So I keep tripping a breaker in my spare bedroom that Im using for an office in my apartment. Its a 15amp with a builtin AFCI or GFCI trip on the breaker itself.

First I want to kill the electrician who wired up the overhead for that room, the sockets, and the bathroom lights, all to the same circuit.

I figure I can put in a 20amp one and that should take care of the issue.

1. How serious is it to not replace said breaker with another afci/gfci breaker? Issue here is cost, the things are like 40 bucks, compared to a regular breaker I have already for 3.
2. Any other ideas/workaround for this issue?

6/9/2011 12:23:52 PM

you need to see if the wire is even rated for 20A before thinking of ugprading a breaker.

6/9/2011 1:54:14 PM

after ^ you can just stick a paper clip in there and run it wide open

(It sounds like you should call an electrician to run you a new circuit)

[Edited on June 9, 2011 at 2:12 PM. Reason : please note, wwwebsurfer and TWW are not responsible for houses randomly catching fire.]

6/9/2011 2:11:46 PM

It's a bad idea to replace a GFCI breaker with a non-GFCI breaker. (i'm going to assume it's GFCI since arc fault requirements are still relatively new). Code requires specific receptacles to be GFCI protected, mostly potentially wet locations (kitchen, bathroom, garage, outside, etc.).

If it's a GFCI breaker, I'm assuming you may not have a GFCI receptacle in said required location(s). If you remove the GFCI protection at the breaker and don't make proper concessions as to the receptacles where required, then you're not up to code. Then if you have a fire or someone is shocked or something, regardless of the cause, you could get in big trouble when "they" find out you circumvented GFCI protection requirements.

Plus... it's only $40 and we're talking about electrical safety here.... forty bucks... [Keyshawn Johnson voice] c'mon man! [/Keyshawn Johnson voice]

I agree with ^, if you're asking these types of questions it's best that you consult hire an electrician.

[Edited on June 9, 2011 at 2:19 PM. Reason : ^]

6/9/2011 2:17:01 PM

IBTHouseFire

6/9/2011 3:23:31 PM

shove a flat head screwdriver in there and call it a day

6/9/2011 3:54:11 PM

^That just leaves you with a screwdriver jammed into your socket. Gonna stick another one in and grab it? I'm Ron Burgundy?

Check out the wiring first like others have said. Also check that if the wiring was that poor to begin with then you might have that circuit powering something else or somewhere else in your apt. Sounds like it's an old apartment that the builders thought might never have that much amperage being pulled in a bedroom. Also could be the breaker itself is just bad.

6/12/2011 3:47:15 PM

*waits till house burns and sings*

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!

6/12/2011 6:15:09 PM

^^ Na this place is only 2 years old. And Im definitely hitting 15 amps on it, so its working like it should.

I will be checking the wiring for this now. Its also an AFCI, not GFCI, I confirmed it. So opinions on that?

6/13/2011 10:11:51 AM