Mark, You may wanna check them eyes again,,, Sure those letters on the breaker arent AIC ??? OKAY ITS BEEN YEARS SINCE I WORKED WITH THIS STUFF BUT HERES MY FOGGYYYYY YY RECOLLECTION If so??? it refers to the breaker maximum amps interrupting capacity of which 10,000 might be the case. Its a rating of the maximum ampacity that the breaker is capable of withstanding and has to do with the short circuit current capacity the utility might be able to deliver based on their distribution system and its impedance and how far you are from the substation. The last time we figured it at our facility it was less then 10,000 and the farther from the sub the less available, so the minimum 10,000 AIC breakers were all we had to specify. NEXT if the branch circuit wiring is alllll ll 12 gauge as you claim, then you could install a 20 amp breaker in place of that 15 which would allow more current to pass without tripping out HOWEVER on a branch circuit the code only allows you to have a maximum of 80% of continuous load current which means you could only legally pull 16 amps from that branch circuit IF THE LOAD IS CONTINUOUS THAT IS. I dont need to get into the definition of continuous loads and diversity etc here cuz all that matters for now is you cant have like that heater n microwave or any humidifer on there cuz only one of those is too close to that 16 amps and 2 sure puts you over the line. Im NOT convinced the breaker is all that weak, sounds more like its working n doin its job cuz anywhere close to 15 amps from it on a constant basis can cause its thermal element to trip out. True however if its tripped n been reset manyyyyy times it can no longer function as accurate n start nuisance tripping where a new breaker might not Keep us posted, keep safe It shouldnt cost much if anything just to have a licensed electrician take a look n give you an opinion n and estimate, believe him over any advice here regardless if its a lay opinion or a professional cuz we are NOT there n cant really say much for sure..... John T Too long retired EE n code rusty but givin ya my best shot
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