Is It Dangerous If a Circuit Breaker Keeps Tripping?

A circuit breaker tripping once is usually not a big deal—in fact, it’s bound to happen when plugging in a few gadgets while the fan is running and the lights are on. But is it dangerous if a circuit breaker keeps tripping?

Repeated circuit breaker shut-offs could indicate a serious problem with your wiring, one that may lead to electrical fires or similar hazards. You should seriously consider hiring a licensed electrician to inspect the breaker and identify the problem.

What Is a Circuit Breaker? 

A circuit breaker is a switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by an overcurrent. When an electrical current is too much for the circuit, the breaker “trips” or shuts off the flow of electricity. If you have too many devices plugged in and active simultaneously, your circuit breaker may shut off to keep your home safe from electrical fires or shocks.

Why a Circuit Breaker Keeps Tripping (And Why It’s Dangerous)

If your circuit breaker trips frequently, like multiple times a month or every day, something is seriously wrong. The issue could cause electrical damage or an electrical fire. Here’s what could be happening.

Short Circuit

A short circuit can occur when the wires in an outlet become frayed or partially disconnected, and the hot wire connects to the neutral wire. That badly disrupts the circuit, and it will cause a tripped breaker.

However, short circuits don’t always happen constantly when wiring is slowly fraying. You may be able to restore the circuit, only to have the breaker trip again a few minutes or hours later. That’s a sign a constant short circuit is forming, which leads to significant damage and electrical fires. Look for burns on outlets and the smell of burning. That’s a sign you need to shut off the system, monitor it closely, and call an electrician ASAP. If it looks like any electrical component is burning, call the fire department first.

Outdated Wiring and New Appliances

Adding more or updated appliances to a room (especially a kitchen or laundry room) may draw on more electrical current than your home can handle. Large appliances can put a serious strain on a single circuit, which then overloads with small actions like flipping on the laundry room lights or trying to use the microwave oven.

Frequent breaker trips can damage your appliances and wiring. It’s best to call an electrician for an inspection, and consider upgrading your wiring and circuit breakers to a higher amperage to handle the new load. Otherwise, you may need to offload some of your appliances to another circuit.

Faulty Appliance

Sometimes appliances can trip breakers when they overheat, especially large appliances like dryers, air conditioners, refrigerators, and ovens. This often occurs when they are working harder than intended. 

Dryers are a common culprit if they get overloaded or have internal clogs. Likewise, refrigerators may overload if their condenser becomes too dusty to work properly. Cleaning and maintenance of major appliances can prevent overheating, but you should inspect whether the appliance is malfunctioning.

Circuit Breaker Issues

If you can’t narrow down the cause and a single breaker keeps tripping without any clear pattern, arrange for an inspection of the breaker box. While uncommon, breakers can malfunction, especially after several years. In that case, replacing a single breaker costs about $100 and should fix the problem.

Internal Wire Damage

Sometimes internal damage can cause recurring, momentary ground faults that eventually cause damage and electrical fires. Hidden leaks inside the walls may also be the cause of shorting out wires.

These ground faults will always trip your nearby GFCI outlets, which is another sign something is seriously amiss. It’s a good reason to hire an electrician for a thorough inspection if you can’t figure out the cause of frequent tripped breakers on the same circuit.

Why Do Circuit Breakers Trip? 

Occasional circuit breaker trips are not a major cause for concern. These infrequent trips have several common causes:

• Plugging in too many devices in the same circuit: If the number of devices start drawing on more amps than the wiring can put out, it will overload and the circuit breaker will shut that down. If this only happens every several months or so, it’s probably because of certain events, like plugging in a lot of lights for Christmas, or plugging in fans and AC in one room during 4th of July. This is one cause of circuit breaker trips that you can prevent with careful power management.

• A ground fault: Ground faults occur when the electrical current suddenly finds a pathway of less resistance than the wiring and jumps to ground itself there, like a metal part in an electrical box or a puddle of water. Ground faults aren’t common and are often caused by some kind of obvious malfunction, but they can be dangerous. A circuit breaker will shut off electricity when this kind of fault is detected.

• Natural power surges: A power surge is a surprising spike in electricity. Surge protectors are more suited to stopping power surge damage, but they can trip circuit breakers too, especially if the amps increase along with the volts. Expected power surges from lightning or power coming back on after an outage can cause breakers to flip.

What to Do if Your Circuit Breaker Keeps Tripping

Photo: The Toidi / Adobe Stock

Learning how to reset a circuit breaker is fairly simple. After turning off your lights or appliances, you’ll need to locate your electrical panel (usually in a garage, basement, or utility room) and find the row of switches that provides power to your room or appliance that’s out of power. Flip the switch off, then on again to reset the circuit breaker. Then, check to see that power has been restored by plugging in an appliance. 

If you’ve tried the above steps and the issue continues, it may be time to call a local electrician to take a look at your electrical panel and determine the source of the problem. A licensed professional with years of experience will likely be able to identify the issue and give you a quote for repair in no time. 

You should also call an electrician if you notice any of the problems below: 

• Old or damaged wiring 

• Heat coming from components 

• Burning smell 

• Scorch marks 

• Damaged wiring 

Cost to Replace an Electrical Panel 

A professional electrician may recommend that you replace your electrical panel if the circuit breaker continues to trip, especially if your current panel is over 40 years old. The cost the replace your electrical panel ranges from $500 to $4,000, depending on the type of panel and how much amperage is required to run your everyday appliances and gadgets. Most modern homes require an electrical panel with 200 amps, but if you have appliances with higher energy demands, you may need a panel with more amps. 

You may also want to upgrade your amp service, which is a bit more complicated than replacing your breaker box. Consider your current amp service and the size of your home when deciding whether you need an amp service upgrade. A local electrician can provide more information and an accurate price quote.