12/06/2025
I think my FIL is trying to set my house on fire! Lol
So we live in California. We bought a home and I guess code requires the type of breakers for the kitchen in slot 11 and 13 . I dont know anything about electricity other than if a breaker falls, first identify why then push it all the way to the left then to the right to reset. We'll these new ones have a built in reset button. We were told that the whole house was rewired when we bought it. Fast forward 2 years.
I started hearing a humming when id pass the breaker box and sure enough later in the evening the fridge was off. The outlets to the breaker only had the fridge and an air fryer on the breaker that tripped. I went to press the reset button but it wouldn't reset so id push the left then right to turn it back on. Once id do that id hear a sizzle sound and see some sparks in the back. I left it off and told my wife. She told me her father used to be an electrician, probably around the time electricity was invented because he's old AF. He was also Jesus' father's carpenter apprentice. Yes he's ooooold. Well he came by took a look. Said let's replace the breaker. These aren't cheap, they're like 70-80 bucks each. We'll everything was fine for 2 weeks and then our microwave went out and my wife had the smart idea to buy a bigger one that didn't fit into the microwave designated area so we were using it on top of the island which also shares the same breaker as the fridge while she sold it on fb marketplace. Guess what, it started happening again.
My wife called my FiL again and he started complaining about how these breakers are so delicate that back in his day they would just use the ones on the right give the inspector a beer and call it a day. He suggested we use that same type of breaker on the left for the fridge but I know that since there is no gfci outlet behind the fridge, code requires these types. Am I being overly cautious? Is my FiL right or is he just old timey? I dont want to keep replacing the breaker at 70 bucks a pop (no pun intended) and feel that the fridge and other appliances should be able to be on that breaker with no issues but i could be wrong. im also hating having to empty the fridge into coolers, go buy ice and have to live like im camping in my home while this gets resolved. We've removed everything from the outlets that feed that breaker except the fridge and plan to keep it that way moving forward. FiL coming tomorrow to replace the breaker again. Kinda at a loss as to whats happening. Any advice appreciated.
