Yesterday DW was using the oven and vent fan when the breaker tripped. I reset the breaker. There were no other loads on that circuit at the time.
I don’t know how this could relate, but given the timing, I should mention it. A few minutes later all power in the house went out; no breakers tripped, but I cycled the main anyway; power came back on a moment later. I guess SoCal Edison had a problem.
A few minutes later the breaker for the stove/vent fan tripped again.
The oven igniter may be failing as it seems to take longer than usual for the oven to light. The igniter is supposed to draw only 3.6A. Is it possible for a failing igniter or a loose connection either in the oven or at the receptacle in the wall to pull enough current to trip a 20A breaker?
BruceT
Edited 3/23/2009 12:30 pm by brucet9
Replies
so it's a gas oven?
It's the type of thing you may have to scratch your head over for awhile. The nearly concurrent main failure could be a clue -- there may, eg, be a floating neutral involved or some such. (I don't know what the specific mechanism might be, but I'm not real fond of writing off such things as "coincidence".)
I'd suggest measuring the voltage in your house at a few points -- should measure 120V +/- 5V in most cases, and only 1-2 volts max difference between outlets.
Also, feel the breaker while the stove/fan is running and see if it seems to be getting warm.
So, is it a gas oven? If so, call POCO, you may be up for a new ignitor as the POCO sounds like they had a serious OV event - as in lineman shorting a 13.9 line to local feeds? .
BTW, kinda inane and poor detail in your post (please add more/better info inthe future) esp. if it IS a gas oven. Oven and breaker trip mentioned first, thus at first thought, I'ds say 99% of EEs, would at first imply intermittently shorted element.
Kinda like folks voting for BO thinking anything better than DW??
"Oven and breaker trip mentioned first, thus at first thought, I'ds say 99% of EEs, would at first imply intermittently shorted element."And the other 1%, which included me, would say WTF are you doing with a vent fan tapped off a 240 circuit..
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If it's a gas stove it may be a regular 120V/15A circuit. However, it's still recommended to give a gas stove it's own circuit because many have a high current 120V element for broiling. I wouldn't tap off a fan circuit if it were mine.Scott.
It's a 20A 120 circuit. 20 A circuit for a 3.6A igniter and a vent fan should be way over required capacity.Yes, the broiler has both gas and an electric coil, but neither was in use at the time.BruceT
>>>Yes, the broiler has both gas and an electric coil, but neither was in use at the time.Are you sure? If I recall correctly, my gas stove (Kitchenaid) uses the 120V broiling element to accelerate oven heating during the warmup stage. It may be possible that this, plus the vent load, is creating an overcurrent problem.Scott.
"...you may be up for a new ignitor as the POCO sounds like they had a serious OV event..."Are you saying that there might have been a momentary surge before the power went out and that might have tripped one circuit in my house?"BTW, kinda inane and poor detail in your post (please add more/better info inthe future) esp. if it IS a gas oven."
Well, I can see that tact is not one of your strong points. I think it's kind of harsh to call my post "inane" (which means pointless or silly, BTW) just because the information did not come in the order you may have expected. I thought a 3.6A igniter and a vent fan tripping a 20A breaker twice in a few minutes' time was a reasonable description of the problem. "I'ds say 99% of EEs, would at first imply intermittently shorted element."
Does this mean that my igniter might have an intermittent short somehow?ThanksBruceT
And notice the sweet political ending to his post..geeze.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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"And notice the sweet political ending to his post..geeze."The OB DW thing? Yeah, now THAT was inane.BruceT
Edited 3/24/2009 12:30 pm by brucet9
We had a similar problem when we moved in to our home. Electrician found a couple of loose connections in the breaker box. He told me a slightly loose connection will cause the breaker to overheat and trip even though you don't exceed the current. 10 years later, still no more problems.
Thanks. I'll check that out.BruceT