Common Questions

Why do my breakers keep tripping?

Short answer

Usually it's an overload: a heater, an air conditioner, or a piece of equipment asking for more than the circuit is rated to carry. If it's an arc-fault breaker, it usually means a piece of equipment on that circuit is faulty rather than the breaker being bad. That breaker is 99% of the time doing what it's supposed to: it is protecting the wiring in your house from burning your house up. Never put a bigger breaker on a circuit because it keeps tripping.

Never put a bigger breaker on a circuit that keeps tripping

This is the single most important thing on this page. If a breaker keeps tripping, do not replace it with a larger one.

The breaker is sized to protect the wire behind it, not the appliance in front of it. Put a larger breaker on the same wire and you've simply raised the point at which the protection steps in, while the wire in your wall is unchanged. That is how wiring overheats inside a wall cavity where nobody can see it.

That breaker is 99% of the time doing what it's supposed to. It is protecting the wiring in your house from burning your house up. The job is to find out why it's operating, not to talk it out of operating.

Usually it's an overload

The common answer, by a wide margin, is that the circuit is being asked for more than it's rated to carry. A space heater. A window air conditioner. A piece of equipment in a garage or shop plugged into a circuit that already feeds half a room.

That's not a defect. It's a circuit doing arithmetic. The fix is usually redistributing loads, or, in older homes where the circuit layout predates the way you live, adding a dedicated circuit for the thing that keeps causing it.

If it's an arc-fault breaker, suspect the equipment

An arc-fault breaker that trips repeatedly usually means a piece of equipment on that circuit is faulty, not that the breaker is bad. A damaged cord, a failing appliance, a pinched wire behind a piece of furniture, that's the signature it's listening for.

People swap the breaker first because it's the visible part. It rarely fixes it. Unplugging things one at a time finds it far more often.

The three patterns and what each usually means

Trips immediately, every time you reset it

Short circuit or ground fault

If the breaker won't stay on even with nothing plugged in, current is finding a path it shouldn't: hot touching neutral, hot touching ground, or a damaged conductor. This is the pattern that warrants stopping rather than experimenting. It is fault current, not load.

Trips when you run something specific

Overloaded circuit

Space heater plus microwave, hair dryer on a bathroom circuit that also feeds a bedroom, a shop vac on a garage circuit shared with the freezer. The circuit is being asked for more than it's rated to carry. Sometimes the answer is redistributing loads; often, in older homes, the answer is a dedicated circuit.

Trips at random with no clear trigger

Loose connection, failing breaker, ground fault, or heat

This is the hardest pattern and the one people live with longest. Loose terminations heat up and expand; breakers wear out mechanically after years of cycling; moisture in an exterior box or a failing appliance can create an intermittent ground fault. It often correlates with time of day or weather, which is a useful clue.

GFCI and AFCI breakers trip for different reasons

A GFCI compares the current going out with the current coming back. If they don't match, current is leaking somewhere it shouldn't, possibly through a person, and it trips on a very small difference. It's a shock-protection device. You'll find GFCI protection in bathrooms, kitchens, garages, basements, and outdoors.

An AFCI is listening for the electrical signature of an arc: the sputtering pattern produced by a damaged cord, a pinched wire, or a loose terminal. It's a fire-prevention device, and it's typically found on living-area circuits.

Knowing which one operated narrows things considerably. A GFCI trip sends us looking at moisture and leakage; an AFCI trip sends us looking at connections and cords.

How to narrow it down yourself, safely

1Note the pattern: immediate, under load, or random. Write down what was running when it tripped.
2Unplug everything on the affected circuit, then reset the breaker.
3If it holds, add loads back one device at a time and wait between each. A single appliance is a common culprit.
4If the breaker won't hold with nothing plugged in, stop. That's fault current, not load.
5If outlets are dead but no breaker looks tripped, look for a tripped GFCI elsewhere: garage, bathroom, exterior, or basement. One GFCI often protects outlets in several rooms.
6Look at the breaker itself: a tripped breaker usually sits between on and off and needs to be pushed fully off before it will reset.

This is troubleshooting with a plug, not with a screwdriver. Don't open the panel, don't pull devices, and don't replace a breaker to see if that fixes it.

