Electrical breaker question

[John5757]

I keep popping my garage 15A breaker. I’ve tried unplugging things but it keeps tripping intermittently. Wondering if the breaker might be bad or too small?

Any electricians out there in ODT world?

 

[cskiles]

How old is the panel? Is it a slimline breaker? It could just be a bad breaker, the only real way to know is to take a current reading on the circuit at the panel (with everything plugged in and operating as it normally does).

 

[coach482]

Look for something inside the house also not working when breaker trips.

 

[Necron 99]

How old is the panel? Is it a slimline breaker? It could just be a bad breaker, the only real way to know is to take a current reading on the circuit at the panel (with everything plugged in and operating as it normally does).

This^^^^

 

[John5757]

How old is the panel? Is it a slimline breaker? It could just be a bad breaker, the only real way to know is to take a current reading on the circuit at the panel (with everything plugged in and operating as it normally does).

House was built in 2014. I believe it’s a slimline but not exactly sure. I’ve unplugged everything except garage door openers and intermittently it still trips. Same as if I have everything plugged in.

 

[Wheeler]

A current reading won’t isolate a bad breaker. All that tells you is if the load is within the parameters. That’s not to say that an overloaded circuit isn’t the problem.

What is on that circuit? What goes off when the breaker trips? Any heaters? Incandescent night lights? Something with a motor? Is it an arc fault breaker?
Is it a GFCI breaker?

You can swap the breaker to see if that’s the problem. It’s really hard to troubleshoot things like this over the internet.

 

[John5757]

Look for something inside the house also not working when breaker trips.

Nothing else. Laundry room lights are on it but changed them to LED’s.

 

[georgiahawkeye]

If it is an Eaton AFCI (arc fault circuit interrupter) they are very problematic.

 

[John5757]

 

[John5757]

A current reading won’t isolate a bad breaker. All that tells you is if the load is within the parameters. That’s not to say that an overloaded circuit isn’t the problem.

What is on that circuit? What goes off when the breaker trips? Any heaters? Incandescent night lights? Something with a motor? Is it an arc fault breaker?
Is it a GFCI breaker?

You can swap the breaker to see if that’s the problem. It’s really hard to troubleshoot things like this over the internet.

Just all garage outlets and laundry room lights go off. No heaters or incandescent lights. I don’t thinks it’s overloaded. I changed all lights to LEDs, have unplugged everything and it still trips the same.

Very intermittent, may go weeks or days sometimes but mainly a few weeks to a month.