I recently begin noticing a loud humming noise coming from my circuit breaker panel in my basement when I use a 1500 watt space heater on high in my living room in addition to the other electronics using a minimal amount of power. While I hear the loud humming, the circuit does not trip not matter how long I leave the heater running. When the heater is off the humming stops.
I was wondering is this a sign of a circuit not tripping when it should? Is it a fire hazard or does it pose a risk of damaging any electrical components? If I do need to replace a circuit, is that something I could do just by shutting off the main circuit to the house, testing with a voltage tester pen and replace it myself?
Thank you.
Best Answer
If you're getting noise, either the breaker is failing or the wiring is getting loose and so can vibrate. It might be a simple as tightening the connection that holds the wire into the circuit breaker. If this doesn't fix it then you can try replacing the breaker.
Don't play with your main panel unless you know what you're doing! :)
BTW, the circuit breaker should not trip unless there is too much current going through it. Are you in the USA? If so, your power is 120VAC. The two standard breaker ratings are 15A and 20A, which should handle 1800W and 2400W, respectively.
So unless you have other significant loads on the same circuit I would not expect the breaker to trip.