Microwave Roulette

The kitchen in our apartment was redone a few years back, when the owners lived in the unit. Everything is nice and modern, and we enjoy the conveniences of a dishwasher and garbage disposal. There are several power outlets along the wall where the counter and sink are, so naturally that's where we have our appliances plugged in. There's the microwave, the toaster oven, the coffee maker, the dishwasher, the switch for the disposal, the switch for the light over the sink, the stove, and the vent hood above it. (The stove is gas, but it needs electricity for its clock and the fan and light in the hood.)

A while after we moved in, we discovered that random kitchen activities would trip the circuit breaker. Each occurrence meant a trip down to the basement to reset the breaker. After a few more instances, we realized that these events weren't so random. Every time it happened, it was caused by one of us trying to use the microwave.

As a result, we started to adjust our behavior. Neither of us wants to be the one who causes the breaker to trip and thus has to trudge downstairs to flip the it back on, so we do things like set the microwave for longer than may be necessary, to avoid food that isn't hot enough and needs to go back for a second zapping, because that could be the one that does it. We turn off lights before starting the microwave. We try to remember when the breaker last got tripped, and try to estimate how long it's going to be before it happens again.

Not being an electrician, I'm not certain of this, but it seems to me that even though we don't make a habit of running all our kitchen appliances simultaneously, this circuit has too much on it and probably should have been split into two smaller circuits. When I talked to the landlord about the circuit, I got a sense that he and his wife had had to put up with the fussy breaker as well. But he's not going to pay to have work done on it. So reheating leftovers becomes sort of like a game of Russian roulette, but with a touchy circuit breaker instead of a gun.