Laser printer trips circuit breaker

[LimeBiscuit]

Has anyone else had this problem?

When my laser printer's fuser first fires up when I send a page to it, apparently it draws a few extra amps which causes the circuit breaker to trip.
I've tried a surge protector, but that doesn't seem to help.

The electrician is coming to look at it tomorrow, but I wondered if others had this problem.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Regards,

Tom

[RichieB]

Sounds very strange, Tom, but to be perfectly clear, you are talking about tripping a breaker on the panel in your house, correct ?

If that's the case, do you have other equipment on that circuit that might be bringing it close to tripping the breaker. It's kind of like "the straw that broke the camel's back" idea.

Perhaps ?

[Mikeod]

Are you using a bedroom/den as an office? These rooms have a special breaker, an Arc Fault Breaker. I found this out the hard way when I put a surge protector in our front bedroom/office. The breaker tripped with just the surge protector. I had two that worked fine in CA, but both of them tripped the breaker here. I put a different surge protector in the room and no problem. My son's home in St. Augustine has similar breakers. When we were cleaning it, our vacuum cleaner tripped the breaker just turning it on. My son's Dyson did not. Go figure.

These breakers sense an arc and sometimes cannot differentiate from an arc in an electric motor and an arc from a real fault. So they trip on some normal activity. I think they are required by code in bedrooms.

[RichieB]

Wow, I've really never heard of something like that before.

Hmmmm.........

[philnpat]

Are you using a bedroom/den as an office? These rooms have a special breaker, an Arc Fault Breaker. I found this out the hard way when I put a surge protector in our front bedroom/office. The breaker tripped with just the surge protector. I had two that worked fine in CA, but both of them tripped the breaker here. I put a different surge protector in the room and no problem. My son's home in St. Augustine has similar breakers. When we were cleaning it, our vacuum cleaner tripped the breaker just turning it on. My son's Dyson did not. Go figure.

These breakers sense an arc and sometimes cannot differentiate from an arc in an electric motor and an arc from a real fault. So they trip on some normal activity. I think they are required by code in bedrooms.


Mikeod is right on target! Try plugging your printer into a plug outside the bedroom/den. That'll most likely do the trick.

[Debfrommaine]

Absolutely had a similar problem when we moved in (Tamarind Grove area) 3 weeks ago. Everytime I hit the start up button on my computer it blew the fuse - 3 electrician vists, changing the outlet; changing the sensor on the outside light in the yard.....yada, yada. Finally it blew the computer. We did test it in another bedroom, no prob for 2 days. Then, put it back in original bedroom where problem was and blew it again. So, back in the second bedroom that worked fine for two days and it blew that room too! I about pulled my hair out. End result is we tested a hair dryer in the outlet of the problem room and it worked fine. I ended up with a laptop and so far so good.........will be getting a printer so that will be a test. Let us know how you make out, I'd be very interested to hear.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Deb, another option would be to replace the arc fault breaker with another one (arc fault also, to continue to meet code requirements). Sometimes that will make the difference......odd as it might sound!

Bill :)

[getdul981]

Call the warranty department. They will have the electric co. that did your wiring bring you a special adapter to use like a surge suppressor. We had to do that with our vacuum, but not with the printer. The warranty dept told me I could buy one at Ace Hardware. I told them that I didn't think that with a brand new home I should have to buy special adapters just to use the vacuum. That's when they told me they would have the electrician bring me the adapter.

[er9027]

First of all if , you are tripping your breaker...If it is ARC fault..you have a defective printer....It probably isn't a load problem..most printers don't draw that much current. I agree with others that say,,try another outlet that isn't on your bedroom,kitchen,bathroom....they don't require arc fault breakers by code. AND rightfully so. Even if they are on an ARC fault and it failed I would be concerned about the printer...Thats what the ARC fault is for....It is doing its job and securing your saftey.. They can go bad and there are some out there right now that are defective.. Good Luck

[Virtual Geezer]

Laser printers, especially older HP's, draw a lot of current. In my last job in IT support I was responsible for supporting over 2000 printers all across the US, Canada and Mexico from the corporate office. Whenever we moved a laser printer we always consulted the in house electrician to make sure the printer was not overloading the circuit. More than once I had seen the lights blink in a row of cubes every time the heat element cycled on a laser printer. That in itself can trip the arc faults.

VG

[Debfrommaine]

Interesting about the printers.........so could it be the old Dell computer I had? It was about 6 years old, desk top.....so far my laptop is working fine and no more blown fuses. Guess that does mean the Dell was the problem!

[er9027]

I just looked up some of the lasers...they do draw quite a bit...again,,I would suggest trying another outlet.

PS. What HP laser are we talking about?...I believe most ARC faults are 15 or 20 amps max. If your printer draws 10 amps...see what else you have on your breaker..Like using a Hair blower,,or plugging in a vacumm.. Good Luck

[LimeBiscuit]

Electrician came this morning and replaced the breaker with a 'different type'. I didn't quite follow the explanation, but he thought that it would work better with the printer.

Seems to have done the trick.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Regards,

Tom