yeah im going to borrow my cousins and possibly rearrange some stuff to even out the loads on the legs i think that could be an issue, especially since one half of the breaker is 20 degrees hotter than the other

It varies with location, but for a brief period in the 70's quite a few homes were wired with aluminum wire. If the terminations aren't checked and tightened they often become loose rather quickly, as aluminum has a rather high expansion rate. This can lead to breakers tripping if you're lucky, but most often sets the surrounding area on fire in short order. The first place to check would be inside the panel. Shut the main off and make sure all the lugs are tight. Sometimes they get loose even with copper conductors. If the breaker is hot that means the wire is even hotter. Worth taking a look. What brand of panel do you have?

it actually just so happens mine is aluminum lol so i should have my electric shut off by the meter so i can tighten the connections? and its siemens

 

[jronnn]

are you calculating your load as resistive or inductive?

as far as my 2 minisplits the manufacturer says they have a max draw of 12.5 and im rounding them up to 15, for 120v devices i have a kill-a-watt meter and lights i use 600watt bulbs plus the ballast is 685w divided by 240. idk if thats resistive or inductive but i just added them all up

 

[jronnn]

To be sure you're going to need an inductive ammeter. Try to make sure that the load is as evenly distributed in your panel so that you're not overloading one of the legs of the 240. If that seems to be ok and you can't source an ammeter then throw a new main breaker at it.

you really got me thinking this is the issue, i never even thought of this, 1 leg is definitely taking more of a load than the other

 

[sonson176]

At this point I'd really suggest getting a legitimate electrician in there to check things out. If you want to check the lugs in the panel shut the main breaker off. The line side(from the meter to the panel) will still be energized though. 1000v insulated tools will give you some extra peace of mind. I can't logically recommend that somebody without a solid electrical background go much further than that, although many do. BE AWARE that the line side(from the panel out to the the meter/transformer) isn't protected by any kind of fast acting breaker. The transformer will have fuses but they take quite a while to burn, even with a bolted fault. That pretty much means if you get hung up on it, it aint turnin off until the wire melts/explodes. Slip up in the energized line side of the panel with a screwdriver and you'll likely have an a ball of fire hotter than the surface of the sun in your face. Same goes for pulling old meters out; I've seen the bakelite insulation come apart on quite a few old cruddy ones and cause it to arc out. Not trying to be all negative nancy here, but electricity isnt very forgiving. Id hate to hear somebody got hurt or burned down their set up trying to learn this stuff on the interwebs. Good luck hope its something silly like a loose wire somewhere, it usually is. If you want to know anything else feel free to ask.

 

[visajoe1]

@jronnn I think you nailed in post 9 above, it probably does have something to do with when you clipped the wires by accident.

I also concur with @sonson176, at this point, you really need a certified electrician in there. Hot wires/breakers and flipping at 60/70% loads sounds like recipe for bad news

 

[jronnn]

At this point I'd really suggest getting a legitimate electrician in there to check things out. If you want to check the lugs in the panel shut the main breaker off. The line side(from the meter to the panel) will still be energized though. 1000v insulated tools will give you some extra peace of mind. I can't logically recommend that somebody without a solid electrical background go much further than that, although many do. BE AWARE that the line side(from the panel out to the the meter/transformer) isn't protected by any kind of fast acting breaker. The transformer will have fuses but they take quite a while to burn, even with a bolted fault. That pretty much means if you get hung up on it, it aint turnin off until the wire melts/explodes. Slip up in the energized line side of the panel with a screwdriver and you'll likely have an a ball of fire hotter than the surface of the sun in your face. Same goes for pulling old meters out; I've seen the bakelite insulation come apart on quite a few old cruddy ones and cause it to arc out. Not trying to be all negative nancy here, but electricity isnt very forgiving. Id hate to hear somebody got hurt or burned down their set up trying to learn this stuff on the interwebs. Good luck hope its something silly like a loose wire somewhere, it usually is. If you want to know anything else feel free to ask.

Thanks for the response, i actually just switched some breakers around so the load is more even, i guess ill see tonight if it fixes the problem and trust me man id never touch anything before the main breaker lol. i would certainly get an electrician over to check anything wi im just ok with wiring breakers and stuff because i know im pretty much safe as long as the main is shut off and i have some went to a vocational highschool where i learned this stuff, its just been a long time so my memory is foggy

@jronnn I think you nailed in post 9 above, it probably does have something to do with when you clipped the wires by accident.

I also concur with @sonson176, at this point, you really need a certified electrician in there. Hot wires/breakers and flipping at 60/70% loads sounds like recipe for bad news

i realized about 50 of those 60 amps were all on one side of the panel (didnt even realize i put the sub panel and light controller on the same arm) which would also explain why half the breaker was getting so hot. since moving the breakers my main breaker is now running at 100 degrees (top half) and 95 degrees(bottom half) compared to 105 and 135 last night, huge difference so i really hope i solved the issue

 

[visajoe1]

Thanks for the response, i actually just switched some breakers around so the load is more even, i guess ill see tonight if it fixes the problem and trust me man id never touch anything before the main breaker lol. i would certainly get an electrician over to check anything wi im just ok with wiring breakers and stuff because i know im pretty much safe as long as the main is shut off and i have some went to a vocational highschool where i learned this stuff, its just been a long time so my memory is foggy

i realized about 50 of those 60 amps were all on one side of the panel (didnt even realize i put the sub panel and light controller on the same arm) which would also explain why half the breaker was getting so hot. since moving the breakers my main breaker is now running at 100 degrees (top half) and 95 degrees(bottom half) compared to 105 and 135 last night, huge difference so i really hope i solved the issue

good catch. good luck, keep us posted

 

[GBAUTO]

Thanks for the response, i actually just switched some breakers around so the load is more even, i guess ill see tonight if it fixes the problem and trust me man id never touch anything before the main breaker lol. i would certainly get an electrician over to check anything wi im just ok with wiring breakers and stuff because i know im pretty much safe as long as the main is shut off and i have some went to a vocational highschool where i learned this stuff, its just been a long time so my memory is foggy

i realized about 50 of those 60 amps were all on one side of the panel (didnt even realize i put the sub panel and light controller on the same arm) which would also explain why half the breaker was getting so hot. since moving the breakers my main breaker is now running at 100 degrees (top half) and 95 degrees(bottom half) compared to 105 and 135 last night, huge difference so i really hope i solved the issue

Hope that solves it. The ammeter will tell for sure.