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#6910 01/14/02 04:28 PM
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 36
C
C.Urch Offline OP
Member
Did a service call today at a municipal building where a breaker powering some receptacles (copy machine, computer, fax, etc.) trips intermittently...no rhyme or reason ever few days or so. One phase in the subpanel reads a steady 25 amps while the other spikes every 3 to 10 seconds between 15 and 40 amps. The only circuits in the panel are lighting and receptacle loads. Does anyone have a clue as to what might be causing this?

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#6911 01/14/02 04:41 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,044
Tom Offline
Member
Get that no good #$@@@*& copier on its own circuit. There is a heater in it that is cycling & them babies can draw some serious power for a split second.

Other than that, your SWAG is as good as mine.

Tom


Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
#6912 01/14/02 04:52 PM
A
Anonymous
Unregistered
Dealt with that problem once too. Moved the copier to a dedicated circuit and solved the problem. The newer copiers seem to draw a lot more than the older ones.

#6913 01/14/02 04:55 PM
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 176
W
Member
Have you tried a recording ampmeter over a longer period of time? Maybe one of those Flukes that record the harmonics? Harmonics would be my first impression since you have computers, printers and copy machines.
Just a thought.

#6914 01/14/02 05:16 PM
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,056
R
Member
Copier gets my vote.

#6915 01/14/02 06:09 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 4,294
Member
copier

#6916 01/15/02 11:25 PM
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 28
S
Member
Copier,absolutly. Recently I responded to a call of a CB tripping every now and then with a chronic problem of lamps flickering. Turned out to be three copiers, any of which would cause the lamps to brown out and on the rare occasion when all three cycled at the same time the CB would trip.
Don

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