american dj power bar circuit breaker tripping

[andestang]

Hmmm, I was wondering about this, I have some heated auto-water units for our horses and they seem to be tripping the breaker fairly easily this year. The guy at HD said no wouldn't happen

Originally Posted by Binare

I take it you have ruled out any faulty devices? Breakers do get tired. The more they trip, the less it takes for them to trip. A breakers a bimetallic strip. Two pieces of different metal sandwiched together. They both expand at differing rates in reaction to heat. When you draw current, you create heat, the strip curls and basically flips a switch. Overtime that strip will wear out and become weaker from tripping, or using the breaker as an on/off switch.