Circuit Breaker Frequently Tripping After Upgrading Ryzen 3600 to 5600x

[CWasson]

4 minutes ago, Heliian said:

In north America, most circuits are 15amp or 1800w at max.  They should be able to run 1500w all day.  There is too much on that circuit or there is a fault in the circuit, it's not your psu. 

All signs point to that, except for one. That being, the issue didn't become consistent until I made a relatively minor change to my PC's power consumption. Is it really just coincidence?

[Mark Kaine]

6 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Most.  Some apartments can have 10amp stuff though depending on local code 

Yeah, op needs to figure that out, and also maybe some wires are just not up to snuff or something. 

 

And yeah,  apparently it's 16amps here,  ~3600w... but there doesn't actually to be a rule for that,  not sure. 

 

"In normal residential buildings, the individual electrical device circuits for normal consumers are usually protected with 16-ampere circuit breakers. This means that electrical consumers with a maximum output of 16 amps x 230 volts = 3680 watts can be operated on one circuit"

 

I mean that's a lot of watts and also ovens etc have extra circuits, not sure about their limits  

[Heliian]

1 minute ago, CWasson said:

All signs point to that, except for one. That being, the issue didn't become consistent until I made a relatively minor change to my PC's power consumption. Is it really just coincidence?

No, it's just rearing it's head now.  Is there a microwave or toaster plugged in too? 

[Mark Kaine]

4 minutes ago, CWasson said:

All signs point to that, except for one. That being, the issue didn't become consistent until I made a relatively minor change to my PC's power consumption. Is it really just coincidence?

Agreed,  something is odd about the whole thing, even if it's a 10 amp circuit breaker,  it shouldn't trip because of a not so high wattage PC.

[CWasson]

Just now, Heliian said:

No, it's just rearing it's head now.  Is there a microwave or toaster plugged in too? 

On a separate circuit. Most demanding thing would be a ceiling fan I'd assume, but I can't really unplug that, nor is it ever on. There's currently only my computer, a lamp, and a phone charger on that circuit, and it has the same issue tripping on the living room circuit with the most power hungry device in there being a pretty weak AC1200 router.

[Bitter]

So your PC will trip other circuits too? I'd take a closer look at your breaker panel and make sure they're actually 16 amp breakers and see what type they are, some places have breakers that trip not just for shorts but also ground faults and arc faults and other stuff too.

[CWasson]

4 minutes ago, Bitter said:

So your PC will trip other circuits too? I'd take a closer look at your breaker panel and make sure they're actually 16 amp breakers and see what type they are, some places have breakers that trip not just for shorts but also ground faults and arc faults and other stuff too.

What am I looking for when searching for that? The only marked breakers are for the AC, laundry units, stove, and water heater, and they're 2 conjoined breakers that are labeled 10kA 120/240V. The rest, namely the ones I have tried with my PC, are unlabeled, and have what I assume to be a fuse because it looks like fuses in a car.

[Bitter]

2 minutes ago, CWasson said:

What am I looking for when searching for that? The only marked breakers are for the AC, laundry units, stove, and water heater, and they're 2 conjoined breakers that are labeled 10kA 120/240V. The rest, namely the ones I have tried with my PC, are unlabeled, and have what I assume to be a fuse because it looks like fuses in a car.

What country is this?

[CWasson]

6 minutes ago, Bitter said:

What country is this?

Michigan, USA

[Bitter]

Just now, CWasson said:

Michigan, USA

Ha! Good answer. The building is 2 years old, there shouldn't be ANY fuses like that in there. NO ONE uses fuses anymore. Post some pictures.

[CommanderAlex]

26 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Yeah, op needs to figure that out, and also maybe some wires are just not up to snuff or something. 

 

And yeah,  apparently it's 16amps here,  ~3600w... but there doesn't actually to be a rule for that,  not sure. 

 

"In normal residential buildings, the individual electrical device circuits for normal consumers are usually protected with 16-ampere circuit breakers. This means that electrical consumers with a maximum output of 16 amps x 230 volts = 3680 watts can be operated on one circuit"

 

I mean that's a lot of watts and also ovens etc have extra circuits, not sure about their limits  

Is a lot of watts. Also the region OP is in matters as North America uses 120V at 60Hz while Europe and Asia will use 230V at 50Hz. Depending on what country the OP is in will make a difference as well. 

 

13 minutes ago, CWasson said:

What am I looking for when searching for that? The only marked breakers are for the AC, laundry units, stove, and water heater, and they're 2 conjoined breakers that are labeled 10kA 120/240V. The rest, namely the ones I have tried with my PC, are unlabeled, and have what I assume to be a fuse because it looks like fuses in a car.

