Back up a minute.
Back up a minute.
hello guys
thanks for your comments.
Its a draw out type breaker and operates at around 2000A current.Every 15 days we rack it out during plant shutdown and check visually.
We found the copper arm was over heated which can be seen by the colour of the copper due to heating up.
Lot of good suggestions here but let's not jump to conclusions. First of all,
2000A on a 2500A rated breaker is right at the NEMA standard of 80% maximum allowed loading unless it is a 100% rated breaker (which I doubt.) This would mean that all of the above mentioned conditions would have to be perfect (main contact resistance, contact wipe, erosion, pressure, finger cluster condition, spring pressure, etc.) for it not to be overloaded.
Second ( which I think is more likely the wrong assumption) how do you
know it is overheated by the visual " color of the copper?" Most all switchgear and breaker conductors use silver plated copper bus bar and over time (how old is the gear?) the silver tarnishes into a black-gold color that can look exactly like overheated (annealed) copper. This has fooled many customers of mine and myself! So my guess is that there is no overheating taking place. To prove my argument take an IR gun or camera and measure the temperature of each phase and compare it to the load current in each phase to determine if overheating is actually occuring. If not, hire a reputable testing co to do an IR scan and provide you with a detailed report. Also, see if switching can be done to reduce the load below 2000A on this circuit, otherwise you are just asking for trouble.
Good luck!
Tony