[tomwed]

Did this happen to anyone else?

[Jim9368]

Ham radios have been known to trip the GFCI breakers. Happened to several homes in Dunedin. Called home warranty and all were replaced under warranty

[MikeV]

Call Home Warranty so they can set up a time to have all the green dot breakers replaced. If they ask tell them it happened three times.

[Walker2468]

We had the power cord changed on our Whirlpool refrigerator. It was producing a noise that tripped the low voltage breakers, also in Collier.

[The Buckeyes]

Originally Posted by tomwed

Did this happen to anyone else?

Woke up at 2:00 am and found several beakers had been tripped. Live in Pinellas.

[jimbo2012]

It is not ham radio's

the breakers made by Eaton are defective and can be replaced at no charge call warranty or look at your box there is the name of the installer to call.

Do not pay any fee, they are known to be defective in hundreds of homes

[TNLAKEPANDA]

Originally Posted by jimbo2012

It is not ham radio's

the breakers made by Eaton are defective and can be replaced at no charge call warranty or look at your box there is the name of the installer to call.

Do not pay any fee, they are known to be defective in hundreds of homes

Above is the correct answer. Call the electrical contractor listed on your breaker box and they will come out and replace the breakers at no cost to you.
Problem solved!

We are in Collier also. All our neighbors have done this.

[Chellybean]

Originally Posted by jimbo2012

It is not ham radio's

the breakers made by Eaton are defective and can be replaced at no charge call warranty or look at your box there is the name of the installer to call.

Do not pay any fee, they are known to be defective in hundreds of homes

Just a little FYI the breakers are not defective it is usually the Ham radio operators putting out to much power at a certain frequency at a certain signal length, which is not allowed by FCC however, it is hard to enforce..
Eaton has adjusted there design of there breaker's to shield them from over powered Ham radio's.
I happen to talk with the engineers in the design area years ago.
Also if a Ham Radio runs high power at 17m it still can happen with the new breakers and they have a manufacture date code of 2014 and before are the breaker's that are effected .
You usually can find the offender with a big whip antenna on there house or hidden in a flag pole or attic.
Good Luck.

[Boomer]

Please do not take up torches and pitchforks and go after the hams.

Fact: Eaton and ARRL worked together to solve the problem. There is an old thread here to that effect. The badly designed breakers should be replaced. The run seems to be in houses built near the same time. Do your homework and follow through for replacement.

I am not going to look for the original thread right now because I am going out and about to the art show. But everything you need to know is buried somewhere in the archives here, including my own posts with the specifics with a link to the ARRL article explaining the problem and the solution.

Please do your homework. Don't be so eager to accuse. This is a design problem that Eaton solved with the help of hams.

Boomer

[Chellybean]

Originally Posted by Boomer

Please do not take up torches and pitchforks and go after the hams.

Fact: Eaton and ARRL worked together to solve the problem. There is an old thread here to that effect. The badly designed breakers should be replaced. The run seems to be in houses built near the same time. Do your homework and follow through for replacement.

I am not going to look for the original thread right now because I am going out and about to the art show. But everything you need to know is buried somewhere in the archives here, including my own posts with the specifics with a link to the ARRL article explaining the problem and the solution.

Please do your homework. Don't be so eager to accuse. This is a design problem that Eaton solved with the help of hams

Boomer

Boomer not accusing anyone, it is just fact.
My family have been ham"s for years and yes you are correct the ham community have helped Eaton in the correction of the tripping breakers.
Which happen to be one of my family members included who had helped.
To say it was a bad design, is not a fair statement but i understand your concern.
I like the ham radio folks and they do alot of good with the missions across the world as my family has done.
Not flaming the Hammer's just pointing out facts.
Thanks Boomer

[tomwed]

Thanks everyone. I was aware of the Eaton tripping breaker problem in another part of town. I think it was about 6 months ago in Gilchrist? Hearing that Collier has the same problem is new to me.

[fred53]

An electrical engineer friend of mine who visited a week ago was asked about the circuit breakers being tripped by ham radios....can't happen. They don't produce enough of an electrical pulse to trip them. He said it's much more likely that there was a power surge in your(and possibly others)line(s).

So one rumor disproved. I also asked about certain breakers not being as well insulated...categorically not true. It you have a 15 amp breaker and 14 amps are being drawn upon it's more likely to be effected by a power surge.

[golfing eagles]

The model of Eaton breakers is a problem, but not the whole story. I had 12 breakers that repeatedly tripped, home warranty replaced them but 2 still were tripping. Once Whirlpool replaced the power cord with one that contained a capacitor, problem was solved

[tuccillo]

ARRL Helps Manufacturer to Resolve Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter RFI Problems

Originally Posted by fred53

An electrical engineer friend of mine who visited a week ago was asked about the circuit breakers being tripped by ham radios....can't happen. They don't produce enough of an electrical pulse to trip them. He said it's much more likely that there was a power surge in your(and possibly others)line(s).

So one rumor disproved. I also asked about certain breakers not being as well insulated...categorically not true. It you have a 15 amp breaker and 14 amps are being drawn upon it's more likely to be effected by a power surge.

[Retiring]

Originally Posted by fred53

An electrical engineer friend of mine who visited a week ago was asked about the circuit breakers being tripped by ham radios....can't happen. They don't produce enough of an electrical pulse to trip them. He said it's much more likely that there was a power surge in your(and possibly others)line(s).

So one rumor disproved. I also asked about certain breakers not being as well insulated...categorically not true. It you have a 15 amp breaker and 14 amps are being drawn upon it's more likely to be effected by a power surge.

Fred,
Your EE friend is incorrect. Stray RF can trip some CBs. The model and manufacturer of the problem CBs has been identified and most are having the issue corrected.

HAMs can pop CBs. And don’t assume all HAMs are putting out legal power.