Usually, 2 conjoined breakers, AKA double pole breakers, are using the two phases of 120V that come into your residence and combining it to make 240V. This is generally used for appliances, AC (air conditioning like central AC), heavy machinery like an air compressor if they use 240V or 208V. Basically anything that will pull a lot of power, will use 240V. Inside the breaker box, you should see what type of breaker is being used for that circuit on the switch. They may be with a back coloring to make it clear how many amps the breaker is designed for; 10A, 15A, 20A, 30A etc. 

[Bombastinator]

29 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Yeah, op needs to figure that out, and also maybe some wires are just not up to snuff or something. 

 

And yeah,  apparently it's 16amps here,  ~3600w... but there doesn't actually to be a rule for that,  not sure. 

 

"In normal residential buildings, the individual electrical device circuits for normal consumers are usually protected with 16-ampere circuit breakers. This means that electrical consumers with a maximum output of 16 amps x 230 volts = 3680 watts can be operated on one circuit"

 

I mean that's a lot of watts and also ovens etc have extra circuits, not sure about their limits  

I the US a standard household circuit is 20, 15, or 10amp @110v.  Vast majority 15amp. There can be 15, 20, 30, or 40 @220v for certain stuff though.  40 is common for electric dryers.

[Bombastinator]

42 minutes ago, Bitter said:

So your PC will trip other circuits too? I'd take a closer look at your breaker panel and make sure they're actually 16 amp breakers and see what type they are, some places have breakers that trip not just for shorts but also ground faults and arc faults and other stuff too.

I concur.  What is described is theoretically impossible with correctly done wiring.  The various circuits shouldn’t connect to each other at all except at the main box.  If more than one circuit breaker is tripping it means the circuits are connected somehow which means the wiring is illegal.  In my county MH with more than 3 units are presided over by the fire marshal and they tend to take a VERY dim view of such things.  Licenses will be lost and careers will end. Also the building owner will have to pay to make it right and it could get astoundingly expensive for them.  

[Derkoli]

1 hour ago, Bitter said:

some places have breakers that trip not just for shorts but also ground faults and arc faults and other stuff too.

I believe in the US, ALCI is only required for bathroom circuits, why the entire residence isn't protected by ALCI is beyond me. In the UK, and other countries, the entire house is required to have RCD protection. I had to chuck some real beefy RCD's into my fuse box when installing 32A 240V 3-phase into my home.

 

19 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

What is described is theoretically impossible with correctly done wiring.

It is impossible with correctly done wiring. Homes in the US typically have "split phase" 115-0-115V input. So they can connect lighter loads, such as a TV, to just a single line. Then connect really high power stuff between the two lines and get 230V for high power stuff, such as showers or electric ovens.

 

In the US, for three-phase inputs, they often use the same trick that europeans use, which is earthing the mid-point of one of the secondary windings (high leg delta config IIRC) to give 120, 208 and 240V depending on which line/lines you connect to. And then they have a 240/415/480V version of the same thing for really power hungry appliances, such as things like MEWP chargers.

[Heliian]

We'll need a picture of your breakers and your plug. 

 

It could be there is a gfci(afci) breaker installed and it keeps getting popped due to poor house wiring or improper breaker selection. 

[Derkoli]

1 minute ago, Heliian said:

We'll need a picture of your breakers and your plug. 

 

It could be there is a gfci(afci) breaker installed and it keeps getting popped due to poor house wiring or improper breaker selection. 

It could even be something as simple as damp getting to the back of an outlet and causing the GFCI to trip after a certain period of time. Electroboom has a video showing that his GFCI can take something like 30 minutes for it to trip over very small fault currents.

[Bombastinator]

3 hours ago, Bitter said:

Those are trivial amounts of power though. My mining rig can pull over 300W's in the same room and same circuit as my other PC which can pull also over 300W (no killawatt type device on the desktop) and not trip a breaker. There's also a monitor, old school analog stereo, and a plate amp powered sub. Probably upto 900-1000W in the one room on a breaker, no problems.

 

Either there's something that's a heavy user on the same circuit and it's kicking on/off and the right times to pop with the additional CPU load (laser printers for example consume HUGE power when they start up to print, mine dims the LED lights) or the breaker is faulty or worst case something is wired wrong and causing short circuits intermittently causing the breaker to trip from excess current.

300w is 3 room size incandescent lightbulbs. A toaster is even more.  You’re not wrong, but small things add up.  If he gets even a couple hundred watts off that line it could be enough to put it back in the safe zone.  You do make a point that there is a lot on that circuit.  More than a computer.

[CWasson]

9 hours ago, Heliian said:

We'll need a picture of your breakers and your plug. 

 

It could be there is a gfci(afci) breaker installed and it keeps getting popped due to poor house wiring or improper breaker selection. 

 

9 hours ago, Derkoli said:

It could even be something as simple as damp getting to the back of an outlet and causing the GFCI to trip after a certain period of time. Electroboom has a video showing that his GFCI can take something like 30 minutes for it to trip over very small fault currents.

 

7 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

300w is 3 room size incandescent lightbulbs. A toaster is even more.  You’re not wrong, but small things add up.  If he gets even a couple hundred watts off that line it could be enough to put it back in the safe zone.  You do make a point that there is a lot on that circuit.  More than a computer.

 

10 hours ago, SpiderMan said:

Is a lot of watts. Also the region OP is in matters as North America uses 120V at 60Hz while Europe and Asia will use 230V at 50Hz. Depending on what country the OP is in will make a difference as well. 

 

Usually, 2 conjoined breakers, AKA double pole breakers, are using the two phases of 120V that come into your residence and combining it to make 240V. This is generally used for appliances, AC (air conditioning like central AC), heavy machinery like an air compressor if they use 240V or 208V. Basically anything that will pull a lot of power, will use 240V. Inside the breaker box, you should see what type of breaker is being used for that circuit on the switch. They may be with a back coloring to make it clear how many amps the breaker is designed for; 10A, 15A, 20A, 30A etc. 

 

10 hours ago, Bitter said:

Ha! Good answer. The building is 2 years old, there shouldn't be ANY fuses like that in there. NO ONE uses fuses anymore. Post some pictures.

 

10 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Agreed,  something is odd about the whole thing, even if it's a 10 amp circuit breaker,  it shouldn't trip because of a not so high wattage PC.

Alright all you lovely people, I've got some pictures of the breaker box for ya.

 

[CommanderAlex]

1 minute ago, CWasson said:

Alright all you lovely people, I've got some pictures of the breaker box for ya.

~Snipped Photos~

Those are great photos!! As you see the 15, 20, 30, 40 on the tops of the breakers themselves, they are the amperages they are rated for and on that circuit (you can also see on the door for the breaker box what breakers are associated with what circuit; such as the A/C, kitchen, living room. The numbers are hard to see but to the left and right side of the breakers, you can see them stamped in the gray sheet metal, which corresponds to that diagram on the door) Do you know which breaker is constantly tripping out with your PC on?

[Bitter]

Yeah, those are all modern breakers. No fuses there.

[CWasson]

Just now, Bitter said:

Yeah, those are all modern breakers. No fuses there.

Yeah I realize now I was looking at the test button, didn't see it said test. Doy.

[CWasson]

23 minutes ago, SpiderMan said:

Those are great photos!! As you see the 15, 20, 30, 40 on the tops of the breakers themselves, they are the amperages they are rated for and on that circuit (you can also see on the door for the breaker box what breakers are associated with what circuit; such as the A/C, kitchen, living room. The numbers are hard to see but to the left and right side of the breakers, you can see them stamped in the gray sheet metal, which corresponds to that diagram on the door) Do you know which breaker is constantly tripping out with your PC on?

The bedroom breaker, which is what my PC is plugged into. I've tried different outlets on that circuit, and like I said, the living room circuit. Same result. 2 different PSUs. Same Ryzen 5600X...

 

Both circuits take over an hour to trip under PC load.

 

Should I try a 20a circuit and see if those trip?

[Bitter]

And what else is connected to and powered by those circuits during that hour? You 100% need to get a killawatt type device and check your PC's actual draw. It can't be exceeding 800W which is under 1/2 the rated breaker amperage. Either you've got things wired wrong, faulty breakers, or something on your circuits is pulling a lot of power and your PC puts it over the top.

[CommanderAlex]

2 minutes ago, CWasson said:

The bedroom breaker, which is what my PC is plugged into. I've tried different outlets on that circuit, and like I said, the living room circuit. Same result. 2 different PSUs. Same Ryzen 5600X...

 

Both circuits take over an hour to trip under PC load.

 

Should I try a 20a circuit and see if those trip?

That's strange, as those are only 15A breakers/circuits. What else is on those circuits?? Kill-a-watt meters as @Bitter said, will help determine the exact power draw your PC is pulling from the wall. Also, check other devices you have plugged in to see how many watts they are pulling on those circuits. 

 

Try it out on a 20A circuit and see if they still trip. The only other thing I can think of if they follow on a 20A breaker is to try your PC out at a friend's house or family to see if they still trip out on that circuit. 

[CWasson]

5 minutes ago, Bitter said:

And what else is connected to and powered by those circuits during that hour? You 100% need to get a killawatt type device and check your PC's actual draw. It can't be exceeding 800W which is under 1/2 the rated breaker amperage. Either you've got things wired wrong, faulty breakers, or something on your circuits is pulling a lot of power and your PC puts it over the top.

Harbor Freight can be garbage. Is this one ok?