fire in a panel

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billdozier 78

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Orlando
Had a service call to work today. Charred insulation on some of the wires inside of panel. Only thing my lead could find after cleaning out dry chem from extinguisher was a switch that caused breaker to hum. This breaker was burnt on the area where it clips to bus bar. The hum only happened when this switch was turned on. Switch had no ground attached to it. It was located directly under the panel. There were two other switches fed by same breaker in the box. No apparent problems when these switches were turned on. Wrong breaker from a different manufacture was installed. We changed out switch and breaker. Would this be the culprit? What else would you guys have done? One other breaker would ark when it was turned on. We changed out that breaker as well,apparently fixed that problem.
 
I would be concerned with what the chemical will do to the breakers and buss down the road. You left a lot of money on the table by not doing a panel change. IMPO you should have changed the panel to have peace of mind about a possible weakened buss.
 
billdozier 78 said:
This was just a temp fix,panels will be getting changed out in next few days. Sorry for leaving that out.
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That panel change out should happen sooner rather than later, if the fire extinguisher was an "ABC" type. These extinguishers use monoammonium phosphate as the extinguishing agent. The agent is slightly hygroscopic, and if left on metal surfaces will cause corrosion over time. The powder is really fine, clings like crazy, and it's almost impossible to clean up 100% without a hose or thorough damp wiping. It's why you should never use this type around pricey electronic gear (your desktop computer, eg). A CO2 or Halotron unit is your best bet.
 
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