Very strange thing happening. House is less than an year old. This is the bathroom circuit. The only modification was an additional outlet. Everything was working fine for months. Until this morning, woke up and realize the breaker tripped. When I tried the reset the breaker, it trips immediately. I turned off all lights and unplugged all outlets, then the breaker was able to stay on. Now the strange thing is, any load on the circuit trips the breaker. Flipping any switch or plugging in any outlet causes the breaker to trip. Any idea what causing this?
Electrical – Any load on circuit trips bathroom breaker
circuit breakerelectricalgfci
Related Solutions
Since it's a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) breaker, it's very likely that you have a ground fault.
GFCIs work by detecting an imbalance in current between the ungrounded (hot), and grounded (neutral) conductors. This is why you only see the trip when the circuit is under load. If there is 0 current flow, the current is balanced.
I'd start by inspecting the receptacle. Turn off the breaker, then open up the box where the receptacle is installed. Look for damage to the receptacle itself, or water/moisture in the box.
For outdoor installations you should always have a weatherproof box, and a cover that is weatherproof even when the receptacle is in use.
You either have a short in the circuit, a short in a component you didn't unplug on the circuit , or a defective breaker. The last is highly unlikely, though not impossible. You really need a licensed electrician.
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Best Answer
It sounds like a wire may have been damaged during the install. I am guessing at this point that it is a gfci breaker since it only trips with a load. In this case I would be looking for a skinned neutral or a point in the box that the neutral and ground may now be touching. I don't believe it would be a hot wire because it holds with no load, why did it start after months? Wires relaxing , home vibrations but at least this provides a location to look in the boxes on the neutral , it could be a staple in the wiring but I would check boxes first.