Heater circuit breaker

[dmichna1]

Hi all hope your seasons are going well .
I have a 19 t and the heater runs a cycle well but on shutdown after heat is gone and blower is shutting down the breaker on the heater trips . Anyone run across this problem? When you reset the breaker it will run another cycle and same thing happens
Thanks for any help

 

[slider-HILO]

Run an amp test on the wire to see if it is pulling too many amps.
You may not be able to do this. If not, replace the breaker with the same amp rated breaker. Sometimes they get weak over time. They are pretty cheap.

Rick

 

[dmichna1]

Thanks for the input I will try to get a new breaker and go from there

 

[JackandJanet]

I'm puzzled by this behavior. When the blower shuts down, there should have been a decreased current draw. Under these conditions, the circuit breaker should not trip - it trips under excessive current draw. I would expect it to pop as the heater fan starts up, since starting current is always higher than "running" current.

But, if that circuit is ground fault protected, then the breaker is a ground fault circuit breaker and I've seen GFI's fail when appliances are unplugged. My pressure washer has a GFI breaker in the power cord and it ALWAYS pops when I unplug it. (I suppose it's sensing the ground wire disconnect.)

Now, I've not thought that the heater blower is on a GFI circuit, but if it is, I think the circuit breaker will be labeled as such. I'd worry that there is a wiring problem if a replacement breaker continues to pop on fan shutdown.

- Jack

 

[RichR]

I'm puzzled by this behavior. When the blower shuts down, there should have been a decreased current draw. Under these conditions, the circuit breaker should not trip - it trips under excessive current draw. I would expect it to pop as the heater fan starts up, since starting current is always higher than "running" current.

But, if that circuit is ground fault protected, then the breaker is a ground fault circuit breaker and I've seen GFI's fail when appliances are unplugged. My pressure washer has a GFI breaker in the power cord and it ALWAYS pops when I unplug it. (I suppose it's sensing the ground wire disconnect.)

Now, I've not thought that the heater blower is on a GFI circuit, but if it is, I think the circuit breaker will be labeled as such. I'd worry that there is a wiring problem if a replacement breaker continues to pop on fan shutdown.

- Jack

Jack, The heater/furnace runs on 12 volts so there is no GFCI or breaker in the power panel. I think he is referring to a breaker/reset button on the furnace.

 

[JackandJanet]

Jack, The heater/furnace runs on 12 volts so there is no GFCI or breaker in the power panel. I think he is referring to a breaker/reset button on the furnace.

You're absolutely right, Rich. I kind of forgot the blower was 12V. So, I'm mystified at the breaker popping when the blower turns off. Why should it do that?

- Jack

 

[Luckydog671]

Is there a circuit board in the heater? If so, perhaps it is failing. Or, as Slider said it could be a bad circuit breaker.

 

[RichR]

If you have the manual for the furnace, check the troubleshooting chart to see if there is anything addressing the problem. You can usually find a manual online by entering the make and model number in Google.

 

[jgp503]

Hi all hope your seasons are going well .
I have a 19 t and the heater runs a cycle well but on shutdown after heat is gone and blower is shutting down the breaker on the heater trips . Anyone run across this problem? When you reset the breaker it will run another cycle and same thing happens
Thanks for any help

dmichna1,
I am having the same problem you had one year ago....
After running one heat cycle the breaker/reset button needs to be "reset".
Everything seems to be working fine, I just have to reset after each cycle.

What did you find that fixed the problem you had?

Thanks