Its laundry day! You’re ready with your pile of wet clothes and as you put them in the dryer and turn it on, the breaker trips within a few minutes. You try starting it again and the same thing keeps on happening. Why is your dryer tripping every 10 minutes?!
The circuit breaker being old and becoming overly sensitive is the most common reason your dryer is tripping every 10 minutes. It can also be issues with the dryer itself. These can include anything from a faulty heating element, drive motor, terminal block or some issue with the start switch itself.
The first step towards solving this problem will be to understand why this is happening in the first place.
These kinds of situations are not only frustrating but can be dangerous as well, as you are dealing with electrical equipment.
There can be a number of reasons why this is happening.
Let’s take a look at how you can pinpoint the exact reason and what you should do in case this happens.
Why Would My Dryer Keep Tripping The Breaker?
The first thought that would come to your head would be, that there must be some problem with the dryer itself but before we get to that, you should probably check your circuit breaker itself.
Keep in mind that the circuit breaker exists to protect the appliance and you from short circuits and in case a current overload takes place. So before you inspect anything make sure you disconnect everything from its power source.
People don’t really pay much attention to their circuit breakers. But like every other machine in your household they are also prone to wear and tear.
When circuit breakers get old they tend to become much more sensitive to current surges and can sometimes trip even if the surge is less than the required amount. So make sure to first check if your breaker is in a good condition.
Moving on to issues with the appliance itself, there are some common issues and some not so common ones.
When your dryer gets old the bearings in the motor tend to worn down, or if the dryer is kept in a place which receives a lot of dust or dirt then the bearings can also get gummed up.
If this happens then the motor will not be able to move at its normal pace and the appliance will start drawing more current in an attempt to increase its speed. This can result in the breaker tripping itself if the amount of current gets too much.
One of the other common reasons is if there is an issue with the start switch. If the start switch gets stuck on the ‘on’ position for a prolonged period of time, it can draw an extraordinary amount of current.
Another issue can be the heating element, if it fails against the dryer, it will likely lead to the breaker tripping over. In this case you will only have to replace the heating element or just get I fixed from a professional.
An issue with the wiring of the terminal block can also lead to the circuit breaker tripping.
A terminal block is responsible for transporting the electricity from the plug point to the dryer itself. Over time some wires can either worn out or become lose.
This can lead to electrical arcing and the terminal either heating up or getting completely destroyed. This is usually when the circuit breaker trips and protects the appliance from catching on fire.
One of the rarer problems can be the drive motor failing and shorting out internally. The driver motor is responsible for turning the drum and it usually doesn’t fail but it can happen on rare occasions.
Is It Dangerous If Circuit Breaker Keeps Tripping?
If the circuit breaker trips even a couple of times I wouldn’t recommend to use it for the time being. Especially when you don’t know what could be the reason behind it.
But even if you do pinpoint the problem and you think you took care of it, I would recommend caution.
You have to remember why circuit breakers exist in the first place.
As mentioned, they are there to protect you and the appliance in case of any current surges that might take place.
Too much electricity produces heat and on occasions it can lead to some pretty nasty fires especially if you are not paying attention to the appliance while its running.
A lot of house fires take place due to faulty or old home appliances or if the breakers are not working properly.
How Do I Know If My Dryer Breaker Is Bad?
There can be an issue with your circuit breaker and not with the appliance. Checking if there is anything wrong with the breaker is pretty easy.
All you need is a digital multimeter (the one I have) which you can easily buy from a hardware store or online.
Before you check any electrical equipment make sure the appliance is unplugged or switched off. If you have a circuit breaker panel installed and you are not aware what appliances are attached to then it would be a good idea to unplug anything in the vicinity to be safe.
Once you remove the panel cover (all you need is a screwdriver for this), set up your multimeter. All you need to do here is to attach the red wire in the port labelled as ‘V’ and the black wire into ‘COM’.
You will notice two probes attached to the device, press the red probe to the screw of the breaker you need to test and the black probe next to the neutral bar on the other side.
If the reading on the multimeter is around 220V (120V in case of a single pole breaker), give or take a few digits then the breaker is working properly. On the other hand, if the reading is 0 then you should replace the breaker.
When you are testing be careful about not letting your bare skin come in contact with any metal parts as there are chances of electrocution.
Overall…
Once you know the reason behind the breaker tripping repeatedly, you can either contact the customer care of the company directly or call a professional to fix whatever the problem is.
Usually, a breaker tripping is a result of one or two isolated issues which can be either fixed or replaced.
Only if the appliance is damaged beyond repair would you need to replace the whole thing.
Leave a Reply