Shelf life on breakers?

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GerryB

Senior Member
I installed a 240v 20a outlet right below a customers panel for a heater he has. Sq D panel so I put in a 2p 20a Sq d breaker from a box of breakers that were used to begin with and were sitting in the garage for some years.
When I read the voltage at the outlet, 115 or 117 to ground only 200 between phases. Same at the panel which is 207volts. All other breakers read 207 between legs. My breaker read 200v and normal voltage to ground. Tried another used breaker I had brought and that one was even worse, 195v between. I am thinking they must have been bad and not gone bad from sitting and collecting dust, but they were removed from some trailers where they were used for electric heat. Also tried spraying one with contact cleaner to no avail. I have been using the sp ones in the box with no problem.
 

readydave8

re member
Location
Clarkesville, Georgia
Occupation
electrician
Had some CH-BR 200 amp main breakers sitting on the shelf for several years, possibly 4-7 years. They were taken out of new panels and replaced with main lug kits.

When we finally installed some last summer, they didn't work--turn on or turn off, no power.

Opened them up, cleaned the contacts, then they worked. Wood shavings and sheetrock dust were inside breakers but still had to sand contacts.
 

GerryB

Senior Member
I will open one up and look at it. I have had main breakers and other breakers trip the first time you turn them on and then be ok after that. Also the customer called me and said the breaker tripped after about an hour. He had asked me to use used parts if I had them and I told him about the voltage reading. The heater is also old with one rusty prong on the plug, so there's a few things going on here. Bottom line I think I'll be getting a new breaker.
 

Sierrasparky

Senior Member
Location
USA
Occupation
Electrician ,contractor
I will open one up and look at it. I have had main breakers and other breakers trip the first time you turn them on and then be ok after that. Also the customer called me and said the breaker tripped after about an hour. He had asked me to use used parts if I had them and I told him about the voltage reading. The heater is also old with one rusty prong on the plug, so there's a few things going on here. Bottom line I think I'll be getting a new breaker.

I never use used plug in breakers it's not worth it. Obsolete breakers I try to get new old stock. If I must I get them from a certified refurbish company.
 

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
Unless a breaker is very hard to find, I used to chuck old ones from a rewire job. Kept a few Zinsco & FPE if they were in good shape, would put them in ziplock bags Never knew just what loads a breaker had been carrying or how much longer it would last. I would keep new leftovers in a bag too, to keep them dry and clean. When business at work is slow, boss will have me to through materials in the warehouse. I have found a lot of good older breakers & some junky ones too. I throw out any with stickers on them, rusted terminals, caked on dust or badly scuffed. Again, I keep some that are hard to find but most would be hard to sell in good faith to a customer.

Far as I know, a clean dry breaker has no specific shelf life.

I got sick when I was cleaning up stuff after I shut down last year. I found a 5 gallon bucket of misc material that had been sitting out, sometimes getting rained on. Found 20 or so 15 and 20 amp QO's there. They were from several jobs & I hadn't gotten around to protecting them. Had to chuck them all.
 

macmikeman

Senior Member
I have boxes of ''brand new'' old Challenger plug in breakers sitting in my shop. Over stock on a track project that went bust. What are they good for? Well for one thing, using them in combination with some old white 12-2 nm cable and no need permit, cause that is obviously old work, just look at it your honor they haven't made white 12-2 for years now......
 

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
I have boxes of ''brand new'' old Challenger plug in breakers sitting in my shop. Over stock on a track project that went bust. What are they good for? Well for one thing, using them in combination with some old white 12-2 nm cable and no need permit, cause that is obviously old work, just look at it your honor they haven't made white 12-2 for years now......

I have seen a few Challengers but not many. How long was Challenger sold and when? Never saw them in supply houses I dealt with.
 

norcal

Senior Member
I have seen a few Challengers but not many. How long was Challenger sold and when? Never saw them in supply houses I dealt with.


Challenger went away after Eaton bought Westinghouse's electrical div. actually they sold it to T&B.
 

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
Challenger went away after Eaton bought Westinghouse's electrical div. actually they sold it to T&B.

I have seen some of the T&B breakers also, again not a lot. Had to get a supply house to special order a T&B 200 amp main for me. I think it was about $130.00. I was lucky to find it at all.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Also the customer called me and said the breaker tripped after about an hour. He had asked me to use used parts if I had them and I told him about the voltage reading. The heater is also old with one rusty prong on the plug, so there's a few things going on here. Bottom line I think I'll be getting a new breaker.
Customer is stupid. If he wants you to use used parts for something where parts are worth less then the labor to change them, then wonders why they fail. Sure hope you charge him the labor you put in whether they work or not. Even if you charged him $50 for a new breaker and another 50 -100 to install it, he has spent less then if you come back 3 or 4 times because the used units keep failing.

I might have installed the used one the first time, second time it gets a new one, and I am in no way coming back to "warranty" a second used breaker. If they insist on continuing to use such used parts, I guess I have no problem continuing to charge them usual labor charges to install them though.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
I put in a 2p 20a Sq d breaker from a box of breakers that were used to begin with and were sitting in the garage for some years.

If a contractor sold me used junk I would be pissed off.

Honestly, you reused a $20-$30 breaker for a permanent installation?
 

big john

Senior Member
Location
Portland, ME
If a contractor sold me used junk I would be pissed off.

Honestly, you reused a $20-$30 breaker for a permanent installation?
Not to mention that of all the things that need to work properly, your OCPD is at the top of that list, and being a sealed, disposable unit, it's also the most difficult one to evaluate.

I don't know of any official text to use when evaluating a breaker based solely on age, except to say that grease absolutely does fail, contacts absolutely do corrode, spring tension definitely does fatigue, so I wouldn't dream of using a breaker that had been sitting dormant on a shelf for a couple decades. Nor would I reuse one that had been in service, because there's no way of knowing what type of duty it had seen. You're taking a very large amount of liability for a very small cost savings. If the breakers are at a premium, that is something that should be passed onto the customer.

Be extraordinarily weary of people who "refurbish" molded case breakers. Some larger frames can be disassembled and there are refurbishing and testing standards for people who do this professionally. Small riveted frames cannot be reconditioned, and they are often sold "AS IS" with absolutely no evaluation.
 
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