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derease

Member
Looking for some advise. I have a house with a 200 amp overhead service. The residence told me that when they turn on some of their major appliances ( oven, dryer, baseboard heat) that sometimes the main breaker trips. Sometimes after it trips it won't reset right away and may take up to 45 minutes on some occassions. I get a reading of 124 from both sides of the panel to neutral, thinking it was a neutral problem. Another problem they have, which might be unrelated to this is that in an upstairs bathroom the power goes out, sometime for a day to week, without any breaker tripping, before it comes back on by itself, and they go through a ton of light bulbs in that bathroom. After talking to them for a while thay did say they had lightning strike a tree in the back yard and that these problems started to happen after that. When looking at the panel, which in itself is difficult to get at, it appears that there could be some burn marks on the bus bar around the main breaker (old ITE panel with wide main breaker). My thought was that the lightning strike caused the main to weaken and that is why it keeps tripping and won't go back in right away. The whole pane is old and I think a new panel would fix the problem, however I don't want to have them spend the money if the problem could be else where. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Dave
 

Smart $

Esteemed Member
Location
Ohio
Did you take any amperage readings while all their major appliances were turned on? That would clue you in to whether or not the breaker had "weakened" or is simply overloaded.

Burn marks in a panel are never a good sign ;)

You'll likely have to track down the problem in the batroom circuit... when it is not working... or rerun the circuit. Estimated-cost factor will determine which to pursue out of the gate.
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
I would check to see that the terminals on the main breaker are tight. If they are there is a very good chance you have a bad breaker. Sounds like a new panel will be the fix.

What is the load on the house? Unless they added some big addition or loads recently then I would still guess bad breaker/panel. Pull the meter and check closely around the main for burn marks. I would even pull the breaker out and see what's up.
 

glene77is

Senior Member
Location
Memphis, TN
Derease,
they had lightning strike a tree in the back yard and that these problems started to happen after that.
That is a very dangerous and potentially damaging situation.
Lightning is very unpredictable.
Went to a house once, where lightning had struck, and
found the Main Breaker was 'sizzling' and making 'hissing' noises.
A change-out was the sure cure.

Like Smart suggested, take a full load amp reading,
and account for HVAC slow startup.

Like Dennis suggested, pop the meter, inspect,
and then inspect the Main Breaker and buss.

In the end, you are only covered (CYA) if you "Solve" the problem.
and nobody is covered if the house burns down.
 

Jraef

Moderator, OTD
Staff member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
... When looking at the panel, which in itself is difficult to get at, it appears that there could be some burn marks on the bus bar around the main breaker (old ITE panel with wide main breaker). ...
That alone warrants a very thorough investigation. If the connection from the main to the bus is burned or was over heated by the lightning hit, it will run hot and that heat would easily transfer to the breaker tripping sensors. Most likely if the main has tripped many many times like this it needs to be replaced now anyway, but when doing so I would remove all of the breakers and be prepared to replace the entire panel if there is evidence of even the slightest damage or heat discoloration on the bus bars. It's not something to be trifled with.
 

derease

Member
This web site is really awesome, thanks for all the replys will be heading there Monday. I just spoke to owner and asked him when the main breaker trips is it hot and he advised me that it was and won't reset until it cools down. I am going to pull the meter and check tightness in panel and meter base. If I get a good reading in meter base and panel and everything is tight, I guess it's the main breaker.
 

Smart $

Esteemed Member
Location
Ohio
This web site is really awesome, thanks for all the replys will be heading there Monday. I just spoke to owner and asked him when the main breaker trips is it hot and he advised me that it was and won't reset until it cools down. I am going to pull the meter and check tightness in panel and meter base. If I get a good reading in meter base and panel and everything is tight, I guess it's the main breaker.
Don't forget to get a current measurement with as heavy a load as can be put on the service...


...before pulling the meter. ;)
 

PetrosA

Senior Member
Old ITE breaker? If you mean the four pole with the handle horizontal across them I would definitely pop the breaker off and check the lugs and stabs behind it. These breakers are notorious for overheating and softening up the stabs which creates an arc situation, usually on one leg. If that's the case, you'll see darkening or discoloration of the stabs and the plate that connects them to the lug. There is a repair kit for these that includes the main breaker, new lugs, new bus connectors and new stabs. It should cost about $175 to get. You may have difficulty ordering it directly through Siemens though. The number on that breaker doesn't exist in their system anymore. The last time I got one it was listed as MAIN BREAKER KIT 200A EQ III LOAD CENTER and on EBay I've seen it as MBK Type EQ 96 4 pole Main Circuit Breaker Kit. Good luck!
 
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