Breaker makes a clicking noise under a very small load!

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mtwoods65

Member
Location
Charleston, SC
Today I ran across something that I haven't ever seen or heard of. I went to a service call at a residence where the customer stated that his dedicated refrigerator circuit breaker was making a clicking noise! When I arrived, sure enough the SP GE 20 AMP breaker was making a "CLICKING" noise. The noise is not a hum, or the sound of arcing. I immediately put my amp meter on the wire of the circuit breaker and proceeded to take readings: the amp meter only showed 0.8 amps. I opened the dors of the refrigerator to make the compressor kick on and the highest the amps went up to were 1.7 amps..
The voltage is constant at 120 volt single phase at the breaker and at the receptacle. All connections are tight. The bus bar is fine, all other breakers are fine and this is the only circuit that is making this "CLICKING" noise!
It appears that after speaking with the customer/owner that I'm the 3rd electrician to attempt to correct this problem. We have changed breakers, thinking that the breaker might be bad, but no matter what breaker the circuit is connected to, it still cause the breaker to make the clicking noise.
The house also apparently was hit by lightning some time ago and it took out his phone/cable modem. He has had an Appliance Technician come out and check the refrigerator and he says the its okay and that the problem is on the power side, which I can't find a problem with.
I guess my thinking is that it may be possible that the lightning could have cause some type of damage to the refrigerator compressor which is causing a pulse back at the breaker causing the "Clicking" noise. However the refrigerator is still working and I haven't seen one draw as few amps at compressor start up as this one. It only draws max. 1.7 amps and the unit calls for a max of 6.5 amps. This has me baffled!!!???? I hope that someone else has seen this or can shed some light on problem. All help is appreciated very much!
Mike Woods

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mxslick

mxslick

Senior Member
Location
SE Idaho
That's a new one on me..I've had breakers buzz, squeal, groan, sizzle and crackle.

What happens with no load, or better yet, put a heavy load like a hair dryer or space heater on it and see what happens.

Is the panel on a wall directly behind the fridge? You may possibly be hearing a mechanical noise being transmitted through the wall or even the floor.

Like a few others on this forum I'm not overly fond of GE's breakers anyway. :)
 
480sparky

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
Did you try hooking the circuit up to a breaker in a different location in the panel? What did the bus bar look like when you replaced the panel? Maybe you're hearing some arcing between the bus bar & breaker.
 
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mtwoods65

Member
Location
Charleston, SC
No, the panel is located away from the fridge, its in the garage. Breaker was replaced and it doesn't matter (New or Old Breaker) it still does the same thing. The Bus Bar looks good, all connections are tight, and yes even moved the breaker to a different location, still no change. There is no evidence of arcing found.
 
ELA

ELA

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrical Test Engineer
As someone else suggested did you try a heavy load like a hair dryer (without the fridge connected)?

The reason I say this is I wonder if the fridge is pulling a short duration -large current spike -each cycle that your meter is not catching.

If the breaker is quiet with the large constant current load (hair dryer) then - do you have access to a meter that can capture current spikes? A scope with a current probe would be best if you could access one.
 
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HEYDOG

Senior Member
Is the refrig plugged into a g.f.c.i. receptacle. The reason I ask is I just had a customer call me about a month ago after lightning had struck a tree in his front yard. He called and said that breaker in panel was making a clicking sound. I went to customers house. The g.f.c.i. receptacle next to the panel was clicking. I guess it was coil inside g.f.i. I replaced g.f.i. receptacle problem solved. Just thought I would mention because problem sounds similar. Did not see any other problems with panel or breakers.
 
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ItsHot

Senior Member
Location
A little piece of heaven!
clicking?

clicking?

The clicking noise you describe sounds like a bad compressor kicking in and out???But you said the noise is at the breaker ,and regardless of what breaker you install?:-? :confused: Keep us posted as to what you discover!:smile:
 
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sparky59

Senior Member
Temporarily try another brand of breaker...like a cutler-hammer BR just for the heck of it. If that doesn't help it's the fridge. Has there been any other paranormal activity going on in the house?
 
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mtwoods65

Member
Location
Charleston, SC
Thanks everyone for all your input!! As soon as the customer is available I'll attempt further troubleshooting by eliminating the refrigerator, and by placing a load on the breaker without the fridge. Hopefully it will be the fridge. I believe the problem is going to be with either a bad winding in the compressor motor or a capacitor is quickly charging and discharging. I quess we will see soon..
Thanks again!!!
 
electricalperson

electricalperson

Senior Member
Location
massachusetts
ive had this same problem with GE breakers. there was a short circuit and it wouldnt clear it or something like that. (this was a while ago). when i first turned it on it made a LOUD clicking sound. traced the circuit and fixed the problem and it never done it again. if you plug the fridge in and it makes that sound unplug it and see if it goes away. the time this happened to me was in a modular house
 
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mtwoods65

Member
Location
Charleston, SC
Haven't been able to return to the customers residence yet! Per the customer, the earliest appointment that I could get to return to his residence is August 3rd. As soon as I can get back over there I'll post what I find!!
 
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