Resetting circuit breakers

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cppoly

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New York
This is off NEC topic, but I am looking to replace a receptacle at my house. I read that it is a good idea to reset circuit breakers every year for circuit breaker maintenance. Since I have to find the circuit breaker that feeds the receptacle I want to replace, I figured I might as well flip all the breakers on and off in the house panel while I'm down there anyway. But before I go flipping happy, is there any cautions to this? I won't want to flip the air conditioning breaker if the equipment is running... Or even if I do, can it damage the equipment?
 
don_resqcapt19

don_resqcapt19

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cppoly said:
This is off NEC topic, but I am looking to replace a receptacle at my house. I read that it is a good idea to reset circuit breakers every year for circuit breaker maintenance. Since I have to find the circuit breaker that feeds the receptacle I want to replace, I figured I might as well flip all the breakers on and off in the house panel while I'm down there anyway. But before I go flipping happy, is there any cautions to this? I won't want to flip the air conditioning breaker if the equipment is running... Or even if I do, can it damage the equipment?
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Shutting the AC or other refrigeration compressors with the breaker is fine, but you should wait about 5 minutes before you turn it back on. Some AC control systems have a restart delay built in, but others don't.
 
Dennis Alwon

Dennis Alwon

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I have never heard that you should flip the breakers. I don't really see an issue with it but I have seen it where the main gets turned off and it will not physically turn on. This had been a problem with a few manufacturers.
 
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templdl

Senior Member
Location
Wisconsin
"Exercising" breakers is a very good idea. It assures that the mechanical parts are lubricated and improves contact resistance as each time that you open and close a breaker the moving contact actually rubs against the stationary contact, an action that improves contact resistance.
The only thing that's a pain is reseting all of those digital clocks on that circuit.
 
jumper

jumper

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templdl said:
"Exercising" breakers is a very good idea. It assures that the mechanical parts are lubricated and improves contact resistance as each time that you open and close a breaker the moving contact actually rubs against the stationary contact, an action that improves contact resistance.
The only thing that's a pain is reseting all of those digital clocks on that circuit.
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All right fess up: Do you actually do this? Me: nope. I admit I do not test GFCIs in my house either.

However, I do change the batteries in smoke alarms. Do that day light savings reminder thing.
 
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templdl

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Wisconsin
jumper said:
All right fess up: Do you actually do this? Me: nope. I admit I do not test GFCIs in my house either.

However, I do change the batteries in smoke alarms. Do that day light savings reminder thing.
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It goes back to what you tell your kids "Do as I say not as I do." I was a breaker applications engineer fo a large electrical manufacturer and I am well aware of the benefits of exercising breakers,
But it's time consuming enough to change the digital clocks twice a year or if there is a brief power outage. And to intentionally interrupt the power??!!! Ya right when weighing the benefits against the grief.
 
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templdl

Senior Member
Location
Wisconsin
ActionDave said:
I , but not because of any planned maintenance. I tinker with stuff a lot around my house.
When the tinkering gets more advanced I'll use a GFI protected circuit, so they get exercised on occasion.
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Gee, you're taking all of the fun out of it if you intentionally turn them off. There is nothing like getting bit, letting a few sparkes fly of the smoke out.
Then it's:
"Ouch. Damn, why didn't that trip the breaker?"
But after a few times you conclude that it wasn't that much fun ofter all and just turn the breaker off first instead of gambling on getting knocked on your butt or?
 
K8MHZ

K8MHZ

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Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
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templdl said:
Gee, you're taking all of the fun out of it if you intentionally turn them off. There is nothing like getting bit, letting a few sparkes fly of the smoke out.
Then it's:
"Ouch. Damn, why didn't that trip the breaker?"
But after a few times you conclude that it wasn't that much fun ofter all and just turn the breaker off first instead of gambling on getting knocked on your butt or?
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How about turning breaker off and still getting nailed?

Receptacle fed from two breakers. We started turning off breakers until my wiggy showed no power. Pulled out wiggy and turned all the other breakers back on.

Hmm.....

Went back to panel and found that two breakers had to be turned off to shut down the receptacle.

Yes, we did fix it, and it wasn't even much of a chore.
 
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jap

Senior Member
Occupation
Electrician
Just being honest, although its probably a good idea to excercise a breaker every now and then, my thoughts of fixing it when it breaks always outweighs the chances of breaking it for no reason when its working fine to begin with.
 
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