Odor coming from new panel

[wireguru]

I have had similar incedents with pens and sharpies. It is a lot of responsibilty to press the start button on the dryer.

HA! so true. I should replace the start button on mine, with a button under a flip up cover, wired in series with a momentary keyswitch, so you have to hold the key in the on position while pressing the button to get the dryer to start.

 

[LarryFine]

HA! so true. I should replace the start button on mine, with a button under a flip up cover, wired in series with a momentary keyswitch, so you have to hold the key in the on position while pressing the button to get the dryer to start.

I envision Cameron Diaz in Charlie's Angels, in the white body-suit, pressing the two buttons outside the computer room, one hand and one foot.

 

[scwirenut]

As a temporary measure, remove one leg from that water heater breaker, and attach it to the neutral making it a 120 Volt load. That will reduce the Amps to about 9 or so, well within the limits of your #12 line. (Change the breaker to a 20, too) It will take 4 times as long to heat the water, but it will be much safer that way...

If they don't use a lot of hot water, they will never notice the difference anyhow.

I would have thought that would increase the load to 36 amps.

4500w / 120v = 37.5A

 

[Cow]

I would have thought that would increase the load to 36 amps.

4500w / 120v = 37.5A

The element resistance stays the same regardless of voltage.

 

[ohm]

I would have thought that would increase the load to 36 amps.

4500w / 120v = 37.5A

scwirenut, the element will pull 4500W if connected to 240V so it's resistance when pulling 4500W is 12.8 ohms (R=E^2/W).

A rough assumption, because at half the supply voltage the element resistance won't be exactly doubled) is: I=E/R or 9.4A

As kbsparky said, this will eliminate your libility and prompt the HO to correct the wiring, after a few cold showers.

 

[ohm]

scwirenut, the element will pull 4500W if connected to 240V so it's resistance when pulling 4500W is 12.8 ohms (R=E^2/W).

A rough assumption, because at half the supply voltage the element resistance won't be exactly doubled) is: I=E/R or 9.4A

As kbsparky said, this will eliminate your libility and prompt the HO to correct the wiring, after a few cold showers.

Opps, the resistance won't be exactly the same as when heated by 240V but will be close enough to only draw about 9.4A.

Went brain dead for a minute!

 

[zog]

What is the give away on the markings of the bootleg breakers? Is it something with the square D logo?

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08286.html

 

[LarryFine]

Opps, the resistance won't be exactly the same as when heated by 240V but will be close enough to only draw about 9.4A.

Went brain dead for a minute!

I believe the resistance won't change enough to consider it.

On half the voltage, the current should also halve, quartering the wattage.

 

[gardiner]

Just curious is the panel in the same room as the dryer and the hot water heater? The reason I am asking is I had something similar a few months ago, turned out the smell actually came from the dryer, children with crayons in pockets crayons come out go through a small hole in the dryer vent then sit not far from the motor which is over heating due to excessive lint going through the vent. We thought it came from the hot water tank or the dryer as it seemed one was always on when the smell occured. Which was the truth the wife liked to wash in hot water, and there was always a few loads for both washer and dryer.

 

[jjhoward]

Thanks for the all the input.

This was really serious.

The ?crayon smell? was from caulking that was in the hole where the 200 amp SEU cable entered the house.
One of the meter pan lugs had loosened and the one side of the meter pan was getting VERY HOT.

I am very glad that I returned to the house Sunday evening and tracked this down (as Iwire suggested , THANKS BOB).

I let all the yammering from the homeowner about the breakers or the panel smelling direct my troubleshooting. Normally, I would have popped open the meter pan as the first or second action when tracking a power problem in a house. (Getting on the ladder and checking the lugs up top is later.)
Anyway, I was able to clean up and tighten the faulty lug, but it jus wasn?t right. I could still hear some slight arcing under load when it was all buttoned up. If I seated the meter without the crappy cover, there was no arcing. I did not have a 200 amp OH meter pan on the van or at the shop. (100s, but no 200s). The family got a hotel room for the night and we replaced the meter pan and the conductors into the panel on Monday AM.
We also replaced the hot water feed and the elect oven/cook top feed. Both feeds were undersized. Apparently, the person who sold this house to present owners upgraded the water heater and oven/cooktop but did not upgrade the feeds.

The moral of this story is electricity shouldn?t be stinking!!

BTW, when we did the panel (Jan 09) the HO did NOT want us to change the meter pan. I checked it out, then, it looked OK at the time.

 

[JohnJ0906]

Thanks for the update Joe.