submerged main breaker

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oldsparky52

Senior Member
Location
Wilmington, NC USA
The main breakers at a marina went submerged at a marina (800A SQ D S-phase 120/240)

The question is, what is the correct procedure to deal with this? Take the breaker out and ship it to get it serviced? Just replace it?

Can the bus be cleaned or does the whole panel need to be replace?
 
Couldn't you get that large panel reconditioned? Wouldn't that be cheaper then tearing it out and replacing it?
 
Reminds me of a job I quoted about 20 or so years ago, big water park, maintenance mistakenly shut off the sump pumps when they winterized. Several months later, they found the electrical room submerged. 480 volt gear was still energized. Room walls were black from the arcing. They wanted to just “dry” it out, and turn it back on. I refused, and quoted all new. Didn’t get the job, don’t know if they talked another contractor into doing that.
 
oldsparky52 said:
The main breakers at a marina went submerged at a marina (800A SQ D S-phase 120/240)

The question is, what is the correct procedure to deal with this? Take the breaker out and ship it to get it serviced? Just replace it?

Can the bus be cleaned or does the whole panel need to be replace?
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See


NEMA has a free standard for this. In short if anything touched water you replace it or get it serviced and rebuilt. Among other things the bearings in breakers and disconnects will be contaminated and will break down or wash out. Insulation materials might be OK as far as surface moisture but not submerged.

Very few electrical components are tested and rated for prolonged submersion and most of those fall outside NEC.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
Couldn't you get that large panel reconditioned? Wouldn't that be cheaper then tearing it out and replacing it?
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When I installed it circa 2005, I was paying around $3,500 to $5,000 for those (SQ D I-line) depending on the number of breakers and MB rating. If the pricing is similar, I would think new would be better value, but IDK.
 
I so much want to go back to the owner of that place and say "I warned you". I questioned having the panels below the flood level, but they (owner) didn't want to raise them that high because it would be an eyesore. The AHJ at that time did not require they be installed that high because they were not attached to a building.

Now I'm retired and no longer have a license so ... not my problem. :)
 
Replace in same location, this way when it happens again they call you back to replace again, etc.
 
There is one of those famous arc flash videos showing a guy racking in a breaker then boom! The story I heard was they were servicing things. They parked the breaker on a dock over salt water where the whole back side got sprayed. It was dry by full of salt. So it arced when they racked it in. Seawater turns everything into a mild conductor even if you dry it out.
 
oldsparky52 said:
The main breakers at a marina went submerged at a marina (800A SQ D S-phase 120/240)

The question is, what is the correct procedure to deal with this? Take the breaker out and ship it to get it serviced? Just replace it?

Can the bus be cleaned or does the whole panel need to be replace?
Click to expand...
I've worked for Square D over 13 years. The Circuit Breaker and all the Switchboard electronic devices must be replaced due to NEMA and Manufacturers Specifications. The enclosure and Bus can be reconditioned under certain conditions.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
goldsborough said:
I've worked for Square D over 13 years. The Circuit Breaker and all the Switchboard electronic devices must be replaced due to NEMA and Manufacturers Specifications. The enclosure and Bus can be reconditioned under certain conditions.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
All insulators should be replaced. Have the manufacturer clean and test the Switchboard so they can provide you a warranty.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
Sort of like flooded houses. I’m sure it’s been discussed before here, but if a house is flooded most, if not everything needs to be replaced.

I’ve had a main breaker shock me by listening to a supervisor many years ago during a hurricane cleanup.
we got the power back on, I was told to turn the homeowners main on. The homeowner was there trying to salvage what he could so the supervisor connected him trying to be nice.
Haven’t connected anything that was flooded since.
 
goldsborough said:
All insulators should be replaced. Have the manufacturer clean and test the Switchboard so they can provide you a warranty.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The manufacturers do have their own repair shops but more often than not they send them out. Just deal with a PEARL or factory authorized service center. For instance ZOG does a lot of ABB stuff. CPS does GE. Also it would not be worth repair. All insulators and fasteners have to be replaced. By the time they rip it apart it’s cheaper to replace. Replacing a few parts is one thing but not the whole board. Frequently I’ve won bids on “repair” jobs by replacing instead of repairing. You have to look at each job separately. As another example I priced a rebuilt Merlin Gerin breaker for $10,000 or replace with a current Schneider with shimming the bus for $4,000.
 
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