Melted Breaker

[Apocalptus]

Hey everyone,

I am looking for advice regarding a melted breaker inside my control panel.

The cause of the issue is still unknown (to me anyway). The breaker started melting, but did not trip.

The reason I knew something was going on was the burnt plastic smell.

For the last couple years the panel was working just fine.

Is this just a defective breaker? The rest of the panel is still in good shape otherwise.

I will be changing the breaker, but my main concern here is to prevent this from happening again.

Let me know if there is something I should investigate further.

Thank you for your help.

 

[mongoose33]

Loose connection?

 

[dwhite60]

I'd go with poor connection too. Looks like they may have had some of the insulation inside
the clamping mechanism. Should have been stripped back further.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[doug293cz]

Loose connection?

Absolutely a loose/poor connection. Whenever you see melting or discoloration around the connections of a high current circuit, it's because the resistance of the connection went up, causing excessive heat at the connection. The discoloration/melting happens where the heat is being generated.

Brew on

 

[Apocalptus]

Thank you everyone! I'll strip the next one further back.

 

[doug293cz]

Thank you everyone! I'll strip the next one further back.

And make sure the wire strands are all fit correctly into the clamp zone, and all connections are torqued properly. It's also a good idea to periodically go in and re-tighten all connections, since heating/cooling related to normal operations can sometimes cause connections to loosen.

Brew on

 

[Apocalptus]

And make sure the wire strands are all fit correctly into the clamp zone, and all connections are torqued properly. It's also a good idea to periodically go in and re-tighten all connections, since heating/cooling related to normal operations can sometimes cause connections to loosen.

Brew on

Once I receive the new part and install it I shall re-tighten everything else. That is not something I have been doing. Might be why it took two years to finally melt.

Cheers!

 

[RocketBrewer]

Probably goes without saying, but I'd replace the wire too. Hopefully you are using a GFCI breaker for your power supply as well.

 

[bgmac]

Good thing you where around to smell the burnt plastic.

I went through my house and brewing sub panel recently and found more than one wire clamp almost a full turn loose. I guess I will put it on the calendar as an annual maintenance item.

 

[Apocalptus]

A new wire is going in that's for sure. I have a spa GFCI panel running the control panel.

I would say I was lucky, since I was having breakfast as the water was heating up. I could've come down too late.