Main breaker won't turn on

Status
Not open for further replies.
ptonsparky said:
Good chance it's time for a panel update.
Click to expand...
Why? A Murray, not zinsco or similar, so why? Unless of course bad corrosion from some type damage or exposure. Are some of the older Murray defective??

Own home has QO panels that are 50 years old. No corrosion. Even on the 4/0 and 2AWG aluminum cables after about 20 years when torques checked no further tightening. Have never needed to replace a QO breaker.

Every 10 years or so have a heavy duty plug with a 30A breaker, plug in, throw breaker, verify the 20A QO's trip, never a failure.
 
junkhound said:
Why? A Murray, not zinsco or similar, so why? Unless of course bad corrosion from some type damage or exposure. Are some of the older Murray defective??

Own home has QO panels that are 50 years old. No corrosion. Even on the 4/0 and 2AWG aluminum cables after about 20 years when torques checked no further tightening. Have never needed to replace a QO breaker.

Every 10 years or so have a heavy duty plug with a 30A breaker, plug in, throw breaker, verify the 20A QO's trip, never a failure.
Click to expand...
I haven't seen Murray for years and I honestly thought they were discontinued.
 
Little Bill said:
Well James answered that. But you, being inexperienced with this, probably shouldn't attempt it. I was just saying what I had to do to get power back on in an emergency. Maybe your journeyman can help you with this.
Click to expand...
Messing with un fused hot wires should be done by someone who understands the meaning of dead short or fault for sure.
 
letgomywago said:
Yes but they sold separate lines for quiet a while the old Murray mains are not Siemens mains though. The breakers are mostly interchangeable with exception to the older Murray that has an extra notch in it.
Click to expand...
I saw Murray occasionally but was not real up on it. Can you still buy a Murray main?
 
junkhound said:
Why? A Murray, not zinsco or similar, so why? Unless of course bad corrosion from some type damage or exposure. Are some of the older Murray defective??

Own home has QO panels that are 50 years old. No corrosion. Even on the 4/0 and 2AWG aluminum cables after about 20 years when torques checked no further tightening. Have never needed to replace a QO breaker.

Every 10 years or so have a heavy duty plug with a 30A breaker, plug in, throw breaker, verify the 20A QO's trip, never a failure.
Click to expand...
IMHO, QO was the best breaker out there, still is best I know. Seeing some issues with I LIne, which is a shame. .
 
jmellc said:
IMHO, QO was the best breaker out there, still is best I know. Seeing some issues with I LIne, which is a shame. .
Click to expand...
Best is siemens in my opinion. They have mains that work and I hate QO loose bussing along with CH for the same reason. QO and CH afci are giant and GE and Eaton mains seam to be the ones that either fail in the on or off position. QO load centers also had poorly designed ground bars but so did everyone else at the time.
 
ptonsparky said:
Can you back feed any breaker?

I've done a lot of them, but I can't say any. Generally a backed breaker also requires a means to secure it in place. It could be a screw or some other locking means that the mfg can supply.
Click to expand...
If a loadcenter was built before the hold down requirements were added there is not much of chance of finding a hold down to comply.
 
letgomywago said:
Best is siemens in my opinion. They have mains that work and I hate QO loose bussing along with CH for the same reason. QO and CH afci are giant and GE and Eaton mains seam to be the ones that either fail in the on or off position. QO load centers also had poorly designed ground bars but so did everyone else at the time.
Click to expand...
I did like Siemens for awhile but turned against them. Dealer wanted $400 for a metal switchgear plate with breaker KO. Where I now work, large Siemens breakers give out far more often than Square D.
Reading up on Siemens’ history didn’t help either.
 
James L said:
You find any place in the panel to put a 100 amp breaker. Remove the power wires from the original main breaker and connect them to the new 100 amp you added.

You'd probably have to splice/add to the cable, and working it hot
Click to expand...
You would also have to bolt the backfed breaker into the panel.
 
ggunn said:
You would also have to bolt the backfed breaker into the panel.
Click to expand...
If it's permanent, yes. But that was in reference to what Little Bill was talking about, a temporary fix until the original main could be replaced.

I added a comment about fastening in place on a later question asking if we can backfeed any breaker
 
ptonsparky said:
... Breakers should be exercised every so often to keep things working. Most of us never do it. Even those of us that know we should.
Click to expand...
Yep. The cobbler's children go barefoot...
Heck, I took the cover off of my panel 10 years ago to change a breaker, hadn't put it back on again until last year when I added solar.
 
hillbilly1 said:
Being a Murray, it’s probably pretty old, and the grease on the mechanism has dried out. If none of the other suggestions work, that’s probably what it is. The contacts are spring loaded, and they are not moving far enough to latch. Sometimes repeated movements of the handle can loosen it up, but it’s best to just replace.
Click to expand...

Sometime the ole Fonzy trick works when these breakers don’t want to re-latch.
Just smack the breaker with the butt of your screwdriver a couple times has worked for me.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top