Joseph Meehan wrote:
mndean wrote:
Joseph Meehan wrote:
mndean wrote:
Hi Everyone,.
It seems whenever the temperature gets over 100 degrees or so, a
particular breaker in my house will trip if even a slight load is
put on it. The breaker box is being directly hit by the sun in the
afternoons, and it seems that if I attempt to cool the box, this
cures the problem temporarily. The problem will go away as soon as
the sun is low enough so the box is in shade. Is this a faulty
breaker? I'm not an electrician, so how much would it be $-wise for
an electrician to come out and fix this? Thanks for any help you
could give me in this!

I would appear that the breaker may need to be replaced. This
is an easy job, but if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself,
then having an electrician do it should be a minimal charge. Note:
there is a certain amount of danger in doing this, so if you are not
sure, just have it done.

What is that breaker controlling? Is there something on that
circuit like a A/C unit that could be having problems with the heat?
There also could be a problem with your power coming into your home.
If the transformer feeding your home is too small for the current
demands of you and your neighbors, it may need to be replaced as
well. But breakers do go bad and it does sound like that is your
real problem.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit
Thanks for the advice. The breaker does have an 8000btu room A/C unit
on the circuit. The breaker controls a circuit of outlets that are in
three rooms of the house - it's an old house (1939) and the breaker
box was put in around 1976, and this breaker is an original. This
problem only manifests itself in extreme heat (anything over 95), and
the temp the last two days has averaged 110. I am calling an
electrician this week, but I fear that they may be backed up with
work (there are folks around the city with much worse problems than
me).

My bet is the breaker needs replaced, likely your tech will have one on
his truck or the AC needs to be replaced, less likely.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

You're probably right, the A/C is only 2 years old and is the least
likely one to cause problems. Thanks again.

--
mndean