Our disposal stopped working, so we tried resetting it. That didn't work, so my husband went crazy flipping the fuse box switches back and forth. Now our built-in microwave is not working. Could he have shorted it out when he was going crazy with those switches? It's less than a year old.
I guess this could happen, but maybe there was some kind of short somewhere? I'd get a licensed electrician to check things out just in case there's a fire hazard somewhere. I'm always too, too careful when it comes to electrical wiring, especially in older houses.
People use the term "short" at the most inappropriate times. If a circuit trips a breaker it's always a short. It could be over current too! A direct short may or may not have arcing present, but ti does trip a breaker. If you turn on a breaker and nothing happens, it is called an "open" there is an open circuit someplace.
HayZee, that's a great point! I don't know a lot about breakers, but I assume that they have to allow enough current for things to run with enough amperage, but also not allow too much amperage that things overheat and cause other problems, correct?
a circuit breaker is engineered to trip out within three cycles of alternating current on overload. a problem breaker from "square one" are the federal Pacific types. We had a test setup for checking out breakers in the power plant. we hitched up a 15 amp federal to the test set and fed the over current into it. after the required three cycles it still didn't trip. we increased the current and after a lot of smoking it finally tripped after eight times the fault current went through it.
Very interesting!!! Are breakers at all designed to protect people if/when they are using their bodies (accidentally) as a short? I guess someone would still get enough current to be a problem before the breaker trips, right? Do GFCI's offer this kind of protection... I mean if something down the line shorts, it will trip?
No. Breakers will not protect people from electric shock. Breakers work on an over-current principle, where GFCI's work on a current comparison principle. A circuit breaker will normally contain either an electromagnet, or a bimetallic switch that will trip the breaker when the current exceeds the breakers rating. Unfortunately for people, that means the entire tripping current would pass through the body until the breaker trips. A GFCI compares the input current to the output current (hot to neutral) which should always be equal. If there is a difference of more than a few milliamps, it trips open. You can string devices down line from a GFCI and they will also be protected if wired correctly. In fact, that is how my pool outlet and DW's gazebo are wired. The gazebo outlets are protected by the GFCI at the pool outlet.
I mostly hear about GFCI's being used around water, but wouldn't they be good in other uses as well? Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what they protect against?
GFCI's protect against electric shock. You can use them where ever you want. I also have one behind the fish tank. THe most common causes of electric shock are appliances used around water. Today you can buy GFCI breakers for a breaker panel.
On my remodel I'm thinking about sticking in a few GFCI's and then running outlets down the line off of them. I don't know of any downsides to doing this other than GFCI's being a bit more expensive than regular outlets.
circuit breakers are used to protect wires and the circuits connected to them. they do not protect personnel! gfci receptacles and gfi breakers do. better yet afci breakers protect buildings. gfci units will detect 6ma of current which is enough to kill you!
There really isn't a downside to doing it that way...until one begins to fail. Imagine watching the super bowl, it's tied up late in the 4th and your team is driving. Suddenly, someone turns on a lamp and the tv dies, along with everything else on that circuit. In a panic you run to the breaker box and flip the breaker a half dozen times trying to get the tv back on, to no avail. You finally remember the gfci outlet, behind the freaking couch! Crap! You pull out the couch, press the reset button, the tv comes on, and your team is celebrating in confetti. GFCI's have a higher failure rate than breakers. They are much more reliable that they used to be though. Really, unless you have small children that are prone to sticking things in outlets, or an animal that chews cords, there is no real advantage to using GFCI daisy chained circuits in living areas other than baths and kitchens or outside outlets. If your wife runs a cord over with the vacuum cleaner and cuts into the insulation, causing a short, the breaker will trip. If you cut into the circular saw cord, with the saw, the breaker will trip (you can trust me on that one ) The NEC only requires GFCI outlets in kitchens, baths, and anywhere water is present. Anything beyond that really is overkill and a waste of money. If fire is your concern, you could do as Hayzee suggested and install an AFCI. An AFCI is an Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter. The NEC requires AFCI's for bedroom circuits, but not all states have adopted that rule. An AFCI detects arcs in an electrical circuit and trips out. The operation is complicated, but basically it measures sudden bursts of current and trips out if the current exceeds a set limit. The difference is that it does it much faster than a standard breaker. Keep in mind though that some installations require both an AFCI and a GFCI since an AFCI will not protect against electric shock. BTW, I'm also an electrician...in case you were wondering
