Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Circuit breaker having a Biden moment

Got a circuit breaker that's got me puzzled.

New house, constructed last year. Circuit breaker panel in the garage. The washing machine is on Bay 21, a 20A breaker, and according to the list on the door, the washer is the only thing on it.

In the past couple of months, one time out of three, the wife or I will push the button to start a load, and there will be no power. There's no audible click coming from the machine, or from the garage, and there's not even a flicker of light on the panel. The circuit was dead before we pushed the button.

I go out to the panel, and sure enough, breaker 21 has tripped. (Like I say, two out of three times, the machine starts okay.) I reset the breaker and we start the machine as normal, no problem. It doesn't immediately trip again.

Now, for the past week or so, I've been checking the circuit panel at least once each day to see if I can find it in a tripped position. Today, I found it tripped. But we haven't done a load of wash for 3 or 4 days. Yesterday, the breaker was NOT tripped. Now, 24 hours later - no wash, no load - it IS tripped. (I reset it and now I'm checking it every couple of hours or so to see if I can catch it again.)

Obviously, I'm going to replace the breaker. I figure it's defective.

But am I missing something? Could it be there's another load on the circuit? Could it be the list on the panel door is incomplete?

Electricity is kind of a mystery to me. What might be going on?

"Could it be the list on the panel door is incomplete? "

My first thought

Once wires disappear into the wall it's mystery for me too. Just to be on the safe side, I'd suggest an electrician with the proper gear give the circuit a look.

Had our main blow last fall and had to replace the entire panel.

Is there a ground fault receptacle on this circuit anywhere by chance?

Certainly sounds like there is something else on that circuit you don't know about.....

Unplug the washer and see if you can still find it blowing without use.
That'd at least eliminate the washer from the senerio or prove it to be the cause.

Could be weak? Shouldn’t a washing machine be on a ground fault plug? Maybe when it’s a big load machine is drawing more amps that the breaker can stand. How old is washer, bearings get bad, cause it to draw more amps?? Our old washing machine would trip the ground fault plug occasionally, new machine doesn’t.

Washer should be on a dedicated circuit in a new house with nothing else on it.

Could be a lot of things- even new breakers are sometimes defective, but this isn't usually how a breaker acts when it goes bad, especially if it isn't tripping when the machine is running. I would turn off the breaker, then pull the receptacle out of the wall and see if the ground got folded back with the wires in the box in such a way it may be touching the hot wire connection on the receptacle. If this isn't the case it is possible a nail was driven through the wire somewhere in the wall or a screw when mounting a cabinet or something and it is intermittently touching the ground and hot conductor.

Is the breaker a standard breaker or a GFI breaker, or possibly an Arc Fault type breaker? These last two breakers are known to have problems with motor driven devices at times. Washing machine receptacles aren't required to be GFI or AFI protected according to code in most jurisdictions.

Just a couple things to check...

^^^^^This

Check the manual for the machine to verify a 20A breaker is enough.

"Is the breaker a standard breaker or a GFI breaker, or possibly an Arc Fault type breaker? These last two breakers are known to have problems with motor driven devices at times."

Didn't know this^^^ but we had to replace a OEM GFI breaker that had a ceiling fan on it.
Every 5th time or so that the fan was turned on it would trip.

Shouldn't be if the electrician knew what he was doing. Circuit should go directly from the breaker to the washing machine receptacle with nothing else on the circuit. GFI not required on washing machine circuits in most jurisdictions.

Well, before replacing the breaker I would recommend shutting the breaker off and checking the screw connection at the breaker and the wire to assure that the wire is completely under the lug and the screw is tight. Then before turning on the breaker remove the receptacle and check the wiring connections to it.

If those connections are good I would replace the breaker. If it still gave trouble I would call an electrician and they can run a resistance check on the wiring or meg the wiring to see if it is damaged somewhere in the wall, i.e. a dry wall screw thru the romex.

That's easy enough. Good idea.

As for somebody on the construction crew putting a nail where it shouldn't be, I can easily see that happening.

is it a new fangled washing machine or a standard twist the dial and push a button kind?
you say you are not running a load but if there is a computer or ripple box maybe there is something along those lines

True enough, but requires a leap of faith.

It's a new washing machine with push buttons. Not very sophisticated, but yeah, there might be some elektrickery going on in the background. Seems kind of unlikely, but as I say, the subject is kind of mysterious to me.

Bad breaker, have had it happen. Year old house call the contractor/builder and I bet they fix it for you.

God I hate getting into electrical questions on the internet but when I see statements like these I have to say something. As per the NEC the wash machine has to be GFI protected and any other receptacles in the room can be on the circuit too. The new code actually requires electric dryers be gfi protected also.

I had the exact same issue on a brand new sub panel...brand new wiring, and a dedicated washer/dryer circuit.

Only difference in my case is that it was a 25 year old gas dryer


Had zero issues...and everything worked great for a few months... Then it got progressively worse and eventually would trip every couple uses.

Sheister hinted to it. Check your breaker type.

I have all three types installed in my panels due to local codes:

1. GFI
2. AFI
3. Traditional

Did some experiments and eventually swapped out the more sensitive AFI with a less sensitive GFI and have had zero issues for several months.

If you do this, you have to swap the entire breaker AND common pigtail...you can't just move the breaker