My is abaut electrical distribution board that has 20 amp X6 ad 10 amp x6 .125amp main circuit breaker and the breakers are 2,5 ka now what is the faulty lavel of this .

James Greene

• 240 Answers
• Posted on Feb 02, 2008

SOURCE: whirlpool electric dryer keeps tripping main circuit breaker

First off, be sure the pigtail is wired correctly to the back of the unit. Black and red to the outside terminals, white to the middle, green to the frame or cabinet (should be a green screw close-by). If that is ok, you probably have an issue with possibly a bad pigtail, bad outlet, wiring issue, or possibly a bad circuit breaker or breaker box. Probably going to be more of a electrical problem than a appliance problem. Good Luck!!!!

SOURCE: electric hot water heater 40 gallon ge

Typical H2O heater with 4500 watt elements should draw around 18 amps. Check to make sure the connections for the wires at the breaker are tight, loose connections will cause the breaker to heat up. If all of this is good and the breaker is still heating up, it is time for a new breaker.

SOURCE: Tripping Circuit Breaker

Same problem I have. I think the element or thermostat is gone. You will have to replace them. Here are the part numbers repectively:

4501649
4160214

SOURCE: 125 MAIN CIRCUIT BREAKER REPLACEMENT

I would tend to agree with "Tripleauto". If you do not disconnect the electrical supply to the house, you run the risk of having 240 volts at up to about 75 KVA coursing through your body. Needless to say, before the transformer blows out or someone cuts off the power, your corpse will be mostly ash. Call the power company to co-ordinate having the power turned off while you or your electrician do the work. Once the power is off, swapping out the main breaker is a relatively simple job, assuming you can find an exact replacement. If there is no exact replacement, as in the panel is fairly old and the breaker is no longer available, you will end up having to replace the whole panel or add a 125 amp breaker in a separate enclosure in an accessible location between the meter socket and the breaker box, preferably within reach of the breaker panel. The International Residential Code requires a disconnct where there are more than six breakers needed to turn off all power to the dwelling. Check with your local Building Code office before doing anything.

--Peter Nomikos, International Code Council Master Code Professional
Building and Zoning Director, City of Mauldin, SC

SOURCE: Lights & outlets in addition, how many on 20 amp breaker?

I would say something a little different than SmithBrother. You said you are putting on an addition and you asked how many outlets can you put on a 20 amp breaker. Because of the date on your comment, it is probably a little late to be replying but whaat the heck ... here goes.

I think there is a rule of thumb that you can put about 12 "holes" in a 15 or 20 amp circuit. A "hole" is a hole in the wall where a box would be put for a outlet or a light or a switch. I presume you know to use #12 wire on a 20 amp circuit and while you may use #14 on a 15 amp circuit, I prefer to shy away from #14 wire even though I MAY protect a given circuit with a 15 amp breaker. You can over protect but not under protect. 30 amp is #10 and so forth.

There are lots of other considerations ... too many to do justice in this short comment. However, I will hit a few hi lites. As SmithBrother says, a micro wave should have its own circuit as should a AC or a frig - I think that may go without sayng. I think you are speaking more general use. I believe the electric code says every wall must have a plug in it and you can go no more than 6 feet to get to a plug. So, if you have a 12 foot wall, one outlet in the middle will meet the requirement. There is nothting preventing you from puttine two outlets in that same wall. From my perspective, I want to have lots of outlets and I want them to be convenient for me to use. (There are more than 200 outlets in my home) Another thing, you cant put a outlete over a electric baseboard heater. You can put one at each end of such a heater but not where a lamp cord would lay in top of the hot heater surface.

Regarding the 12 hole rule ... if you have two switches that control the same light, you only count those two switches as one hole even though, obviously, there are two holes in the wall for the two switches. Count a second hole for the light. Conversely, if there is a light and a fan, you should count that one hole in the ceiling as two.