Burnt looking breakers

[isurf]

Hi everyone,

Was on a job site recently for something unrelated but noticed some breakers that looked like they had gotten hot at one point and let some smoke out. They edges of the labels also look darkened brown, like a burnt edge almost. This is not an isolated incident and was spotted in a few locations in different panels.

Wondering if anyone else has seen this and knows what the possible reasons could be. FYI everything functions as it should as far as I know. Thanks for the input!

 

[Another C10]

Thanks for the input!

If it is overheating it's sort of a strange place to see its results, next time your looking at that situation place the outer part of a finger on that spot but be careful it may feel like a frying pan. If the one spot is hotter than all the other parts of that breaker or others in the panel I'd say there's some internal micro arcing going on.. Make sure to have a licensed electrician look closer into it, possibly a breaker replace.

 

[macmikeman]

One of my earliest employers who's name was Earl blew his thumb almost all the way off when he decided to poke a live three pole breaker in a 480 volt panel when it appeared to him as "cooking". My advice, don't put your finger on it to see how bad the hot spot is getting. I suggest you de-energize the bus prior to that trick.

 

[Ravenvalor]

If there is a company in your area that sells reconditioned breakers and panels they might be willing to inspect this breaker for you.

 

[ptonsparky]

Carry a small non contact thermometer with you. About $40 if you look around.

 

[Tulsa Electrician]

Do your self a favor. Shut that down before doing anything with it. I see it turned up to max.

Access the circuit. Check load at load end. Stay away from that live.
Better safe than sorry.

I have seen this before. We did an gear insp after a lighting strike. We replaced a few breakers and plugs and fixed a few other issues.

 

[jim dungar]

It looks to be overheating at the 'rating plug' which controls the electronics of the breaker.

Time to replace the breaker.

 

[Joethemechanic]

Carry a small non contact thermometer with you. About $40 if you look around.

I've got one of those fancy Fluke thermal cameras that cost as much as a new car at work I use for inspections. But you can get less sophisticated ones in the hundred dollar range. They can be a great little troubleshooting tool

 

[kwired]

Have you taken the cover off or just seen what you have pictured? I've seen overheated conductor terminations or even failed bus connection end up doing this to the surfaces visible when covers are on as well. If the bus been overheated you need to not use that space again, and possibly have had damaged to adjacent spaces as well. If turns out bad enough use something other than GE as the replacement, for the entire panel of course.

 

[isurf]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I am not an electrician so only doing visual inspection but my curiosity is wanting to know what the issue is. I am going to request an electrician go out and do some further investigation. After walking the rest of the building this occurrence is fairly frequent. Ill update when/if we find out what the cause is.