Unexplained breaker deactivations

[JJR2]

Leasing a new house with Eaton box and breakers. Have come back to the house on a couple of occasions to find a breaker off. This morning, we had a thunder storm. The power cut out for about a second, then came back on...except for lights and outlets in the family room. Found two AFCI breakers popped. Lights were off, can't remember if the one fan was running, but no real possibility of an overload.
Builder representative assures me that breakers popping due to thunderstorms is perfectly normal. I've literally never seen this happen over decades, including arc-fault breakers. Any ideas?

 

[Silentrunning]

I lived in southwest Florida most of my life. It is considered the lightening capital of the U.S. and I never had a circuit breaker trip during a thunderstorm.

 

[Max_Wood]

No. I'd suspect grounding issues if it's only during thunderstorms, but could also be a short. Is it always the same breakers?

Also make sure the breaker isn't just loose itself.

 

[WyrTwister]

So lights and a fan or two are the loads ?

I am an old timer AND do very little residential . AFCI circuit breakers are a relatively new product that I have little experience with .

Having said that , I would install a whole house surge suppressor ( I did on our service ) . Next , I would tighten all the connections on those circuits .

Lastly , other than the slight inconvenience , sounds like it is not hurting anything . Id it still bothers you , replace the circuit breakers . Might or might not get them replaced under warranty ?

Best of luck to you ,
Wyr
God bless

 

[ART.]

First off is the breaker getting hot to the touch or a smell of hot plastic in or around the cb box,, not always but sometimes the contacts on the breaker get weak and don't make a good tight contact on the bus bar cause excessive heat and breaking contact,, to know for sure pull the breaker and you'll see where arching has taken place between said breaker and the buss bar,, Secondly,,,, another not always but sometimes breakers for whatever reason get weak and will trip prematurely possibly during thunder storm with surges in power, brown outs,, Third thing,,, i'm sure you've probably already checked this but what kind of load is being put on this breaker,, outlets, lighting,,,, what you'll want to do is eliminate all and any extra plug in type items like heaters, coolers, extra lighting ect, after that if the breaker still trips then more then likely as max said you have a short someplace in the system and unless your savvy to electricity you might want to get a pro to deal with it,,,

 

[WyrTwister]

All good points .

Think he said the only things that went off were some lites and a fan or two .

Also , check all the fixtures for loose connections / wire nuts & check if all the lamps are screwed in securely .

Are the switches on the fans problematic ?

Wyr
God bless

 

[piglet11]

UK here
What are we talking about?
Are the tripped "breakers" MCBs (Miniature Circuit Breakers) or RCDs (Residual Current Devices) or RCBOs (combined RCD and MCB)?
That is, is it going on a large current surge, or on an earth fault? it would help to know what the supply system is - poles with earth at the property, live, neutral and earth supplied by the utility, or live an neutral with earth on the neutral (Protective Multiple Earthing)?
If some things are still running after power restored, the RCD is unlikely. Might pay to consider individual RCDs that don't latch off when power is interrupted. With that many Florida storms, I would have thought the utility would have that sorted by now. Surge arrestors might work, but in my experience, tend to blow on big enough strike.
Can't rule out weak MCBs. Some sort of monitoring might be needed to pin it down.
UK thunderstorms generally take out the supply at sub-station rather than affecting properties.

 

[WyrTwister]

Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter circuit breakers . Do not know if you use them in the UK ?

Wyr
God bless

 

[piglet11]

Hello Wyr

It's been a while since I was doing any electrical work (more electronics these days), but I never came across them even while working for a large utility. I've never seen them in a domestic situation. The usual setup here is a consumer unit that has a main 2-pole isolator switch, one or more RCDs, and several MCBs on each RCD circuit. MCBs are rated by type and current according to the type of load, but are almost always type B load and current from 6-Amp lighting to 32-Amp cooker. I believe that USA and Canada use them because of the use of 120-V AC and 240-V AC in UK does not require them. I wonder if it easier to sustain an arc at the lower voltage? Given the size of USA and Canada and the rural nature, a lot more properties must use overhead supplies. My town property uses PME, where the neutral is the same potential as earth (PME or TNCS). Older properties used the lead sheath of the supply cable for earth plus maybe an earth rod. The only time I ever came across overhead supplies with earth rods and boxes were the many rural utility sites I worked on. Earthing on these sites was always difficult given the size of machinery used. Off subject, the son of a plumber mate of mine who was training to be a plumber was working on a house restoration. One of the workers asked the lad to remove a "lead pipe". Only when he hacksawed through the "pipe", did he find out it was the lead sheathed electricity supply, very live. He was lucky to survive with bad burns and unconsciousness.

Best wishes

 

[Don Farrell]

Not to rain on anyone parade here, but the renter cannot do anything. A licensed electrician has to do the work. That means the landlord has to call the electrician.