I finally found why my kitchen circuits kept tripping, took 4 days

New build in Austin, homeowner said the microwave and toaster kept popping the same breaker randomly, figured it was a loose neutral on the panel. Turned out the contractor ran the 12/2 through a stud with a nail plate missing, and the nail was biting the hot wire but only when the wall flexed from the AC unit upstairs. Has anyone else chased a ghost fault that only showed up under load and specific temps, what was your tell?

1 comments

1 Comment

viola17111d ago

Had almost the same thing happen last summer. My money was on the AFCI breaker itself going bad since it only tripped when the window unit kicked on. Turned out a staple had nicked the neutral in the attic and heat from the roof made it expand just enough to arc. The tell for me was that it always happened around 3pm on the hottest days, never in the morning. I ended up running a new home run instead of digging through the wall. Took me longer to trust it was fixed than it did to actually fix it.