Tiny Home Circuit Breaker Help

[Tangent]

I purchased a 2020 tiny home in November of 2020. Since then I have had one 15 amp arc fault breaker tripping frequently. The arc fault light comes on when reset. Another 15 amp arc fault breaker has also tripped a couple of times, but not nearly as often. I have checked outlets and switches. I have moved or disconnected electrical devices. I have even replaced a socket that I suspected may have been the culprit. I had decided to change out the switch itself when it stopped tripping for a couple weeks. Then this past weekend my wife asked me to take out our living room baseboard heater since we have planned to switch to more efficient heating. I turned off the breaker for the baseboard and the 15 amp breaker that had been giving us trouble also flipped off when I flipped the baseboard switch. I turned the 15 reset the 15 amp breaker (as I don't understand what the 2 breakers would have to do with one another) and by the time I got back inside the house the breaker had switched off as well as the other 15 amp breaker that had previously shut off a couple times. I reset both 15 amp breakers and went back inside. After several minutes the problem child 15 amp breaker once again tripped. In frustration I switched on the 20 amp floorboard breaker and the 15 amp annoying breaker. Now it has been fine for 2 days.

My question is does any of this make sense? I am not an electrician, but have always done the household work and have never come across anything like this. Why does the 20 amp baseboard breaker have anything to do with the 15 amp breaker? I feel like this should not the case. Does anyone have any recommendations?

My plan is to remove all the baseboards in my home, but if i can't even turn off the breakers without the rest of my home shutting down that may be a bit of an issue.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-John

 

[Timbo]

Another one for @Megawatt

 

[Maji236]

I purchased a 2020 tiny home in November of 2020. Since then I have had one 15 amp arc fault breaker tripping frequently. The arc fault light comes on when reset. Another 15 amp arc fault breaker has also tripped a couple of times, but not nearly as often. I have checked outlets and switches. I have moved or disconnected electrical devices. I have even replaced a socket that I suspected may have been the culprit. I had decided to change out the switch itself when it stopped tripping for a couple weeks. Then this past weekend my wife asked me to take out our living room baseboard heater since we have planned to switch to more efficient heating. I turned off the breaker for the baseboard and the 15 amp breaker that had been giving us trouble also flipped off when I flipped the baseboard switch. I turned the 15 reset the 15 amp breaker (as I don't understand what the 2 breakers would have to do with one another) and by the time I got back inside the house the breaker had switched off as well as the other 15 amp breaker that had previously shut off a couple times. I reset both 15 amp breakers and went back inside. After several minutes the problem child 15 amp breaker once again tripped. In frustration I switched on the 20 amp floorboard breaker and the 15 amp annoying breaker. Now it has been fine for 2 days.

My question is does any of this make sense? I am not an electrician, but have always done the household work and have never come across anything like this. Why does the 20 amp baseboard breaker have anything to do with the 15 amp breaker? I feel like this should not the case. Does anyone have any recommendations?

My plan is to remove all the baseboards in my home, but if i can't even turn off the breakers without the rest of my home shutting down that may be a bit of an issue.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-John

Do you have any other AFs in the panel?

 

[Tangent]

Do you have any other AFs in the panel?

Just the one

 

[Megawatt]

I purchased a 2020 tiny home in November of 2020. Since then I have had one 15 amp arc fault breaker tripping frequently. The arc fault light comes on when reset. Another 15 amp arc fault breaker has also tripped a couple of times, but not nearly as often. I have checked outlets and switches. I have moved or disconnected electrical devices. I have even replaced a socket that I suspected may have been the culprit. I had decided to change out the switch itself when it stopped tripping for a couple weeks. Then this past weekend my wife asked me to take out our living room baseboard heater since we have planned to switch to more efficient heating. I turned off the breaker for the baseboard and the 15 amp breaker that had been giving us trouble also flipped off when I flipped the baseboard switch. I turned the 15 reset the 15 amp breaker (as I don't understand what the 2 breakers would have to do with one another) and by the time I got back inside the house the breaker had switched off as well as the other 15 amp breaker that had previously shut off a couple times. I reset both 15 amp breakers and went back inside. After several minutes the problem child 15 amp breaker once again tripped. In frustration I switched on the 20 amp floorboard breaker and the 15 amp annoying breaker. Now it has been fine for 2 days.

My question is does any of this make sense? I am not an electrician, but have always done the household work and have never come across anything like this. Why does the 20 amp baseboard breaker have anything to do with the 15 amp breaker? I feel like this should not the case. Does anyone have any recommendations?

My plan is to remove all the baseboards in my home, but if i can't even turn off the breakers without the rest of my home shutting down that may be a bit of an issue.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-John

My friend welcome to the forum. Ever since they made the AFCI breakers they have tripped quite often for no apparent reason. I don’t know why because I have had call outs just to reset them. I think the reason is the breaker can’t dissipate heat very well. You have GFCI breakers so really all you can do is take out the AFCI breaker and replace it with a GFCI breaker. Until the manufacture gets the AFCI breakers right you just put up with tripping. Another thing is that every time you reset the breaker eventually it will go bad and not reset at all