Bad Breaker?

[DaveSchlarb]

I found an outlet this morning that the hot had burned off of and welded the grounding screw into the back of the box, I suspect that the hot was nicked at some point. I was kind of surprised that the breaker did not trip, once I located it. Could the breaker be bad? It did seem to operate normally to turn it off and back on.

 

[letgomywago]

I found an outlet this morning that the hot had burned off of and welded the grounding screw into the back of the box, I suspect that the hot was nicked at some point. I was kind of surprised that the breaker did not trip, once I located it. Could the breaker be bad? It did seem to operate normally to turn it off and back on.

If the ground sheared off at the next box from the arc it might not. Or if the cable run is long but then it wouldn't weld to the box

 

[jim dungar]

It sounds like you may have had a high resistance fault, that never drew enough current to trip the breaker.

 

[letgomywago]

It sounds like you may have had a high resistance fault, that never drew enough current to trip the breaker.

That wouldn't trip a breaker but also wouldn't make enough heat to weld it to the box.

 

[augie47]

what manufacturer is the breaker ?

 

[DaveSchlarb]

what manufacturer is the breaker ?

It's an old GE bolt on from the mid 80's

 

[letgomywago]

It's an old GE bolt on from the mid 80's

Could be bad or it could be good enough. Is it sized correctly?

 

[DaveSchlarb]

Could be bad or it could be good enough. Is it sized correctly?

Yeah it's a single pole 20 amp...

 

[ptonsparky]

Put an amp clamp on it.