Electrical – Circuit breaker won’t turn back on after being turned off (not tripped)

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I turned off all the breakers of my home to work on my electric. When it was time to turn the circuit breakers back on, 3 of them wouldn't: the one for the dishwasher, the one for the dryer and one that says "Kitchen GFI".

The breakers are NOT tripped. I tried forcing them to an "Off" position but they were already off (I turned them off myself). They feel kind of "loose" when I try turning them back on, but they immediately go back to the off position.

I unplugged my dryer, dishwasher and some other small appliances from my kitchen. It didn't help. I tried resetting some GFCI outlets around the house. Nothing.

I called an electrician and he believes the circuit breakers went bad. My home is 12 years old.

Does that sound about right? Why would this happen only when I manually turned the breakers off?

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Best Answer

The electricians came over.

The guy pushed the breaker into the wall and switched it towards the on position. That did it.

I guess the breakers weren't exactly 100% bad yet, but the springs inside are not the same as they used to be, so this trick worked.