B737 Captain reported coffee maker circuit breakers tripped during two legs of the flight. During the second leg; circuit breakers tripped on two coffee makers; prompting the flight crew to divert.

Date: 2024-10 · Aircraft: B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-critical|flight-deck-cabin-aircraft-event-smoke-fire-fumes-odor

Synopsis

B737 Captain reported coffee maker circuit breakers tripped during two legs of the flight. During the second leg; circuit breakers tripped on two coffee makers; prompting the flight crew to divert.

Narrative

Electrical EmergencyPreface:During the preceding leg of the 1-day pairing; experienced a slight electrical type odor while being vectored onto final approach into ZZZ. First Officer confirmed that he smelled something too. We did not see any smoke on the flight deck nor see any tripped circuit breakers. I immediately called the flight attendants to see if they smelled smoke or saw any fire or smoke indications. The lead flight attendant did not see anything. Immediately after hanging up the phone; the lead flight attendant called me back to let me know that the circuit breakers for the #1 Oven in the forward galley had tripped. I told him to leave it alone; do not reset; do not use the oven and to let me know immediately if there was any sign of smoke or fire. I also told him that we would be on the ground in about 5 minutes. After landing in ZZZ; contract maintenance came out and thoroughly inspected the suspect oven as well as removed and inspected the flight deck circuit breaker panels. They found no evidence of an electrical short. The oven was deferred and we operated the next flight.Emergency event:As we were climbing out of approximately 25;000 feet the lead flight attendant called and said that the circuit breakers for the coffee maker 105 tripped. He said there was no odor; nor any sign of smoke or fire. I told him to stop using and turn off all the coffee makers in the forward galley and to turn off the ovens in the forward galley. We then entered an ELB (Electronic Log Book) write up for the coffee maker. Then I used the ACARS option for dispatch to 'call me'. Initially the VHF phone patch was not successful probably due to distance from land and altitude at our position. Finally established contact via HF. Patched in Maintenance Control to discuss the issue with a new tripped breaker in the forward galley after having the earlier issue with the oven. Maintenance Control advised that because there was no odor; smoke or fire indication; that we are okay to continue. I advised them that we would continue to ZZZ1 but if this turns into a wider electrical problem that we would probably look at other options; such as diverting.Approximately 10 minutes after talking to Maintenance Control; the lead flight attendant called and advised that the circuit breaker for coffee maker 106 had tripped. At this point I made the decision to divert due to multiple breakers having tripped in the same general area fearing that we might have a more widespread electrical problem that could result in a fire. I told ATC that we were diverting initially to ZZZ2; however as the situation stabilized and no more breakers were popping and no sign of fire or smoke decided to continue on to ZZZ3 so we could have a larger team of mechanics taking a look at the aircraft.I handed the pilot flying duties to the FO so I could more effectively coordinate with ATC; dispatch; ops; flight attendants and passengers. I gave the lead flight attendant the briefing advising that no evacuation would be necessary; no special instructions; and we had 25-30 minutes to land. The flight attendant asked if he should 'prepare the cabin?' I then very clearly told him to prepare the cabin for 'landing' to avoid any ambiguity about preparing for landing vs. evacuation. Then I reviewed the diversion checklist in the QRH to make sure we accomplished all tasks. Since there was no odor; smoke or fire; there was no applicable QRH but I did keep the smoke; fire; fumes checklist open in case the situation deteriorated.The First Officer did a great job always keeping me in the loop for any changes as well as offering helpful ideas to make sure we covered everything.Arriving at ZZZ3; the CFR team was lined up along the runway. We told them we plan to vacate the runway and taxi to the gate. We also accepted their offer to follow us to the gate. At which point we parked and wrote up the second coffee maker issue.

More incidents for this aircraft family →

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.