• demunted@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    ADHD guy here.

    Wondering if these are reasons but need someone knowledgable to answer

    • does the mains breaker have a limited amount of resets / duty cycle?
    • is it bad for the whole house to trip sometimes? For me having to reset electronics, potential data loss etc makes it annoying.
    • is there a potential for surging when the mains is flicked back on from everything starting simultaneously?
    • iamdefinitelyoverthirteen@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Tripping a breaker under fault conditions is somewhat destructive to the breaker, and if it keeps tripping, you’ll notice it becomes easier and easier over time.

    • antimidas@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      one of us

      1. Hadn’t considered that one TBH, no practical limits with actuations (rated in the thousands) but they’re probably not rated for that many trips under a fault condition – now I’m curious, will have to dig up a spec sheet at some point
      2. Not really, unless you have equipment that’s poorly designed everything should be fine. It’s not much different from a brownout, and things should be configured to deal with that anyways if you don’t have a UPS
      3. If there are a lot of reactive loads, then yes – e.g. electric motors, large capacitors. Those will have a large inrush when started again. Typically there isn’t that much reactive loading in a residential home though, and it should be covered by the latency designed into the breaker.

      The first point is actually a really good one, and one I didn’t really remember to consider. I’d guess it has at least something to do with that (and would explain why many homes around here are still configured with traditional fuses for the main connection – no need to worry about lifetime when you have to replace them anyways)