FirstCheck
EN FR
🍁 Built for Canadian homes — written to the Canadian Electrical Code and provincial rules. Not intended for use outside Canada.
DRAFT — this page has not yet been reviewed by a licensed professional. Editorial preview only.

A breaker keeps tripping

Nine times out of ten, the breaker is doing its job — protecting the wiring from an overloaded circuit or one misbehaving appliance. Both are free to sort out yourself. The exceptions are serious, though, so this page is blunt about where the line is — and about what the rules allow in your province.

tuneWhat are you noticing?
Select anything that matches and the checklist below reorders to fit. Not sure? Skip it.
emergency_home

flag
Start here

In Canadian homes, count what's running on that circuit first. A tripping breaker usually means more electrical draw than the wiring can safely carry — a kettle and a space heater together will overwhelm a standard 15-amp circuit on their own. Move one heavy appliance to a different circuit and see if the trips stop. Free, and the most common fix by far.

Ranked from real-world failure data. The order updates as you select what you’re noticing above.

Likely causes, in the order to check them

Showing the typical order
Beginner-friendly Doable, with care Safety-critical Call a pro

visibilityHow to check

  1. Flip the breaker off and walk the house — everything that went dark shares that circuit. It's often more than you'd guess.
  2. Add up the big draws. Kettles, space heaters, hair dryers, and microwaves each pull 1,000–1,500 watts.
  3. A standard 15-amp circuit tops out at 1,800 watts for short bursts, but for anything running an hour or more the safe ceiling is about 1,440 watts — 80% of the breaker's rating — which a single space heater can approach on its own, and any two of these appliances together will cross.
buildNo tools schedule15 min

handymanHow to fix it

Move one heavy appliance to an outlet on a different circuit, or simply avoid running the two biggest ones at once.

schedule5 min savingsusually free
report Never "fix" this with a bigger breakerThe breaker is sized to protect the wire in your walls, and the wire can't be upgraded from the panel. Swapping a 15-amp breaker for a 20 doesn't add capacity — it removes the protection, and lets the wiring overheat inside the wall. This is the single most dangerous shortcut in home electrical.
gavel Check your province first AB: permit + inspection required · BC: permit + inspection required · ON: permit + inspection required · PE: permit + inspection required · QC: licensed professionals only
National default shown conservatively as licensed-only; rules are provincial — REVIEW: replace with per-province rows as they are verified.

visibilityHow to check — the one-at-a-time test

  1. Unplug everything on the circuit, then reset the breaker.
  2. Plug items back in one at a time, giving each a few minutes of normal use.
  3. When the breaker trips again, the last thing you plugged in is the prime suspect. Usual suspects: space heaters, aging fridges and freezers, hair dryers, and anything with a pinched or frayed cord.
buildNo tools schedule25 min

handymanHow to fix it

Retire or repair the offending device. Check its cord end-to-end for kinks, cracks, or heat marks — a damaged cord is replaceable, but a device that trips a breaker on a healthy circuit has earned its retirement.

schedule15 min savingsusually free

visibilityHow to check

  1. Look at the breaker or the first outlet on the run — GFCI protection has a TEST button. That's the tell.
  2. Think back: did it start after rain, snowmelt, or hosing something down near an outdoor outlet?
  3. Unplug everything outdoors and in the damp areas, let things dry fully, then reset.
buildNo tools schedule10 min

handymanHow to fix it

Dry is usually the whole fix. For outdoor outlets, add a weatherproof in-use ("bubble") cover so the outlet stays protected even with a cord plugged in. If it still trips when everything is dry and unplugged, it's likely detecting a genuine ground fault in the wiring — that one goes to an electrician.

schedule15 min savings$10–20
Weatherproof in-use outlet coverPick the depth that closes over your plug — "extra duty" rated for wet locations

visibilityWhat you can spot — from a distance

  1. A warm outlet, switch, or cover plate.
  2. Buzzing, sizzling, or crackling from an outlet or the panel.
  3. A hot-plastic or fishy burning smell, or brown discoloration around a slot.
  4. Lights that flicker when something on the circuit kicks on.
buildNo tools schedule5 min

verifiedWhy this one goes to a pro

Arcing means electricity is jumping a gap and making heat inside a wall — the leading cause of home electrical fires. The fix is opening connections and inspecting them, which isn't a homeowner task at any experience level. If you're seeing the signs, turn the breaker off and leave it off until it's inspected — every reset re-feeds a connection that's already overheating.

Your notes travel with the request — what you saw, what you ruled out, when it started — so the pro arrives with a head start instead of a mystery.

visibilityWhat you can spot yourself

  1. The breaker trips the instant you reset it — even with everything on the circuit unplugged. (If it holds with everything unplugged, you're back to the one-at-a-time appliance test.)
  2. Sometimes a pop, a scorch mark, or a blackened outlet slot marks the spot.
buildNo tools schedule10 min

verifiedWhy this one goes to a pro

Finding where two conductors are touching means testing the run, opening boxes, and sometimes tracing cable through walls. It takes a meter and experience — and until it's found, that circuit should stay off. The unplug-everything test you did isn't wasted: it's exactly the first thing an electrician would do, and telling them the result narrows their search from day one.

Your notes travel with the request — what you saw, what you ruled out, when it started — so the pro arrives with a head start instead of a mystery.

visibilityWhat you can spot yourself

  1. The handle feels mushy, won't seat firmly into ON, or flops without the definite snap of a healthy breaker.
  2. It trips at random under light, normal load — after the overload and one-at-a-time tests above came back clean.
buildNo tools schedule15 min

verifiedWhy this one goes to a pro

The swap itself is quick — but parts of the panel stay live even with the main breaker off, so it isn't a first project. It's also a natural moment for a pro to eye the whole panel: certain older ones (Federal Pacific / Federal Pioneer "Stab-Lok" among them) are documented problem panels worth a proper look.

Your notes travel with the request — what you saw, what you ruled out, when it started — so the pro arrives with a head start instead of a mystery.

sort

Why the list is in this order

We don’t sort by likelihood alone. We sort the way a good, honest tradesperson thinks: rule out the free, safe, common causes first. That’s why the cheap checks outrank the expensive repairs — and why anything dangerous gets a hard stop instead of a pep talk. The order exists to save you money, not to sell you anything.