circuit breakerelectrical
I live in a older trailer and yesterday I had a breaker trip. It trips after 15 seconds every time I reset it. What is funny is that the breaker works things on the back side of the trailer like the venthood, a light in the kitchen, an outlet in the living room, the ceiling fan in the living room, a outlet in the middle bedroom, and two outlets in the last bedroom.
I looked at the outlets, the wires look fine. Can an outlet go bad? Or could it be the venthood or ceiling fan?
You probably have one of two possible problems.
1) The disposer may be jammed. Check this by making sure the switch is OFF and the breaker is OFF. Insert the proper hex wrench into the bottom hex socket (center bottom of unit) and rotate it left and right to be sure it turns free and easy. If jammed, it may take a bit of forceful back and forth action to clear the jam. Look down inside the disposer with a flashlight to assure there is no obstructions. If all is clear, turn the breaker back on and try the unit.
2) If after doing step one and all is clear but unit still kicks the breaker, the disposer is probably faulty and may need to be replaced.
Some surge protectors work by "redirecting" surges to the equipment ground, which is pretty much the definition of a ground fault. In this case, it's definitely possible that surge suppressors could be tripping GFCI receptacles/breakers (given a large enough surge).
As for the AFCIs... When electrical contacts separate, they often create an arc between the contacts. This arc spans the gap until the contacts are too far apart, and the arc can no longer be sustained. It's possible (in theory) that the GFCI tripping could create a large enough arc, for long enough to cause the AFCI to trip. It's not likely that a properly functioning GFCI would do this, but if the GFCI was old and worn it could be opening the contacts slow enough that a detectable arc is being produced.
Determining if the GFCI tripping is causing the AFCI to trip, is a simple test. Simply press the test button on the GFCI. If the AFCI trips, you'll have figured out half the problem. If the ACFI does not trip, you could repeat the test using a receptacle tester with a GFCI test function.
If it's determined that the GFCI is causing the AFCI breaker to trip, replacing the GFCI receptacle may resolve that part of the issue.
Figuring out if the surge suppressor is tripping the GFCI, is a more difficult proposition. It will likely require you to monitor the supply voltage over some time, to identify and document possible surges.
Best Answer
If the circuit breaker trips every time you reset it, then first: stop resetting it! There's almost certainly some sort of overload or short on the circuit, and the breaker is saving your trailer from a fire. If you try hard enough you may convince the breaker to stay on; your reward would be some very cool fireworks and a perhaps-denied insurance claim.
Your next job is to figure out what's tripping the breaker. Unplug or turn off everything on the circuit and try again (once). If the breaker still trips, then you probably have some sort of fault in your wiring.