I have a friend who bought a new home about 3 years ago and seems to be having a lot of circuit breaker failures. They are the ones that are not only combo arc fault but also have the ground built in so no pigtails. I felt some of the breakers and they seem warm. Are the failures normal or is something else happening.
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Electrical question
- Thread starter BC1
- Start date
What do the breakers feed? Lighting or motor driven appliances?
In my experience, it is usually the beaker is not tightly mounted, at its limit, or bad.
In my experience, it is usually the beaker is not tightly mounted, at its limit, or bad.
Assorted breakers. Doesn't seem like high amp items.
The ones I saw were lighting.
They are Eaton. I saw on line that they don't seem to have many fans.
Probably "builder grade".
One thing about lighting circuits, if he has a bunch of compact florescence bulbs that come on at one time with a switch, he might be overloading the circuit. Even though they have a 10 to 15 watt draw running, it is much higher on the older ones during startup. .
Turn off the main breaker. Pull a couple of the "heaters" out and check for corrosion or bluing on the terminals that compress onto the buss. Maglite the buss also to inspect for anything other than copper. If any indications, replace with a quality breaker for the panel manufacturer. Just my 2 cents. :-)
Parents house has Eaton arc faults. Hes replaced half of them already in 4 years. They are a fire waiting to happen. They've had two homes down the street burn to the ground due to electrical failures. If it were my house, Id replace with non arc faults and then swap them back over when you sell the home. But Im no electrician either.
