Pop Goes the Breaker
Jun. 7th, 2016 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeThe main circuit breaker popped again this afternoon. It's not clear exactly what caused it to overdraw, although Lisa speculates that part of the problem is that the load of the various circuits is not evenly balanced across both "legs" of the 100A service. Also, with the warm weather this week, we've had the air conditioning in the trailer and many fans running in the main house including the large swamp cooler. We could be close to 90% of the total available on the breaker, and if NV Energy had any voltage sags due to too many people using too much equipment, it would cause the amps to spike and pop the breaker. In addition, the breaker itself may be wearing out.
As with last time, we let the main breaker cool off for a while, then reset it, and things came back to life. We're going to have to be even more careful budgeting our power draw. And while it's a $250 expense, we did order a replacement 125A master breaker (the maximum service we can have). Our plan is to install it but to not put in any more circuits, in the hope that this will give us more reserve. Someday we may actually put together the ~$8-10K it will take to replace our service with a more modern 200A service (most of the cost of which is what NVEnergy will charge us to drop a new line).
As with last time, we let the main breaker cool off for a while, then reset it, and things came back to life. We're going to have to be even more careful budgeting our power draw. And while it's a $250 expense, we did order a replacement 125A master breaker (the maximum service we can have). Our plan is to install it but to not put in any more circuits, in the hope that this will give us more reserve. Someday we may actually put together the ~$8-10K it will take to replace our service with a more modern 200A service (most of the cost of which is what NVEnergy will charge us to drop a new line).
