=== === This is known as a "Disconnected Neutral (Open neutral)" fault condition. It occurs whenever the Neutral wire for a circuit becomes disconnected from the household's main power supply panel whilst the Live or "hot" wire for the circuit still remains connected to the panel AND the circuit has appliances plugged into the socket outlets.
In that situation, if you put a voltage indicator, such as a test screwdriver with a neon lamp onto the Neutral wire it will glow just as if it was Live, because it is being fed with a very small current coming from the Live supply via the plugged-in appliance(s) to the Neutral wire.
If you unplug all appliances, lights and whatever else may be connected to the circuit, the Neutral will no longer seem to be Live because there is no longer any path from it to the Live supply.
No ordinary circuit breaker on the main supply panel would trip in this situation because the current flowing from the Live via the appliance(s) to the Neutral to the test instrument is not high enough to cause the circuit breaker to trip to shut off the current.
Even if there is a GFCI or an RCD in the circuit that too is unlikely to trip in this situation because the test current is so small and is of the same size - an equal current flow - in both the Live and the Neutral wires.
A "Disconnected Neutral" fault condition is VERY UNSAFEbecause somebody who does not know about the danger could easily touch the Neutral wire and get a bad shock whilst trying to find out why no appliances work when they are plugged into a circuit that actually has such a "Disconnected Neutral" fault condition.
Hence a "Disconnected Neutral" fault is a very unsafe condition and should be corrected at the earliest possible opportunity by someone who knows exactly which wires to check and then connect properly.
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For your safety and that of anyone else who may to use the appliance, ask a professional licensed electrician to advise you or to do the work for you. If you do this work yourself, always turn off the power
at the breaker box/fuse panel BEFORE you attempt to do any work AND
always use an electrician's test meter having metal-tipped probes
(not a simple proximity voltage indicator)
to insure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
: IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
All the neutrals are connected together on a bus bar and are bonded to the equipment grounding conductor and the grounding electrode conductor which goes to the ground rod.
an interlocking device
If the test shows that there is a continuity between the phase leg and the neutral with no load connected, then that circuit should not be energized. If the circuit was energized then the fuse or breaker protecting that leg will trip the circuit open.
You don't specify whether you mean low-voltage circuit breakers, such as MCBs (miniature circuit breakers) or high-voltage circuit breakers. In either case, repeated tripping under fault conditions causes arcing which damages the main contacts of the circuit breakers. For this reason, high-voltage circuit breakers are taken out of service after a specified number of tripping operations, so that the contacts can be maintained or, if necessary, replaced. MCB contacts are inaccessible, and the MCB may eventually require replacing.
A secondary shunt releases (extra trip coil) is used forelectrical tripping of the circuit breaker by protectiverelays or manual control devices when more than onetrip coil is required.
Tripping is caused by excessive current, which is usually the result of a fault in cable or equipment. The circuit breaker is there for safety and it trips to prevent a possible fire starting.
A circuit breaker is designed so that it will trip when the electric current is too high. That is the purpose of a circuit breaker. If there is a metal piece on the circuit breaker that prevents it from tripping, it is useless. Perhaps someone has altered it.
In an electrical context, 'tripping off' means the circuit breaker breaking the circuit because of a fault.
The electromagnet in the circuit breaker is used for instantaneous tripping if short-circuit condition arises. At defined current level the electromagnet develops the force high enough to cause the tripping of the mechanism.
an interlocking device
Circuit Breaker
You may need to call in an electrician, or appliance repairman.See view discussion below.
Could be but you could also have a weak breaker that will no longer hold the load of your dryer. That is if your talking about your dryer breaker tripping. If your "main breaker" is tripping you have a different problem. Call an electrician in that case. A plugged up dryer shouldn't be tripping your main
If the test shows that there is a continuity between the phase leg and the neutral with no load connected, then that circuit should not be energized. If the circuit was energized then the fuse or breaker protecting that leg will trip the circuit open.
The ambient temperature does have an effect on the tripping point of a breaker. If a breaker is operating at near capacity the additional ambient temperature will lower the breaker trip set point.
It means that the person has to go and re set the breaker. If people understood that the tripping of the breaker is a safety device and by its tripping it might have just saved them some money. By preventing a fault that a short circuit or an overload could cause might just have stopped a potential house fire.
You don't specify whether you mean low-voltage circuit breakers, such as MCBs (miniature circuit breakers) or high-voltage circuit breakers. In either case, repeated tripping under fault conditions causes arcing which damages the main contacts of the circuit breakers. For this reason, high-voltage circuit breakers are taken out of service after a specified number of tripping operations, so that the contacts can be maintained or, if necessary, replaced. MCB contacts are inaccessible, and the MCB may eventually require replacing.
A breaker will keep tripping until the fault that caused it to trip is corrected. That's what it is designed to do. There's either a circuit overload or a short circuit. How fast the breaker trips can indicate how overloaded it is. If you are very close to the rating of the breaker you can actually trip it over time. If you are definitely over the breaker will usually trip instantly. If there is a short circuit you can usually tell that by how violently the breaker trips. If you have conduit you can hear the wires banging around in the pipe. A frequently tripping breaker may also be faulty and need to be replaced - breakers are designed to fail by tripping prematurely rather than by not tripping at all, as this is much safer. This is very often the case for breakers that trip at seemingly random intervals, often when very little load is being drawn.