New PSU Tripping Breaker in Other Rooms

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
R

rustypete1

Honorable
Dec 10, 2013
4
0
10,510
I have recently bought a new computer with a 600W PSU. Everything runs fine, but it will occasionally trip a breaker in the house every once in a while (usually 30-90 minutes after turned on). The confusing part is that it trips the breaker for my roommate's room instead of the breaker for my room's circuit.
Is this due to a faulty PSU on my end, or is our house just drawing too much power? My roommate's room has a desktop with a 500W PSU and two laptops that are constantly plugged in, but we have never had any issue with tripped breakers until I got my own desktop.
I've tried different outlets in my room, and nothing else is sucking up any significant amount of power in the circuit.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks you!
 
Solution
H
Sort by date Sort by votes
H

HillBillyAsian

Honorable
Apr 4, 2013
1,117
0
11,660
the wattage of the psu isnt the issue, its how much amperage and wattage you both are pulling at the same time. If its a older breaker that could be the issue. But that can't be all thats going on, odds are you have tv's, alarm clocks, etc etc, as well as the maybe the whole (apartment or that side of the home).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

HillBillyAsian

Honorable
Apr 4, 2013
1,117
0
11,660


As for the answer to your question, a breaker box is pretty simple, you have one line coming in that's split normally once (sometimes twice to two columns) that means everything is connected, his roommate is going to be in the same column as he is, but the reason his is tripping is because he's drawing the most current, hence why would it flip 9 weak drawing breakers instead of the one drawing the most.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
O

oczdude8

Distinguished
Oct 18, 2009
1,947
6
20,965


ahah yea I agree, I think your roommate's just pulling too much power himself and blaming it on you :p
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
O

oczdude8

Distinguished
Oct 18, 2009
1,947
6
20,965


just do a quick test. Flip off your roommates circuit breaker (nothing in his room should work). if your outlets still work, you are completely isolated from his wiring, thus, there is no way you are tripping his breaker. If some of the outlets don't work, it means those are connected to your roommates circuit breakers.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rolli59

rolli59

Titan
Oct 27, 2007
47,790
283
130,890

I do know what breaker boxes are just re wired my 200amp 40slot load center for my house! If what you are saying is true the feed line is getting affected causing a voltage drop which would mean more amps which means tripped breaker, they should have it checked by an electrician.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
R

rustypete1

Honorable
Dec 10, 2013
4
0
10,510
Thanks for the quick responses guys! After my computer has been running for a bit, his room will lose power (and the breaker will trip) but mine stays on perfectly fine! x.x
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

HillBillyAsian

Honorable
Apr 4, 2013
1,117
0
11,660


Not true, a weak/incorrect breaker can also be the issue. I can see where you are saying a electrician would be necessary if they happened to be incorrectly wired, but odds are he's in a older home where they have a shared feed line. It oculd also be in the column they are one (might be connected to the kitchen for instance) where its causing a overload and his room happens to be the one that gets hit.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
R

rustypete1

Honorable
Dec 10, 2013
4
0
10,510


Ooo I see. I find that very likely, but is there any reason this problem only occurred after I started using my pc on my own circuit?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

HillBillyAsian

Honorable
Apr 4, 2013
1,117
0
11,660


is your rooms breaker in the same column as his? If so, like he and I were just talking about, odds are he's overloading. (this happens alot when people shove AC units into windows and wonder why their breaker where their sub pump goes out :p )
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom