25-06-2005, 08:09 PM
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wrote:
I have a B&D Electric lawn mower. Its worked great for the last
year. Now when I use it it trips the circut breaker to the outlet that
Im plugged into. Its the same outlet I've used in the past. Any
suggestions on what could be wrong?
I presume you are using a ground-fault protected outlet. If the breaker
trips immediately on plugging in the mower, my guess would be that a
ground fault has developed - perhaps in the extension cord, perhaps in
the mower itself. Try a different extension cord, and see if that helps.
If not, then the fault is in the mower somewhere.
If the breaker trips after some use, my second guess would be that some
fault has developed in the machine itself, so that it draws too much
current. (I presume you have done routine maintenance such as making
sure there has been no build up of dead grass in places where it might
impede th blade, etc.)
Either way, it's not a fault you can fix yourself. If you have a good
small appliance repair shop handy, they may be able to help you. Since
you have owned the machine for a year or so, it's probably no longer
under warranty, but it's worth trying for a warranty repair or
replacement anyhow. Your model may be one that develops a common fault,
and the mfr may have issued a recall or extension of warranty (they
don't need to tell you about these things, they just have to "publicize"
them.)
OTOH, too often, machines like this are not worth repairing - the cost
of repair is often too large a proportion of the cost of a new machine.
That will be your judgement call.
Finally, a breaker can weaken, especially it it's used as an on/off
switch (which is often done for outside outlets - it's a handy way to
turn Christmas decorations on and off, for example.) In this case, the
breaker will trip on a much lower load than its rating, and if the mower
draws current close to the breaker's rating, the breaker will trip when
it shouldn't. You might want to call an electrician to test and replace
the breaker.
HTH&GL
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