What is an FPE Air Circuit Breaker?
An FPE air circuit breaker uses compressed air to kill the electrical arc when the circuit breaker interrupts the flow of electricity. In some cases the contacts that keep the current flowing may be shifted into a sealed chamber to break the circuit. Like other circuit breakers, an FPE air circuit breaker can be reset to restore the flow of electricity. If the breaker was tripped because of a one-time problem such as a power surge, you shouldn’t see repeated activation of the air circuit breaker. If there is a problem causing repeated tripping of the FPE circuit breaker, investigate the cause of the problem. Is it caused by too many devices trying to draw power at the same time? Or by a normal load aggravated by the use of an air conditioner or compressor drawing a larger-than-normal load? If you encounter repeated “nuisance trips” of your circuit breaker, these are some of the likely suspects.
