HO call and says he can't reset his AFIC breaker and his two bedrooms are without power. I pickup a new Afic combination breaker and head over there. I ckeck out the bedrooms first and nothing is plug into any receptacle and both rooms have light/fans. This newer high end home. I check the breaker inquestion and notice that what looks like water on the breaker. I pull it out and the breaker under it has a puddle of water on top of it. When I had the breaker out, water is dripping out of it and the little window on the front has water in it. I am thinking this is the d-ox that they put in the stabs of the breaker but I have never seen one that was melted like this.
Afci
- Thread starter guschash
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
Let me get this straight. This breaker is in an indoor panel and there is water in the panel and in the breaker?
Sorry Dennis I was in a hurry early. Indoor panel, dry panel, no water in panel, no water running down wires to breaker. I think its the paste ( D-ox ) they put in between the breaker stabs. It felt like water and when took it out of panel it ran out of the breaker. My thought is that the d-ox or whatever they put the breaker or inside of the breaker got so hot it broke down into a waterly form. I had to use a paper towel to wipe the breaker that was right under it.
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Occupation
- PE (Retired) - Power Systems
You said this is a little window on the breaker, so I assume it is a Square D QO. According to Square D there is little to no 'grease' used inside of a QO breaker that can leak out. There is no way that the breaker got hot enough to cause any possible 'grease' it melt and drip without damage. And I question the melting aspect if the breaker is cool enough to hold in your hand and it is still dripping.
Are you sure that no water has migrated in through one of the main or branch cables? I have seen poorly sealed conduits that allow outside air into an loadcenter causing condensation.
Are you sure that no water has migrated in through one of the main or branch cables? I have seen poorly sealed conduits that allow outside air into an loadcenter causing condensation.
If it's really water, then it could have gotten into the breaker prior to installation (sitting in the bed of the original electricians pickup or the panel was breakered up prior to the home being weathered in) or it's condensation coming in from the meter socket outside.
If the breaker is towards the top of the panel, I would suspect the latter.
If the breaker is towards the top of the panel, I would suspect the latter.
480, The house is 5 years old. This is a high end house, generator, transfer switch, 200A panel, 100A sub right next to it. Whoever did the work did a nice job. I am leading towards d-ox breaking down, the texture was the same as water. I pull a few more breakers out and the d-ox was on the buss too. All these breakers had alot of d-ox on their stab, the Siemen conbination I put in didn't have any.
I've never seen contact grease with the viscosity of water. If it did, it would run down all over the bus bars.
If the house is only 5 years old, there may be no visible evidence of water travelling down the SECs yet.
macmikeman
Senior Member
- Location
- Planet macmikeman
The deoxidizing product called No-Alox from Ideal has sometimes had a clear oil mixed with the grey material in the bottle separate on me if left sitting still too long. Maybe thats what you are looking at, some No-Alox. The installer did not shake up the bottle good enough. Sounds like he overdid his goop on the busbar as well. If you are going to do that at all, just a very light layer, too small to even see is all that you should be applying to a busbar stab. Large globs can become a problem later on down the line.
Pierre C Belarge
Senior Member
- Location
- Westchester County, New York
Send the breaker to Siemens, and they will test it. I am pretty sure they will find out what the substance is and what happened to the breaker. Otherwise this is all conjecture.
M. D.
Senior Member
afci (liquidified oxy gaurd)
afci (liquidified oxy gaurd)
Depending on where the nipple from the panel to the meter base enters it could be that water is entering from the outside through the siding.Any LB fittings or etc..?If the service is a OH line ,is there a drip loop installed on the line conductors?Is the breaker box installed inside a basement without the heat being used ?If installed on a block wall check for proper air gap behind the breaker box.
afci (liquidified oxy gaurd)
Depending on where the nipple from the panel to the meter base enters it could be that water is entering from the outside through the siding.Any LB fittings or etc..?If the service is a OH line ,is there a drip loop installed on the line conductors?Is the breaker box installed inside a basement without the heat being used ?If installed on a block wall check for proper air gap behind the breaker box.
- Status