40a Single Pole Breaker

[Moore21]

I was working on a panel and they had a single pole 40a breaker in the panel. It was wired incorrectly so I asked the homeowner what it was for and he had no idea. I tried to trace it the best I could without opening walls, to no avail.

Does anyone have an idea of an appliance or other electrically powered device that would be 120v-40a?

 

[ptonsparky]

Turn the breaker off. Check freezers etc before you leave. Have customer call when he notices what's off.
Possibly an out building?

 

[retirede]

I’m having a hard time visualizing how a single-pole breaker can be wired incorrectly. Can you give us more details?

Is the wire sized adequately? I could see a homeowner installing a larger breaker because it was tripping.

Answers to these may aid our wild speculation!

 

[Moore21]

I’m having a hard time visualizing how a single-pole breaker can be wired incorrectly. Can you give us more details?

Is the wire sized adequately? I could see a homeowner installing a larger breaker because it was tripping.

Answers to these may aid our wild speculation!

Turn the breaker off. Check freezers etc before you leave. Have customer call when he notices what's off.
Possibly an out building?

It's not currently in use. When I removed the deadfront They had a neutral(white) wire landed on the breaker and the black from that same cable was capped off. I'm not really trying to restore power to that circuit, so much as I was just curious to what it was meant to operate. I cannot think of anything that would need a single pole breaker that size.
But thank you for the input.

 

[Moore21]

I’m having a hard time visualizing how a single-pole breaker can be wired incorrectly. Can you give us more details?

Is the wire sized adequately? I could see a homeowner installing a larger breaker because it was tripping.

Answers to these may aid our wild speculation!

See other reply.

 

[retirede]

See other reply.

It would still be interesting to know if the wire was sized adequately for a 40A OCPD.

I wonder if the circuit was originally connected to a 2-pole breaker (240V load)?

 

[LarryFine]

It would still be interesting to know if the wire was sized adequately for a 40A OCPD.

I wonder if the circuit was originally connected to a 2-pole breaker (240V load)?

It could be an electric range circuit that was converted to 120v for a gas range.

If so, the hot white wire could explain the "improperly-wired" comment.

 

[retirede]

It could be an electric range circuit that was converted to 120v for a gas range.

If so, the hot white wire could explain the "improperly-wired" comment.

That’s exactly where I was going….

 

[Moore21]

It would still be interesting to know if the wire was sized adequately for a 40A OCPD.

I wonder if the circuit was originally connected to a 2-pole breaker (240V load)?

Sorry I missed that comment, Yes it's a #8 Copper.