I came back to correct myself, and I see that it was already done for me. Overloading the wire will not trip the breaker. However, the original breaker might have been selected according to the ampacity of the wire. If you replace the breaker with a higher amp breaker, make sure you do not get a breaker with a higher ampacity than the wire. Running a new circuit can be easy in a home with an exposed-beam basement and easy, direct runs to the kitchen; but it is often far more complicated than that. I would still recommend replacing the breaker and seeing if doing so solves the problem. Running an entirely new circuit in order to merely diagnose if that is the problem seems a bit much. If the problem is with the old breaker or a short in the appliance, then you will have done a lot of unnecessary work. It will improve things, but the cost/bother outweighs the benefit. |
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