The circuit breaker for our kitchen will always trip if we use two appliances at once. So we try to avoid doing that. But it's tripped dozens of times through the past 30 years. What happened lately is the kitchen lights would flicker and eventually all kitchen power would go out. Yet the circuit breaker didn't trip. I flipped it off and back on and that worked and everything was fine for 2 days. This morning the lights in the kitchen were flickering again and then off went the power to the kitchen. Again the circuit breaker hadn't tripped. I tried flipping it again off and back on and nothing. But when it's flipped to the on position I can hear a faint crackling noise coming from that circuit that goes away when flipped off. So I have two questions.
Do you think it's a bad breaker?
And if it turns out to be that, should we replace it with a larger capacity one? This one has a 20 on it.
Best Answer
NO! This is not a bad breaker.
NO! DO NOT replace the breaker with a larger one.
YES, please call an electrician. This situation needs to be troubleshooted by someone with the knowledge to do so properly.
The "faint crackling noise" is wires arcing, and possibly burning. This is a BAD thing. PLEASE, leave the circuit OFF and call someone.