Why would my circuit breaker not trip?

Question

I had a circuit breaker installed in August 2007. In July 2008, there was some kind of power surge that destroyed 2 microwaves and a toaster (which was not even plugged in). The breaker did not trip - the electricity just wiped out my appliances. Does anyone have any idea why the breaker did not do what it was supposed to do? I always thought a circuit breaker was to "trip" in order to save the appliances. Am I incorrect about the purpose?

Thanks for any information and help you can give me. I appreciate it.

Answer 1

Exactly what "Wired" said.  

Also - the only way an appliance that is not even plugged in could be ruined by an over-voltage condition is if it was grounded by touching something else that was plugged in, and somehow the surge affected its' circuit board.  And even that would be a stretch..........

Answer 2

you had appliances that were not plugged in destroyed by a power surge?  

Answer 3

I will ask the same thing.

How can a power surge damage the appliances if it's not plugged?

Strange.

Answer 4

The reason for circuit breakers is NOT to protect appliances, it is to protect the house wiring from overloads so you do not have a fire in the wall.

Answer 5

A surge can't destroy appliances that aren't plugged in. Breakers protect the house wiring only. Put some GFI's in- they will help protect your appliances and you in the future and are only around 10-20 dollars a piece and can can be screwed into the existing boxes-assuming you have a 3 wire system.

Answer 6

Not the circuit breaker here. Sounds like a close lightning strike.

Answer 7

The circuit breaker will protect the wiring if there is too much current going through it for a long enough period of time.  It takes hundreds of milliseconds for a breaker to trip.  The event that took out your microwaves was probably much shorter than that, possibly in the microseconds.  There is no way this event took out an appliance that was not even plugged in.  Surge protectors will protect in some cases but a GFCI will not protect in that case - it only checks for an imbalance between the hot and the neutral and a surge will not give that.