How Power Trips Keep You and Your Family Safe

Posted on 22 April 2018

When you’re in the middle of cooking a meal in the kitchen, or you’re watching an exciting sports game on TV, the last thing you want is for the power to go out. These power trips likely happened because a circuit breaker tripped and shut off power to a certain part of your house. Power trip Singapore can be annoying and inconvenient, causing you to miss something important.

But they can also be what saves you and your family from potential electrical disaster.

They may be annoying at times, but power trips can protect you from experiencing a dangerous electrical surge. In order to prevent overheating, electrical fires, or electrocution, your circuit breakers will trip the power for you automatically. Here’s how they work, and why they are so important for keeping you and your family safe.

Why Do Power Trips Occur?

Power trips can happen for a variety of reasons. The main reason for a power trip is due to some sort of instability or overload in your electrical circuits, causing the active current to be shut off.

Other reasons for power trips are as follows:

  • An overload or an unbalance of phases in your circuitry
  • Ground faults on transmission lines, such as when a tree falls on a power line after a storm
  • Transmission malfunction, causing a circuit breaker to switch
  • A short circuit of currents
  • The voltage of the current is either over or under the acceptable amount per electrical current

In essence, a power trip is defined as any kind of interruption in the electrical supply. When a power trip happens, you may notice your power shutting off, or you may have other abnormal electrical experiences.

How Does the Power Trip?

As stated in the previous paragraph, the power can trip in a variety of ways. You may experience a power trip in a multitude of ways before you are able to assess a specific problem with your electrical supply or currents. Whether the power trips and the circuit breakers are triggered, or you experience other events, be sure to take note of them and let your electrician know that something is wrong as soon as possible.

You may recognize a power trip in a variety of ways, including:

  • The power shuts off completely due to an overload. Some appliances and electronics will shut off if they are connected to the overloaded circuit.
  • The lights will dim. This is also known as a brownout, and indicates that there is a low supply of voltage in the circuits. This can happen when other parts of the home are demanding too much electricity.
  • The lights flicker. This is similar to the lights dimming, as the circuits are letting you know that there is either too much or too little voltage, creating an instability throughout the current.
  • Radio signals are interrupted. You may not notice this kind of power trip if you do not have any active radio signals in your home. However, this is certainly a sign that your electrical currents are unstable.

There are a few things you can do on your own to fix the currents, such as switching the circuit breakers back to the “ON” position. However, when a power trip occurs more than once, or on a frequent basis, it’s best to contact a professional electrician and have them take a look at your electrical situation.

How Do Power Trips Keep You Safe?

There are a number of reasons why the power may trip. But all of them indicate that something is wrong with your currents. Whether you have too much voltage, too little voltage, or too big of a surge going through your currents, your system will enact an automatic safety measure to protect your home from the risks of a real electrical surge.

Without power trips, there would be no way to identify, prevent, or fix certain electrical issues. The outlets may spark an electrical fire due to overheating, and other electrical surges can cause your appliances to blow out. While they may be inconvenient, power trips are put in place to best protect you and your family.