Hello This happened a while ago during the summer but still has some contemporary relevance. We got home from vacation so alot of electrical devices got turned on. It was hot last night and here is a list of what electric appliances were running: 1. Electric washer 2. Electric 240vac dryer with aluminum wiring 3. Three 110vac air conditioners 5x,10k and 12k BTUs 4. Pool filter pump 110v 5. Media Center - TV, Media Server, Surround Sound etc. 6. Desktop Computer 7. Kitchen Refrigerator 8. 2 or 3 Ceiling Fans 9. A few room lights I would say maybe 60-70 Amps Total. The circuit box is a 23 yo Challenger made by GE and so is the 100 Amp main breaker and most of the other breakers. They do not seem like the best quality since I purchased the box and breakers at Somerville Lumber! They are the same shape as square D. I took the front of the Circuit Panel off and I could feel the main breakers and they were HOT! The main breaker plastic started melting. The wires from the meter socket were NOT warm. Then other breakers started to trip, like the kitchen refrig and room light, then basement light! What could be the cause? Tonight I removed the old 100 Amp main and replaced it with a new one. $47 bucks @ Home Depot https://www.homedepot.com/s/homeline 100 amp?searchtype=text&NCNI-5 See pics of old and new below! Click on pic to enlarge
Just a quick search and it looks like you are at 25 amps for the electric dryer and 29 amps total for the three air conditioners.. suggest you break down what the individual draw of each appliance was, but it certainly looks like you were over 70 amps.. seems that your electrical system was overloaded. Could be that as it heated up to outside of its rated draw, the breakers started tripping at lower amperage than their rating.. just a guess.. not terribly well versed in it all except for the basic math of adding up the demand of each individual appliance.. Dryer Wattage and Electrical Rating How Many Amps Does A 5,000 - 18,000 BTU Conditioner Use?
Absolutely that is what 30 years of adding electrical goodies to a house can do! Therefore I did a little upgrading. 1. New 200 amp main panel 2. New 125 amp sub panel in electrical room 3. New 30 amp panel in workshop 4. New 30 amp sub panel in shed 5. New incoming power digital meter & socket 6 New weatherhead and wiring up the side of the house and a grounding rod. Not using the incoming water pipe from the street for a ground anymore. LOL 7. New 300 amp triplex wires from the street to an upgraded telephone pole which is 5 feet higher to meet tractor trailer requirements. 8. Installed 2 amp meters for monitoring loading. How is that? Anything else I should do? All inspected by the town electrical inspector.
Yeah, that should do it... was in the middle of typing the below note.. Another issue is insufficient voltage to an appliance.. a few years ago, I was running an air compressor through a standard orange 16 gauge extension cord.. upon turning the compressor on, it would fire up and fill the tank with compressed air. After using some of the air, when it tried to turn in again, it tripped the breaker.. I came to realize that by using too small of a gauge of extension cord, I introduced a voltage drop. the startup power required increased due to the pressure in the tank and when the compressor had to overcome the residual pressure in the tank, the voltage drop caused a increase in the required amps causing the breaker to trip. Solution was a larger gauge extension cord and haven’t had a problem since... As for your fridge, the problem could also have been caused by a voltage drop because of the overall house demand. That voltage drop could have initiated something similar to my issue above causing the breaker to trip.. It is my understanding that a lot of electrical equipment can be damaged by under voltage or under frequency situation. You did well to upgrade and reduce potential future problems...
Oh yes thanks, that is why I ran a sub panel to the workshop so I have the compressor on a separate circuit. The workshop 230 VAC air conditioner is on a separate circuit and of course the 50 amp plasma cutter & welder is on a separate circuit too!
I removed the scotchloks on the trailer and did the Weller gun soldering and the waterproof Coax Seal wrap that the Ham Radio people use thanks to you guys. Did u see the pics in my last entry? Trailer Light Wiring fails every time I go to use it-the thin old brittle wires makes my blood boil!
