Hi;
My brother is having trouble with a breaker tripping when the vacuum is run.
His wife said it trips out occasionally when the vacuum is first switched on.
I went over there today, and have the following info:
The breaker in question is a Square D single pole tandem 15A.
I measured the current on the branch with my clamp-on ammeter, and found almost nothing until the vacuum is turned on.
The vacuum draws 12A, but the starting surge is at least 25A.
Unfortunately, we could not reproduce the problem while I was there, so I did the easiest thing I could think of; swap the wires from the two tandem breakers. If the problem persists, then we need to look at rewiring and upgrading to 20A. If not, then the breaker is probably faulty.
There is no more room left in the panel for another breaker, so we must stick with the tandem ones.
I have heard of instances where breakers become "weak" and trip out prematurely, especially on short surges like this.
Is there possibly a problem with tandem breakers in this situation? I wouldn't think so, since they are still rated at 15A, but I don't have all that much experience with breaker failures. For the most part, I find breakers to be extremely reliable devices.
Thanks for your advice
FW
My brother is having trouble with a breaker tripping when the vacuum is run.
His wife said it trips out occasionally when the vacuum is first switched on.
I went over there today, and have the following info:
The breaker in question is a Square D single pole tandem 15A.
I measured the current on the branch with my clamp-on ammeter, and found almost nothing until the vacuum is turned on.
The vacuum draws 12A, but the starting surge is at least 25A.
Unfortunately, we could not reproduce the problem while I was there, so I did the easiest thing I could think of; swap the wires from the two tandem breakers. If the problem persists, then we need to look at rewiring and upgrading to 20A. If not, then the breaker is probably faulty.
There is no more room left in the panel for another breaker, so we must stick with the tandem ones.
I have heard of instances where breakers become "weak" and trip out prematurely, especially on short surges like this.
Is there possibly a problem with tandem breakers in this situation? I wouldn't think so, since they are still rated at 15A, but I don't have all that much experience with breaker failures. For the most part, I find breakers to be extremely reliable devices.
Thanks for your advice
FW