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Cutler Hammer Circuit Breaker Type BRAF - Tripped but no power now

Cutler Hammer Circuit Breaker Type BRAF - Tripped but no power now


  #1  
Old 11-05-10, 11:31 AM
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Cutler Hammer Circuit Breaker Type BRAF - Tripped but no power now

Hello all:

Last night all of a sudden the power in one of my rooms went away. This morning when I checked my circuit breaker panel, I found that the cricuit breaker corresponding to that bedroom was tripped. It is a Culter Hammer Type BRAF with a tiny yellow Test button on it.

I brought it back to the OFF position (it was in the middle position) and then put it back to the ON position. But this is not resuming the power. Is it possible that the circuit breaker has gone bad? Or is there some special way to reset the circuit breaker. It is staying in the ON position but it is not providing the power. The panel is about 5 years old.

Any help will be appreciated. I was watching some videos on Youtube and it seems it is not too difficult to replace these breakers. But I want to make sure that it is the circuit breaker or I am doing something not quite right, before I start tinkering with replacing the breaker.

Thanks.
 
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Old 11-05-10, 07:53 PM
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How did you determine the power is not on after resetting the breaker? Did you check the lug on the breaker to both neutral and ground inside the panel with a meter? You could have a bad breaker, but I think it's also very possible you have another problem.
 
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Old 11-05-10, 07:59 PM
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Thanks for the reply. Even after turning the breaker switch to the ON position, there is no power in the bedroom. I haven't opened the panel yet. What other problem are you suspecting?
 
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Old 11-05-10, 09:42 PM
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Even after turning the breaker switch to the ON position, there is no power in the bedroom.
As suggested check to see if the breaker is hot. You need to use a real meter or test light not a non contact tester. If you don't have a meter movethe circuit to another breaker in the panel of the same size. If the breaker is good then you need to open all receptacles, switches, and lights and look for loose wires. At switches and receptacles you need to move any back stabs to the screws and In all boxes you need to redo all wire nuts..
 
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Old 11-05-10, 09:56 PM
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That one of few common items as Ray mention there and I have ran into quite few time with loose connection or backstabbed devices those are most common cuprits I have ran into.

Get a real voltmeter or ask your frenid to borrow one to verify the voltage at the breaker to make sure you are really get power there it pretty rare to catch a bad AFCI breaker { I know the early one were very senestive and have few issue } but later models not much issue at all.

Once you verify it then it will be a seek and repair project.

A tip once you know which receptale and switches are out start at the nearest one to the load centre and check it out then go from there.

Merci.
Marc
 
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Old 11-06-10, 08:58 PM
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What kind of meter or tester are you using to determine you have no power to the bedroom? If you are judging by the receptacles not working, you could have a problem with either the hot or neutral conductors or you could have a bad breaker. Without a meter you'll never know which conductor is the problem nor will you be able to troubleshoot the problem.
 
 

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