Heat Trace blowing breaker

[powerplay]

Hi... I'd appreciate any help on this....

While leaving a sprinkler room, and shutting off a light switch by the door the breaker for the heat trace blows, activating the local alarm on the FA panel in the hotel. For a minute, I thought it may be coincidence, but it's happened twice. Someone suggested that it could be static that trips a sensitive breaker???

The light switch is in an steel 1110 box with a metal taylor cover, that switches an florescent light. It is connected to pull box, connected to the panel and the heat trace boxes. Without the time to open boxes to try and search for the problem, what would cause the breaker to trip ???

 

[pierre]

Re: Heat Trace blowing breaker

Powerplay
Is either or both of these circuits a new installation? Has any new circuits been installed in proximity to these just before this started to occur? How long has this installation been installed? And, was the heat trace activated (drawing current) while this happened?

Pierre

 

[powerplay]

Re: Heat Trace blowing breaker

Hi Pierre...

It was an existing installation... was there to change some ballasts in the parking lot... I did not have the time to determine the problem, and am unfamiliar with how Heat Trace's work. the door to the sprinkler room was open, so it was possible that the tace was on... it was in the evening, although not too cold. I am assuming that the light switch was installed at the time the Heat Trace was... the pipe from the panel enters a pull box up high.. from there it goes over the ceiling to the switch, then to a plug... also to the Heat trace boxes in a small sprinkler room.

I don't think static would have caused any problem to a normal 15A breaker, sensitive or not...correct me if I'm wrong please..

The light work, after the Heat trace circuit blows...after which, I reset the local alarm...