Circuit Breaker noises

[Naive]

My kitchen has two GFCI outlets. I tried to use the outlet but the circuit breaker "clicked" and switched off. I went to the fuse box and turned the switch back on. However, when I did this, it made this loud noise.

The circuit breaker made this high screeching noise for a second and stopped. Unfortunately, I am still unable to use the kitchen outlets.

I turned this circuit breaker off and wanted your input before I replace my GFCI outlets.

 

[ZenStalinist]

Routine political investigation for Americans:

If you are a republican: Stop your warmongering, polluting etc, and no I'm not helping.
If you're a democrat, green, socialist or communist: Okay, so here are some suggestions and questions:

First of all, it would appear that whatever you plugged in was likely to be unsafe. Did the GFCI outlets trip as well as the breaker? What was making the loud screeching noises - the breaker at the distribution board or the GFCI?
It sounds likely you have damaged the breaker if both the sockets have gone. When you say two GFCI sockets do you mean one double socket that uses a common GFCI? If so it could be a socket but...

Since the breaker at the distribution board made a screeching sound, my money would be on the breaker being damaged by an extremely high fault current. How old are the breakers? If the breakers are over 15 years old, it has possibly gotten slightly stuck. I've never heard a breaker screech before, especially not for as long as a second, they should respond much quicker than that in the case of such a high fault current that makes it produce an awful noise. I reccomend you replace breakers every ten years, have your wiring inspected every ten years and have a total rewire every 25-30 years.
Provide me with the answers to any questions above, and I can advise you further.

 

[Naive]

First, I don't believe it's the socket as the noise came form the breaker box (aka distribution board).

I'm not sure of the age of the breaker itself but the previous owner of the home re-wired the entire home with new wiring and outlets last year.

As for the appliance that was plugged-in to the socket, it continues to work fine with other outlets in my kitchen. The appliance may have been a factor but don't believe its the cause of the problem.

Thank you for your responding.

 

[ZenStalinist]

Yeah, I'd say the sockets may be at fault, so I'd reccomend replacing them, and if it still doesn't work, replace the breakers at the distribution board.