jetter1,477 posts@jetter
12-11-2019
8:03am
I had the same thing happen, but only with a particular high current amp. Other more modest amps would not trip the breaker. But if I plugged the high current amp in any other circuit it would not trip a breaker.
I haven’t done so yet, but replacing the breaker is on my to do list.
In your case you may want to see if the manufacturer of your electrical panel makes a High Magnetic, HM, branch circuit breaker.
What is a HM type breaker? What does it do? It allows a greater lag time for inrush current before it will trip.
Example of:
Square D
Standard QO115 and QO120 circuit breakers are manufactured to have a magnetic trip point at approximately 8x to 10x the breaker rating. There are some applications, however, in which a load has an inrush current high enough to cause these standard circuit breakers to trip. Examples of these loads include area lighting for athletic fields, parking lots, or outdoor signs. To allow the high inrush current without tripping the circuit breaker, a high magnetic breaker should be used. These high magnetic breakers breakers have a magnetic trip point set much higher than the standard circuit breakers. They can be identified by the HM suffix on the catalog number (QO115HM). Current production HM breakers are also identified with a "High Magnetic" label on the side of the breaker (see photo).https://www.se.com/us/en/faqs/FA96714/
NOTE: The above explanation comparing the standard breaker to the high magnetic breaker applies to 1-pole, 15A and 20A, QO, QOB, QOU, HOM and CHOM breakers only. Other ampere 1p breakers, and all 2-pole and 3-pole versions are already high magnetic as standard. (Breakers with suffix GFI, AFI, CAFI, or DF are not available as high magnetic).
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