Breaker tripped and won"t reset

princessme

The power went out in all our bathrooms and the outlet in the garage that has the "test" button. First I tried to reset the garage outlet, but it didn't do anything, so, I went to check the breaker which wasn't in the on position, but it wasn't all the way to the off either. Anyway, I tried to push the switch all the way to off and then back to the on position.... then I checked the outlets, but still no power. Is there a trick to resetting the breaker? Please help!!

Gary_602z

Is it retripping? If so you need to find out why! It may have a bad breaker also.Reset the GFI that tripped and check for any others.

Gary

Just Bill

As suggested above, if the breaker will not reset, you either have a bad breaker, or the problem that caused the breaker to trip is still there. I would suspect the latter. The GFI won't do anything because the circuit is dead. But look for signs of flashes at outlet and switch locations, unplug everything from the affected circuit and retry the breaker. If it resets, it is something that was plugged in, if not it could take a while to find. Possibly even squirrel or rodent damage.

Wildie

You need to now if the fault still exists or if you have bad breaker! An electrician would remove the breaker panel cover! Of course, after shutting off the main breaker! Then the wire that is connected to the faulty breaker, is disconnected from the breaker! The main breaker is switched back on, the faulty breaker is pressed to the off position and then turned on! If it won't stay on, it means that the breaker is defective and must be replaced! If does stay on, then a fault in the house wiring will be the problem! Previously, you were advised to unplug anything that is plugged in, on this circuit! That should have been the first thing to do! House wiring is done in a daisy chain fashion. The wires run from outlet to outlet. The circuit has to be opened at some place in the daisy chain. I usually, like to do this in the middle of the chain! Once open, power is reapplied! If the breaker holds, it means that the fault is beyond the point where the circuit was opened. If it trips again, then it will be back towards the electrical panel. If the fault is beyond the original 'opening' then the same procedure is followed in that section! One thing that can help isolate the problem, is to use your nose! Sniff around all the outlets for the smell of something that has burned! Smell can give an important clue, as to where a fault may exist!

KE2KB

This isn't by any chance a GFCI, or AFCI breaker, is it?
Does it have a yellow, or white test button?

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princessme

Thanks to all of you for your help.... (no it doesn't have the yellow button)

However... I am still having trouble trying to get the breaker to the "all the way off" position. It sorta springs back to the middle when I push it to off. It does stay in the on position, though. But, no power to those outlets.

There wasn't a spark or anything when it happened. Both my kids had blow dryers going and other stuff plugged into the bathroom outlet. (Everything shut off when they decided to plug in a phone charger on top of everything else)

Oh, and no smoke either. It was an irresponsible overload. Now, I just want to be able to reset this breaker....

Any other ideas or help would be great... Again thanks to those who have responded.

micromind

If you push the handle toward the off position, fairly hard, and it springs back to the center position, it's a bad breaker. It will need to be replaced.

If you're handy with tools, and your panel has a main breaker in it, (or there's a main outside near the meter) and you don't mind all the power off in the house for a while, you can do this yourself. Be warned however, even with the main off, parts of the panel are still hot, and therefore need to be avoided.

If you're comfortable with it, write back; there's about a dozen or so guys around here that can guide you through it.

Rob

mccabegc

Sounds very odd that the breaker will either stay in the trip position or the on position. Normally you would need to open the breaker before being able to reclose it.

Going by what you described, it sounds to me like the breaker could be faulty. If you can place the breaker in the on position and not sustain power to the circuit I would start there.

rgsgww

What brand breaker panel/breakers do you have?