Why Does My Hair Dryer Keep Tripping the Breaker? A Common Home Issue
Blow Drying or Blowing Breakers? Let’s Talk Hair Dryers and Home Wiring
It’s a common scene in homes across the GTA: You’re rushing to get ready in the morning, you flip on your hair dryer—and boom—darkness. The breaker trips again.
This frustrating issue isn’t just about a faulty appliance. It’s a growing problem in many homes, especially older ones that were never designed for the power-hungry gadgets of today. And believe it or not, the culprit is often just the size and wattage of your hair dryer.
So let’s break it down.
Why Your Hair Dryer Trips the Breaker
- High Wattage Load
- Most modern hair dryers pull 1,500 to 1,875 watts. That’s a heavy load for a standard 15-amp circuit, especially if anything else is running on the same line—like a bathroom fan, lighting, or a curling iron.
- Shared Circuit Overload
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- In older or budget-built homes, bathroom outlets are often shared across multiple rooms. Your bedroom lights, hallway outlets, and bathroom plug might all be on the same circuit.
- Breaker Fatigue
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- If your breaker trips frequently, it may be weakened over time and more sensitive to small surges. That’s a sign it’s time for inspection or replacement.
- GFCI Sensitivity
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- Bathrooms should be equipped with GFCI outlets for safety, but sometimes they trip due to minor surges caused by hair dryers, especially if there’s any moisture or grounding issues.
Is It Just the Hair Dryer?
Yes—often it is. The average bathroom circuit is not equipped to handle a high-powered hair dryer plus other loads. If your home was built before the 1990s, it probably wasn’t wired with today’s power demands in mind. The result? Blow dryer = blown breaker.
How Stack Electric Can Help
At Stack Electric, we’ve seen this issue hundreds of times, and we’ve got modern solutions to fix it for good:
✅ Dedicated Bathroom Circuits: We can install a separate, dedicated 20-amp circuit just for your bathroom or hair dryer station—keeping it off the same line as your hallway, lights, or bedroom.
✅ Panel Upgrades: Still using a fuse box or an outdated 100A panel? We can upgrade your electrical panel to 200 amps and ensure your circuits are designed for modern appliance loads.
✅ GFCI & AFCI Installation: Keep your outlets safe and up to code with professionally installed GFCI and arc fault breakers. Safety and reliability in one.
✅ Load Balancing & Circuit Mapping: We’ll inspect your current setup and rebalance your circuits so no single line gets overwhelmed—no more guessing what’s sharing power behind your walls.
A Quick Fix… or a Permanent One?
You could buy a lower-wattage hair dryer. But let’s be honest—you probably don’t want a weak blowout. Instead, have Stack Electric take a look and offer a long-term fix that makes your mornings less stressful and a whole lot brighter (literally).
📞 Call Stack Electric at 905-512-9428
📍 Serving Hamilton, Flamborough, Ancaster, Burlington & Surrounding Areas
🔌 Residential. Reliable. Ready When You Are.