green2012
Member
- Location
- highland park, il
Im not entirely sure what the problem is. Let me start by explaining the problem. A small fire broke out inside a residential panel. The 2pole 30 amp breaker for the A/C unit burnt itself out from the inside. It took the bus with it an finally the main tripped and thats when they noticed the problem. Whole panel needed changing out obviously. The A/C unit compressor grounded out and was replaced as well. The A/C seemed to start the issue but why didnt the breaker trip? After changing out the panel I decided to check other circuits. Apparently a few years back same thing happened to the kitchen circuit but didnt cause a fire. It just destroyed the breaker and the bus "tab" that it stabbed into. I checked the circuit and it draws 25 apms on a 15 amp circuit and doesnt pop the breaker. This is a brand new breaker. I changed it just to be sure but it wont pop regardless of how much aperage goes through it. I checked the grounding electrode and it looks fine. It terminates 6 feet from where the main water line comes through the ground. Seems to be solid. I did one final test to see if I can get a breaker to trip. I grounded out an outlet to the pipe feeding it and it sparked pretty good but did not pop the breaker. Im at a loss. Panel is bonded to the neutral. I get a reading of ground at the outlets I have plug tested and I get ground readings in the panel. Any thoughts????