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What Causes Overloaded Circuits?

Residential Electrician Lowell MI

Do you keep overloading circuits in your house? Electrical work, including handling circuits that are overloaded, should always be done by an experienced electrical company in order to ensure your safety and to make sure that the electrical repairs to overloaded circuits are handled correctly.

The licensed electricians at Flat River Electric have put together a guide below on how to stop your circuits from overloading in the first place.

Why Do I Keep Tripping My Circuit Breaker?

Circuits can become overloaded when too many electrical devices are plugged into the electrical system. Circuits are designed to handle a specific amount of electricity for household appliances, such as your refrigerator or air conditioner.

However, when too much burden is placed on your home’s electrical circuits, they can blow out. A common example is the neighbor who plugs in too many outdoor Christmas lights to their home’s electrical system and ends up with no power.

What Happens If I Overload a Circuit?

When a circuit is overloaded, the power will shut off. This is a protective measure done by overcurrent protective devices (usually circuit breakers or fuses located at your home’s main panel) when the electrical wiring exceeds its capacity.

For this reason, you don’t have to worry about your house burning down because of an overloaded electrical circuit. Instead, you may experience a power outage throughout your entire house until the issue is resolved by one of our local electrical contractors.

How Can I Prevent Circuits From Being Overloaded?

To prevent overloaded circuits, it’s important that you know how much electricity your circuit was designed to handle and how much electricity your household appliances use. By staying within these limits, you should be able to prevent inconvenient power outages caused by overloaded circuits. If you need help determining these numbers, we recommend contacting one of our electrical contractors.

How Do I Fix an Overloaded Circuit?

For repairing an overloaded circuit, you should contact one of our licensed electricians. The main panel for your home’s electrical system is usually located in the basement, garage, or utility room. While electrical circuit breakers can be reset once they’ve been blown, a blown fuse must be replaced. Since your home’s electrical wiring contains an unlimited amount of electrical power, you should contact one of our residential electricians for any circuit repairs.

Do I Need to Upgrade My Electrical Panel?

Don’t ignore the warning signs of an overloaded electrical circuit! If you frequently trip the circuit breaker, call our electrical contractors as soon as possible.

If you live in an older home, we may need to update the electrical system so it can keep up with modern demands for electricity. Resetting the circuit breaker every time it trips is a temporary solution. Calling one of our local electricians is a permanent fix that will give you peace of mind.

Call Flat River Electric Today!

Need to schedule a service call? You can reach Flat River Electric at (616) 987-0596. Our electricians in Lowell, MI will be more than happy to help, offering a range of electrical services to make your home a safer place.

[This blog post has been updated.]