When to stop and call

Any burning or hot-plastic smell
Scorch marks or discoloration at the panel, a device, or a cover plate
A panel cover that feels warm to the touch
Buzzing, crackling, or sizzling from the panel or a receptacle
The same circuit tripping repeatedly over days or weeks
A breaker that is hot compared with its neighbors
Visible arcing or a spark when something is plugged in

Any of these means stop resetting and get eyes on it. Our troubleshooting and repair page explains how we trace a fault to its actual source rather than swapping parts.

Why older Spokane homes trip more

Using Spokane County Assessor data, the City of Spokane reported in 2020 that roughly 42% of city housing was built before 1970 and the average single-family home is around 70 years old. Those homes were wired for lighting, a television, and a couple of kitchen appliances.

A modern household puts a very different demand on the same circuits: home offices, space heaters, countertop appliances, EV charging. Frequently there's nothing defective at all; the circuit layout simply predates the way you live. That usually gets solved with dedicated circuits rather than with a whole-house project.

When the answer is a panel upgrade instead of a single circuit

One circuit tripping is a circuit problem. Look at the panel itself when the pattern is broader: breakers tripping across multiple circuits, no open spaces left to add the dedicated circuit you need, double-tapped breakers, fuses instead of breakers, or a service that's simply undersized for the loads in the house.

The NEC minimum service for a single-family dwelling is 100 amps. 200 amps is a common market convention, not a code requirement, so the honest way to answer the question is a load calculation, which is how we approach it on the panel upgrade page.

Talk it through with a licensed electrician

If you'd rather have someone look at it than guess, book a time or call us. We'll tell you what we actually find.

Book an Appointment (509) 290-8572

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it dangerous to keep resetting a tripped breaker?+

Resetting once to see if it holds is reasonable. Resetting the same breaker repeatedly is not, because you're overriding a safety device without knowing why it operated. If a breaker trips more than once on the same circuit, treat it as a symptom that needs diagnosing rather than a nuisance.

What's the difference between a GFCI and an AFCI trip?+

A GFCI watches for current leaking out of the intended path (to ground, or potentially through a person) and trips on very small imbalances. It protects people, and it's what you find in bathrooms, kitchens, garages, and outdoors. An AFCI watches for the electrical signature of arcing, the kind caused by a damaged cord or a loose connection, and is meant to prevent fires. They trip for different reasons, so which one operated tells you something about the cause.

Why does my GFCI keep tripping outside?+

Moisture is the usual answer, especially on exterior receptacles, in a crawlspace, or on a circuit feeding something outdoors. A failing appliance with leaking current to ground is the other common cause. A GFCI that trips with nothing plugged in points at the wiring or the device itself.

Can a breaker just go bad?+

Yes. Breakers are mechanical devices and they wear out, particularly ones that have tripped many times over the years. A breaker tripping well below its rating with no load explanation is a legitimate suspect, but it's the diagnosis you reach after ruling out the circuit, not before.

Does a tripping breaker mean I need a new panel?+

Not by itself. One circuit tripping usually means something is wrong with that circuit, and that's a repair. A panel upgrade is the answer when the panel is full with no room to add circuits, when the service itself is undersized for how you use the home, or when the equipment is failing or obsolete.

Why do older Spokane homes trip more?+

Because their circuits were laid out for a different era of electrical load. Roughly 42% of City of Spokane housing was built before 1970, when a bedroom didn't need to power a computer, a monitor, a space heater, and a window air conditioner. The wiring isn't necessarily faulty: it's just carrying loads nobody planned for.

Can I just put a bigger breaker on a circuit that keeps tripping?+

No. Never do that. The breaker is sized to protect the wire behind it, and a larger breaker lets that wire carry more current than it's rated for. That is how wiring overheats inside a wall. If a breaker keeps tripping, the answer is finding out why, not raising the limit.

Why does my arc-fault breaker keep tripping?+

Usually because a piece of equipment on that circuit is faulty, not because the breaker is bad. An arc-fault breaker is listening for the signature of arcing, and a damaged cord, a failing appliance, or a loose connection sets it off. Swapping the breaker rarely fixes it.