GE Breaker

[siver295]

This GE breaker was one of two controlling two different RTU's. The breakers were hot to touch and replaced (after checking wire size and name plate on RTU). It has been sitting on the gutter for a couple of weeks. I noticed the fluid and opened up one of the two breakers, but couldn't determine where the fluid could have come from.

Has anyone seen this before?

 

[Buck Parrish]

I have not seen this. And I have seen many hot burnt breakers. Could it be somebody put no-lox on it. Or PCB's?
More likely somebody sprayed an electronics cleaner, oil or something.

 

[chris kennedy]

Gutter is missing screws, imagine that.:roll:

 

[zog]

I have not seen this. And I have seen many hot burnt breakers. Could it be somebody put no-lox on it. Or PCB's?

Not in this breaker

More likely somebody sprayed an electronics cleaner, oil or something.

Hence the failure

 

[sii]

Funny this should come up today. I happened to have a particular CH panel open a couple of times in the last couple of days. I noticed on a few of the breakers that there is an oily substance "wicking" up the wire. All of the wires feed in from the top. I too was wondering what the oil could be but forgot to post about it. All of the breakers feed 20A receptacles. There seemed to be no oil on the can or the breaker, just the wire and it seems to go all the way down to where the wire is landed. What the heck is that stuff?

 

[jim dungar]

Funny this should come up today. I happened to have a particular CH panel open a couple of times in the last couple of days. I noticed on a few of the breakers that there is an oily substance "wicking" up the wire. All of the wires feed in from the top. I too was wondering what the oil could be but forgot to post about it. All of the breakers feed 20A receptacles. There seemed to be no oil on the can or the breaker, just the wire and it seems to go all the way down to where the wire is landed. What the heck is that stuff?

There have been documented cases of conductors 'leaking oil'. In the first case I was involved with, it was 'agreed' to be a poor batch of plasticizers (the stuff that makes PVC insulation flexible). I don't have a copy of the paper describing the condition but I think it came from either Southwire or General Cable. The customer replaced several panelboards and many branch circuits.

 

[hunt4679]

Ive cut 500 mcm that was laying in water and 200' down the run had water pouring out where I cut it. Of course it had a knick in it and shorted to ground. It could be water in it?

 

[wireguru]

could it be the grease in the breaker (or maybe too much grease in the breaker) that got hot, melted, and flowed out of the breaker?

 

[jim dungar]

could it be the grease in the breaker...

Small molded case breakers, like this, have little to no grease in them at all, definitely not enough to melt and drip out.

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

Is it possible the substance was there before the breaker was placed there, but you did not notice it then?

 

[siver295]

Thanks for the responses. The two pole breaker that I broke open had no sign of fluid or liquid inside. I noticed the two breakers when they were in the panel and the label on the front of the breaker easily slid around when I touched it. None of the other breakers had this problem. The two new breakers seem fine.