Help.I’m not an electrician so take it easy on me if this is an easy one.I came home today flipped on the kitchen light bam! tripped the breaker.I tried to reset and it won’t.So I unhooked the light fixture, still won’t reset.Did the breaker fry,If so why it’s only 2 years old?
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>>I tried to reset and it won't.<< Generally indicates either a bad breaker or a dead short somewhere in this circuit.
>>So I unhooked the light fixture, still won't reset.<< Tells you that this light fixture is not the problem. Look elsewhere in the circuit - I would be looking in the switch box which houses the switch for this light, since the circuit was on until you flipped this switch. Look for evidence of arcing - burn marks, smoke trails, welding spatter, etc.
>>Did the breaker fry,If so why it's only 2 years old?<< Breaker could be bad. Can be bad right out of the box, and occasionally they just decide to die prematurely.
Go slow, look around - could take a while.
Others will chime in soon.
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
Edited 7/20/2007 6:22 pm ET by JTC1
Just realized that a bulb blew in the above mentioned fixture.This has happened before,but the breaker always reset.Could the fixture fry the breaker?
Edited 7/20/2007 6:32 pm ET by mandingo751
>>Could the fixture fry the breaker?<< Stranger things have happened.
Check the fixture before re-installing with a continuity meter. There should be no continuity between the hot side and neutral or the housing. No bulb in fixture for test 1.
Insert new bulb and retest, assuming incandescent you should now have continuity between hot and neutral leads; no continuity between hot and housing.
If all is OK with the fixture --- the road points toward the switch box and then to the breaker itself.
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
Thanks, I will see what I can do.
Most common cause of this is a bulb that blows, and, in doing so, shorts internally. If this happens, the breaker should reset when the wall switch is off, but may trip again when the switch is turned on.
If the breaker won't reset with the wall switch off, check for some other bulb on the same breaker. Failing that it COULD be a bad breaker, but also could be bad wiring somewhere (and the first place to suspect is in the wiring around first switch you flipped, especially if it's always seemed a little loose).
When many breakers trip you must flip them to the off position even though they are tripped.
Identify tripped breaker
Flip it to the off position
Snap it quickly "on"
Many breakers will not allow you to simply reset from tripped.
Good luck, be careful.
I just changed the breaker out with a new one.It didn't trip but, I haven't reconnected the suspect light yet.I dont have a continuity tester. So I don't know If I should reconnect or 86 it.
Get a known good flashlight battery. Hold the white wire of the fixture on the negative end of the battery and tap the black wire against the positive terminal. If you don't see any sparks (check the battery with a straight piece of wire to know what to look for) then the fixture isn't shorted.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
I'm confused no spark means short or no short?
No spark is good -- it means there's no short. But also try using a single piece of wire from one terminal to the other so you can verify that the battery is good and see what a "bad" spark would look like.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Brilliant! Thanks Dan