Professional Electricians in Honolulu, HI

Many people ask why is my circuit breaker tripping. First of all, a breaker tripping is a good thing as it means that breaker is doing its job. Breakers trip when there is an overcurrent or short condition. If you plug in and use too many things on one circuit at the same time the breaker will trip to protect the wire from overheating, due to the overuse of that circuit. This likely occurs when you use too many appliances at one time again on the same circuit. Some powerful appliances, such as vacuums, refrigerators, and clothes dryers, require their own dedicated circuits. Our electricians can inspect your circuitry to determine if too many appliances share a circuit, and ultimately make repairs to stop the breaker from continuing to trip. This may also be an indication that your electrical circuits were not designed or installed correctly initially. If the wiring within the circuit was damaged somehow and there is a short between two different wires it will trip the breaker as well. This again though means the breaker is doing its job. Do not try to force a breaker to stay on as it is telling you that there is a problem that needs to be addressed before it compounds into an even bigger issue. Our Electrical Service Experts at E I Electrical Inc. will always explain what it is that they discover and discuss all the options and solutions with you before proceeding with any repairs.

It is best to firmly turn it all the way off, back on, all the way off again, and then finally back on. If you experience a large of amount or resistance to resetting it, or the handle of the breaker seems loose then call us to help you replace or upgrade that breaker. While there we will also determine why the breaker went bad as it may be a sign of it being constantly overloaded, a heat damaged buss assembly under the breaker, or if it is simply just be too old/worn out.

Corrosion and overloading of outlets can weaken the spring tension on the connection tabs within your outlet. Without the prongs of the outlet making a solid connection with the internal tabs of the outlet, the problem will start to compound as the electricity will arc across the air gap between them and overheat the outlet. The more it is overheated the less tension it has and more of an air gap is created, causing a snowball effect that could eventually make the outlet unsafe to use. When this occurs, homeowners should have it fixed it right away. Like outlets that short circuit, loose outlets can spark too. These sparks are a potential fire hazard. If a socket is worn out, it is best to replace it right away to stay as safe as possible. We at E I Electrical Inc. replace outlets like these constantly as even an outlet has a life expectancy and eventually needs to be replaced.

A breaker could be loose or not seated correctly on the main buss. A breaker may be shorting-out internally allowing current to flow between hot and neutral. Either issue should be inspected immediately by one of our E I Electrical Inc. Electrical Service Experts. Our Electricians will open you panel and inspect all the affected breakers and the panel itself for heat damage or other issues.