B737 captain notes a fuel imbalance after leveloff; which cannot be corrected with the crossfeed val...

Narrative:

Fuel imbalance 900 pounds after leveloff; tried to open crossfeed valve; would not open. Noticed crossfeed circuit breaker tripped. Referenced QRH consulted maintenance control on radio and reset circuit breaker. Opened the crossfeed valve to balance fuel; circuit breaker tripped again. Imbalance continued to about 1;700 pounds while talking to maintenance and discussing situation [we] decided to divert to safest and closest airport. Landed without incident. Mechanical failure of valve.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain notes a fuel imbalance after leveloff; which cannot be corrected with the crossfeed valve. The valve circuit breakers are found tripped and reset; after discussion with Maintenance Control; but trip again when the valve is opened. Flight diverts to a suitable airport.

Narrative: Fuel imbalance 900 LBS after leveloff; tried to open crossfeed valve; would not open. Noticed crossfeed CB tripped. Referenced QRH consulted Maintenance Control on radio and reset CB. Opened the crossfeed valve to balance fuel; CB tripped again. Imbalance continued to about 1;700 LBS while talking to Maintenance and discussing situation [we] decided to divert to safest and closest airport. Landed without incident. Mechanical failure of valve.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1113803
Time
Date	201309
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Tower
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Crossfeed
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

B737 captain notes a fuel imbalance after leveloff; which cannot be corrected with the crossfeed valve. The valve circuit breakers are found tripped and reset; after discussion with maintenance control; but trip again when the valve is opened. Flight diverts to a suitable airport.