Why does my breaker keep tripping?

It's cutting power to a circuit before the wire in your walls gets dangerously hot. Each breaker protects one circuit: a string of outlets and lights, or one big appliance.

Most household breakers watch for 2 kinds of trouble. Too much current for too long heats a metal strip inside until it bends and trips the breaker. That's why an overload trip isn't instant. A sudden rush, like a short, sets off a small electromagnet that trips it almost instantly.

Often, yes. It's one of the most common reasons a breaker trips, and usually the easiest to fix. An overload means everything on one circuit draws more than it's built for. Space heaters, hair dryers, window air conditioners, microwaves and vacuums are the usual suspects, especially when 2 run at once.

One circuit often covers more than one room. If it trips only when a certain appliance runs, move that appliance to an outlet on a different circuit. Don't run an extension cord to get there. Space heaters go straight into a wall outlet, never a power strip.

If it trips anyway with the load spread out, stop resetting it and call.

Then it's most likely a short circuit or a ground fault, not an overload. A short is a hot wire touching a neutral. A ground fault is a hot wire touching a ground wire or grounded metal. Either way, current takes a shortcut, and the breaker shuts it down fast.

It's often a damaged cord or a failed appliance. It can also be a loose connection in an outlet or switch, or a nail driven through a wire. If it trips with everything unplugged, suspect the wiring or something wired in for good, like a light fixture.

Leave that breaker off and call. Every reset sends another burst of current through whatever's damaged, so we wouldn't keep flipping it to see what happens.

They trip on problems a standard breaker can't see. A GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) compares the current going out on a circuit with the current coming back. If even a little is missing, it's leaking somewhere, through water or through a person. The GFCI cuts power fast enough to protect you from a severe shock. A breaker protects the wire. A GFCI protects you.

It's often an outlet with Test and Reset buttons. One can protect outlets down the line, so a dead bathroom outlet may trace back to a tripped GFCI in another room. Pressing Reset is fine.

Current codes call for GFCIs in kitchens, bathrooms, laundry areas, garages, crawl spaces, unfinished basements and outdoors. Older homes often have gaps, depending on when they were wired and local code. An outdoor one can trip after a hard rain if water gets in. Let it dry before you reset it.

An AFCI (arc fault circuit interrupter) trips on arcing, the small sparks from a damaged wire or a loose connection. A vacuum or an older appliance can set one off now and then. If either kind won't reset or keeps tripping, call.

Yes. Breakers are mechanical, and an old, damaged or defective one can trip below its rating. It can also fail to trip when it should. The second one is what worries us. A breaker that won't trip looks fine right up until the wire behind it overheats.

A breaker that looks discolored or melted, smells burnt, or trips under a light load may need replacing. A loose connection where it clips onto the panel can cause trips too. Either fix happens behind the panel cover, so it's a licensed electrician's job.

Not by itself. Breakers tripping on several circuits usually means those circuits are carrying too much. Each breaker guards its own wire, so a bigger panel won't fix that. More circuits, or a spread-out load, might.

The panel may need an upgrade when the main breaker trips or there's no room for new breakers. Adding a big load, like an EV charger, a heat pump or an electric tankless water heater, can call for one too. Even then, one new circuit sometimes does the job and the panel can stay.

Some older panels are known for breakers that may not trip. More on those in how to tell if your panel is outdated.

Anything you can do from the panel door or an outlet:

• Note what was running when it tripped. It's the first thing we'll ask.
• Check the panel door labels for what that breaker covers.
• Unplug or switch off what you can on that circuit.
• Reset the breaker once, and only if the panel is dry and there's no burning smell, scorching or buzzing.
• If that circuit runs a sump pump or a well pump, tell us when you call. We handle the plumbing side of both.

Leave testing circuits and anything behind the panel cover to us. That work is done by licensed and insured techs.