How do circuit breakers and RCD’s work? Circuit breakers and RCD’s are switches in your board that prevent electrical overloads, earth leakage and short circuit electricity.
In essence, electrical current enters your home through the breaker box, which is typically located at the front corner wall of your house. The power is divided into several circuits and sent throughout the house.
When a circuit breaker “trips”, it implies that it has detected a faulty situation and has switched off to avoid the wiring from becoming too hot or to prevent an unsafe situation.
In most cases, a device you have plugged into a wall socket will cause the breaker to trip. Any outdoor gadgets or pumps of any kind are the things that will most frequently cause you problems.
Here are tips on what to do if your circuit trips in your switchboard:
Locate the Main Switch
Turn off the master switch once you’ve reached the power board. Before you do anything else, make sure you do this! This will turn off all electricity to the circuits, so if there is a failure, it will not harm you while you are within the switchboard.
Checking the Safety Switch
Make sure an RCD safety switch is always installed and routinely checked. For homes, these are necessary to safeguard everyone inside from being zapped. The RCD should be turned back on first. If the electricity trips once more after that, your circuit is faulty.
To determine whether you have an issue with something plugged in, begin by taking a look at the switches on your consumer unit. You will see that each switch is labelled with what component it relates to. The easiest route is to try the power points.
If the safety switches on but no power, it is possible that the main switch of your unit in the switchboard has tripped.
Search for the Culprit
You might not even consider what tripped your electrical breaker, but you might be startled to learn that indoor appliances could also be to blame.
Yes, given how frequently you use them, it seemed as though nothing could go wrong. However, using something too much could result in power tripping. And now you’re wondering what power tripped means. In a nutshell, it occurs when the current levels and/or earth leakage are higher than they ought to be. Now it’s up to you to find the culprit.
When looking for an overloaded circuit, consider looking for any appliances that might be utilising more electricity than the circuit can handle. Pay special attention to appliances like toasters, hair dryers, hair straighteners, and space heaters because they tend to use the most energy.
If you are unsure about which appliances or objects are causing the electricity trip, simply unplug any or all of the items in the impacted sections of your home. Call an electrician if this doesn’t fix the problem; even though this is a rather uncommon occurrence, you might have loose connections somewhere in the house or worse.
See if your tripped circuit breaker will turn back on. If so, go and plug items back in one by one. If you notice that when you plug any of the appliances back on, it causes the power to trip, then it means that this is what is causing the issue. We would highly recommend replacing this appliance to prevent future tripping of electricity.
Preventing Power Trips
If you have just changed your circuits or have good condition circuits but are still suffering power trips, there are a few things you can do to reduce the likelihood of losing power.
- Be cautious when using extension cables to power devices that consume a lot of electricity, like heating and cooling appliances, as this can lead to an overload of the main socket.
- Consider how many appliances you have plugged into a single power outlet. To avoid overloading the socket, try to spread them across multiple outlets if possible.
- Watch for broken equipment signs, like frayed cords or burn marks near the plug. Before they have a chance to pose a risk, we advise replacing any broken goods.
- Unplug any electrical items that are not in use; this will also allow you to avoid wasting electricity and, as a result, save money on your energy bills.
It is not difficult to reset a circuit breaker. Planning and remaining composed are necessary. After attempting the suggestions above, if you’re still unsure about the issue or would like an expert to examine it, just call us at 0438 674 348.
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