# Circuit Breaker Tripped In The Night - Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circuit-breaker-tripped-in-the-night-why/485734 "2009-02-13T20:05:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circuit-breaker-tripped-in-the-night-why/485734/21 "2009-02-14T06:11:29Z")
You have said that this is a brand new electrical panel. It is possible that your main breaker is a little fancier than what most of us are familiar with. I have read a number of threads recently about arc-fault protection being required on new electrical work, which could easily trip during a storm. You may also have overvoltage or undervoltage protection, surge protection, or ground fault protection built in to the panel. Before you pay an electrician to make a service call, Google the brand and model of your panel or main breaker to see if it may have one of these features. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circuit-breaker-tripped-in-the-night-why/485734/22 "2009-02-14T07:01:51Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > Only the main breaker tripped, non of the…er…sub breakers? Individual circuits. Branch circuits, if you say individual circuit breakers most people will follow your meaning. Do you happen to know what make your breaker (or panel) is? If it’s a new panel it might very well be a thermomagnetic breaker which could be tripped by lightning strikes it there were any in the area, or a fault on the line side. The power company would usually be aware of those if they occurred. Some new breakers are out of calibration as well, I’ve never seen it but I know other electricians who have encountered it. That’s a rare problem though as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circuit-breaker-tripped-in-the-night-why/485734/23 "2009-02-15T01:22:39Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > No, that’s why I’m confused - it’s a split system in each main room, none of them were on and none of them are on a timer or thermostat. > > No dead rats (more likely than mice here). > > Only the main breaker tripped, non of the…er…sub breakers? Individual circuits. I’m a bit stupid about this stuff, sorry. > > I’m really stumped, though, as there’s no obvious cause. Since this is basically a simple mechanical device (barring some weird breaker) there aren’t many avenues to investigate. It’s a new panel so you’ve either got a bad ground, faulty breaker, or it was struck by lightening. You can test for a bad breaker by throwing every item in the house on to see if you can trip it. If it trips and none of the other breakers trip then you have something wrong with the main breaker. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circuit-breaker-tripped-in-the-night-why/485734/24 "2009-02-15T10:34:37Z")
Looks like a case of the hoo-has > [@](#): > > When you’re alone in the middle of the night > and you wake in a sweat and a hell of a fright > When you’re alone in the middle of the bed > and you wake like someone hit you on the head > You’ve had a cream of a nightmare dream > and you’ve got the hoo-ha’s coming to you . . . > And perhaps you’re alive > And perhaps you’re dead > Hoo ha ha Hoo ha ha Hoo Hoo Hoo > > - −T. S. Eliot [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circuit-breaker-tripped-in-the-night-why/485734.md?page=1)