Dryer Breaker Tripping

5400W/240V ≈ 22.5A. No wonder the 20A breaker trips!

Usually, a hair dryer is rated up to 700W.

Therefore it is dangerously faulty. Destroy it and replace it.

Lol destroy the breakers or dryer its a brand new machine any alternatives

If you are talking about a clothe dryer yes it could draw over 20A and you will need to upgrade the service to the machine (very important, not just the breaker) for it to work. For this you will probably want an electrician.

He said dryer, I would think that is a clothe dryer not a hair dryer, unless it is some other kind of dryer.

Its a clothes dryer also my main panel has a 200amp main its just a single level house with 3 bdrooms

Brainfart .

UK Nationals are used to appliances <=3000W, which is not far short of 13A. Most clothes dryers are 2-3kW plug-in appliances here.

The only thing usually above that figure around the home would be a power shower at up to 7.2kW, which requires a 40A circuit off the 240V supply.

watts = volts x amps (for a resistive load).

amps = watts ÷ volts = 5400W ÷ 240V = 22.5A (as stated elsewhere).

"If amps=voltage X watts"

Would watts = amps * volts work better?

Note: this assumes a resistive load. For a home dryer this should be good enough.

Beat me by 2 minutes

Thank you john & bruce yeesh its hell getting old lol ive done enough industrial electrical but forgot a few things think me brain slips into neutral sometimes lol

You guys think i would be ok to go to 25 amp breakers (assuming the wiring is ok i really havent checked yet works kept me quite busy 7 days a week)

The service to my dryer is 30 amps (at 240 volts). IME, that's very typical in the US. (Of course the wires have to be sized properly--just going from memory, I think it takes 10 AWG copper for a 30 amp circuit (of typical length).)

The cable legnth is almost 40 ft from the panel

The standard US installation is a 30 amp DP breaker using #10 copper conductor fro that size dryer.

Thanks eagle and everyone else im sure it the same standard in canada

VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!

You cannot just increase the size of the breaker, the breaker is there to prevent a fire in the wires. A 20A breaker is used for 12ga wire. By code toyu cannot load up a wire for more than 80% of its rating, so 12ga wire can only legally handle 16A. If you use a larger breaker, you could start a fire inside of your walls! If that happens (without killing anyone hopefully), and the insurance adjuster figures out what happened, they may not pay for the damage.

You need to call an electrician to change the wiring or run a new 30A circuit with 10ga wire for your dryer. There is no other safe alternative*.

*Except a new dryer that is rated for less than 16A FLC.

Just checked the wiring its #10 so no problem there to change the breaker

Well there you go, lucky break!

So yes, you can then use a 25 or 30A breaker. I would put in the 30A.

bad curcuit breakers are not uncommon, and is an easy fix. i'ld start there.

I am the 20th person to comment.

Re: "wired to 2 20amp breakers and the heat just keeps tripping them"

I just noticed this--I hope that's a 2 pole breaker, not two 1 pole breakers. (In any case, replace it with a 30 amp 2 pole breaker (now that you know the wire is sized to suit a 30 amp breaker).

Good catch of that subtlety.

Ya its 2 seperate 20amp breakers the guy that wired this place must have been drinking or just plain stupid hes even got a bedroom in front of the house wired to the same breaker as the bathroom & thats in the back of the house like holy DUHHH the stupid things pple do and im wondering why 200 amp main breakers yeesh its a house not a workshop

Heres a better laugh theres also 120 amp circut running outside to a STORAGE SHED its not a workshop its just storage for crying out loud theres nothing out there that would require that much hydro