I’ve been having trouble with my blow-dryer lately. The dryer is fairly new, 3-4 months and until the past week I haven’t had any trouble with it.
Here’s what happens. I’ll be drying my hair and after about 5 minutes of drying the breaker will pop and I’ll lose eletricity to the bathroom. I’ll go back and reset the breaker but it always trips again and always much more quickly than the first time. Usually I just give up in frustration and end up with slightly damp hair.
Both bathrooms in my condo are on the same breaker so if I’m drying in one bathroom and Mr. Jones is showering in the other room (this happened a couple of days ago) he’s suddenly plunged into total darkness until I can flip the breaker again. Luckily the breaker box is right outside the bathroom door so it doesn’t take long.
The dryer has two buttons on the plug. A yellow button that says “test” and a red button that says “reset”. My understanding is that if the dryer started to overheat the internal fuse in the dryer plug would shut it off. If you press the yellow test button the dryer won’t turn on until you push the red reset button.
The only other thing that I can think of that may be causing this is that I recently replaced four light bulbs in the master bathroom and the store was out of the 25 watt bulbs I usually get so I got 40 watt. Could that be the problem? The light fixture takes a total of 8 of those little vanity type bulbs and I usually use the 25 watt because 8 - 40 watt bulbs makes for a very bright bathroom (and I don’t want to be able to see myself that well first thing in the morning).
Mr. Jones is of the opinion that the dryer is dangerous and needs to be replaced. I’m not completely convinced of this. Any advice?
No, this is an immersion-protection device; it’s not a fuse or breaker. How many watts is your hair dryer labeled for? If it’s 1500 watts (typical for a good blow dryer), it might be the light bulbs. Your light bulbs are adding 1 amp to the circuit, which is enough to drive a 15 amp circuit over the top. If the dryer is a lower wattage, like a 1200, then it might have some fault that’s causing it to draw extra current, and it needs to be replaced.
Thanks. I’m heading home at lunch and I’ll check all of those things.
I’m pretty sure it’s an ultra high watt dryer like 1750 or 1950 but I can remember which. I was so excited when we got it because it drys my hair (I have long hair) quite a bit faster than the old dryer (that we tossed because it was shocking my daughter when she plugged it in)
It’s been fine up 'til about a week ago and all I can think is that we replaced those bulbs.
The current National Electrical Code (U.S.) requires a separate 20 amp circuit for the bathrooms. I think this was done specifically so hairdryers don’t trip the breaker.
Let’s assume that you have a 1750 watt dryer. With eight 40 watt bulbs and another 60 watt bulb (I assume) in the other bathroom, the circuit is drawing 2130 watts of power. This is pretty close to the 2300 watts that a 20 amp/115 volt circuit can provide. It may be that the breaker is worn and is tripping at a lower current flow than its rating suggests. Replacing the breaker may help, but replacing the 40 watt bulbs with the 25 watt bulbs you want will almost certainly fix the problem.
The fixture in the master bath takes 8 total bulbs. Right now four of those are 40 watt (what was I thinking :smack: ) 3- 25 watt and 1 burnt out. The light fixture in the second bath takes 6 bulbs, right now those are all 40s I think.
Quercus They’re tiny little bulbs, it’s not all that bright. I’m very proud to be living in Florida and maintaining my northern pallor.
The circuit breaker says 15 and the dryer is 1900W.
Also plugged in are two electric toothbrushes and frequently 1 curling iron or flattening iron depending on whether we’re going to be curly or straight that day.
So, here comes the possibly enormously stupid question. Is the answer as simple as make sure the lights are off in whatever bathroom I’m not in while blow drying? If that’s it well, color me :o
I’ll test the lights off theory tomorrow when I perform my daily beutification ritual and let you know what happens. Otherwise it’s a trip to the market for 25 W bulbs. Too bad because those little specialty vanity bulbs are pricey.
I don’t know whether or not you dryer is dangerous. In any case, you are right on the edge of tripping the breaker every time you turn the blower on. 1900/120 = 15.89 A.
Possibly. How old is your house? I live in a 1922 four-square with 1922 wiring, and yes, we have to make sure that the lights AND the box fans (in summer) AND possibly a radio or two aren’t turned on, before we run the blow dryer.
