What is more than likely happening is you have a bad arc fault breaker in you panel. The 2009 IEC started to require that we put arc fault protected breakers in any room where you plug in something with an cord. Bedrooms, living rooms, etc (lamps are their man concern). Arc fault breakers just offer more protection an a standard breaker. In a standard breaker something can start to short out and the breaker won't necessarily trip. With arc fault that breaker will trip at any sign of a short. The main concern is safety but they are a pain in the butt. The are more than twice as expensive as a regular breaker, they go bad sometimes and they trip very easily. I would guess if it isn't the actual vacuum than it is a bad arc fault breaker. If you are still under warranty call the builder and they will have the electrician come take a look. If not call the builder anyway and find out what electrical company wired the house and give them a call and explain the problem.
Covenant- you seem to know about electricity so my question is why is this happening in multiple rooms which I assume are on different arc fault breakers?
Maybe I misunderstood what he is saying but how likely is it that there are multiple breakers that are bad in new const?
Not questioning your theory because if you know about the codes then you obviously are more up-to-date than me just curious.
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Covenant- you seem to know about electricity so my question is why is this happening in multiple rooms which I assume are on different arc fault breakers?
Maybe I misunderstood what he is saying but how likely is it that there are multiple breakers that are bad in new const?
Not questioning your theory because if you know about the codes then you obviously are more up-to-date than me just curious.
Covenant- you seem to know about electricity so my question is why is this happening in multiple rooms which I assume are on different arc fault breakers?
Maybe I misunderstood what he is saying but how likely is it that there are multiple breakers that are bad in new const?
Not questioning your theory because if you know about the codes then you obviously are more up-to-date than me just curious.
I think what might be my problem is the vacuum cleaner is using to much amps for the breaker to support. In my basement when it tripped had the vacuum on (12 amps) and two ceiling lights (about 3amps) on a 15 amp breaker. It is the same thing where I had two bedrooms together with lights on and the vacuum. Maybe my solution is to vacuum during the day.
Is a 15amp breaker ment to trip when you reach 15 amps, or does it happen around 13 or 14 amps to prevent you from getting to 15? If nothing else today is one of the more educational days I have had in the last couple of weeks.
The majority of circuit breakers will trip at 80% of their listed rating. So a 15 amp breaker will trip at 12 amps of continuous load and 20 amp breaker will trip at 16 amps.
They make 100% rated circuit breakers but they are not used very often as they are more expensive.
The breaker we had issues with yesterday covers 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. Is it possible to break up the rooms so they are on seperate breakers?
I really depend upon how they wired it. If they used 1 feed wire to supply the rooms you described it will be hard to break them up into separate breakers. Is there assess from the basement? Where is you electrical panel? They shouldn't have all those rooms on one circuit but you never know anymore. The bathroom should be on a separate GFI and I believe each bedroom is suppose to be on a separate circuit. I am not an electrician (I am a builder) but I have had to work through plenty of issues with my electricians with the arc fault breakers. If they are on one circuit that would explain the tripping when in each room.
I think what might be my problem is the vacuum cleaner is using to much amps for the breaker to support. In my basement when it tripped had the vacuum on (12 amps) and two ceiling lights (about 3amps) on a 15 amp breaker. It is the same thing where I had two bedrooms together with lights on and the vacuum. Maybe my solution is to vacuum during the day.
Is a 15amp breaker ment to trip when you reach 15 amps, or does it happen around 13 or 14 amps to prevent you from getting to 15? If nothing else today is one of the more educational days I have had in the last couple of weeks.
What kind of vacuum do you have? 12 amps seem like a lot of power for a vacuum to be pulling. Most vacuums will only pull 6-7 with some I have seen at 9.
If they have in fact combined all those rooms on one circuit it is possible to be overloading the circuit with the vac. lights and ceiling fans.
Covenant- you seem to know about electricity so my question is why is this happening in multiple rooms which I assume are on different arc fault breakers?
Maybe I misunderstood what he is saying but how likely is it that there are multiple breakers that are bad in new const?
Not questioning your theory because if you know about the codes then you obviously are more up-to-date than me just curious.
It sounds like he may have multiple rooms on one circuit which shouldn't be the case but to answer you question it is definitely possible for multiple breakers to be bad in new construction. Depending on the brand of breaker they are using but the electricians that I use have had as many as three bad in one house before they switched to a different manufacture. I'm telling you these things are a pain in the ***.
I have also seen one arc fault cause another one to trip. We have had remote controls ceiling fans trip them out, etc.
Like I said I am not an electrician but have had to deal with multiple issues with these things. One house we won't have any problems at all, the next house we will have tons of issues.
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