Took us a while to remember about that–the big breakthrough was when I finally started making the girl who blew the fuse be the one to traipse down to the basement to screw in another fuse. Then they started remembering to turn off the lights, fans, radios, etc. before they dried their hair.
Even with everything shut off except one light, the dryer noticeably dims the light. Hey, it was state-of-the-art in 1922…
…I should probably alleviate the fears of the electricians in this thread by adding that it’s the upstairs lights that dim–we do have more than one circuit in the house.
Everything upstairs is on one circuit except the hall light.
As others have pointed out, the real problem is that your condo isn’t up to code. You should have one 20Amp dedicated circuit in * each * bathroom. The outlet should not be supplying any lights for exactly the reason you’ve discovered – when the circuit blows, you don’t want to be fumbling around in the dark.
The interesting question is whether the current wiring situation is dangerous. The ratings of electric wires are pretty conservative, so a 14 gauge wire should handle 15 Amps with no problem. But if you’re consistently blowing the circuit breaker, then you’re running it pretty hot. That would make me uncomfortable. If the breaker box is right outside the bathroom, I’d seriously consider getting an electrician in to install a dedicated 20Amp line. Assuming that there’re available slots in the box, it shouldn’t be that big a job (although threading the wire through the wall might be tricky).
That would certainly be the best solution, but it’s also an expensive one.
velvetjones: The hair dryer draws 15.8 amps. This exceeds the 15 amp rating of the circuit breaker and wiring. When the light fixture is on, the hair dryer + light fixture is drawing 17.8 amps, which way exceeds the 15 amp rating of the circuit breaker and wiring.
My suggestion is to use a hair dryer with less wattage.
On some hairdryers, there’s a little dial you turn. With that, you can adjust the wattage it uses. I think a penny or something can be used to turn it.
A few points worthy of mention. The condo was in all likelihood perfectly acceptible to the electrical inspector in terms of code compliance at the time of construction. The NEC is revised every three years, and municipalities don’t adopt such standards when they’re hot off the press, often being one or two cycles behind.
The 20 ampere minimum didn’t become a requirement until the 1996 NEC. Language which clearly dedicates that circuit to receptacle load (lighting not to be included) was not inserted until 1999. 210.11(C)(3) is arguable with respect to one circuit per bathroom.
That can just as easily be read to mean one circuit to feed a single receptacle in each of the 2 1/2 bathrooms in a single family dwelling, IMHO.
picunurse and DarkSideOfTheFloyd The dryer does have a little screw on it that says 256V at the top and 125V at the bottom. Right now it looks like it’s set on 256V. (never noticed that before)
Duck Duck Goose The condo was built in 1986 so that explains it not being up to the 1996 code. They don’t usually make those things retroactive, do they?
I’ll try the lower 125V setting but I’m curious, how come it didn’t blow the circuit immediately? Seems like it should’ve tripped the minute I turned it on regardless of what bulbs I was using. What am I missing here?
Crafter_man I certainly could get a dryer with less wattage [whine] but this one drys my hair so fast [/whine] I’d just like to know why it’s been working for the 3-4 months we’ve had it and is just now blowing the breaker.
Finagle The condo actually belongs to my mom, we’re renting, so if we wanted to bring the electric up to code I’d have to convince her (though she’d probably say yes).
I’ve completed the hair styling portion of the Beautification Ritual with the master bathroom lights off (I always blow dry in the other bath because that’s where the daughter keeps the hair appliances and so as to not wake Mr. Jones.
The breaker didn’t blow this time.
And I’m having a very good hair day.
Thanks to all for your information and assistance.
When operating the dryer on 120 VAC and “125 V” switch setting,
V[sub]dryer[/sub] = 120 V (AC[sub]RMS[/sub])
R[sub]dryer[/sub] = 8.22 Ω
I[sub]dryer[/sub] = 14.59 A (AC[sub]RMS[/sub])
P[sub]dryer[/sub] = 1751 W
When operating the dryer on 120 VAC and “256 V” switch setting,
V[sub]dryer[/sub] = 120 V (AC[sub]RMS[/sub])
R[sub]dryer[/sub] = 34.49 Ω
I[sub]dryer[/sub] = 3.48 A (AC[sub]RMS[/sub])
P[sub]dryer[/sub] = 417.5 W
If your dryer was really set to the “256 V” switch setting (second set of data), I would think the amount of heat given off by the dryer would be low, and the motor would spin very slowly (if at all).
