Panel fire 225 amp 480v 3 phase GE TEY pANELBOARD

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mgawatt

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Buxton maine
Had an interesting day today. We had a 6 month old main lug panelboard 200 amp GE TEY panelboard catch fire for no apparent reason. Once the fire was extinquished, it seems that the fire started on one of the top portions of the bolt on panelboard that had no breakers attached to it. All of the load was on the bottom portion of the panelboard consisting of 3 100 amp feeders (ONE FOR 2 LIGHTING PANELBOARDS THROUGH A CONTACTOR PULLING APPROX 40 AMP PER LEG AND ONE FOR A 75 kva TRANSFORMER puILLING ABOUT 30 AMP...primary breaker set for 100 and fused on secondary at 200) THERE WERE 2 3 PhaSE WALK-IN FREEZERS EACH PULLING ABOUT 12 AMP ON 480. All the breakers were bolted tight to the bus bar which is proven by they still being attached the remains of the bus bar. No evidence of any overheating on the load side of any the breakers. No evidence of arcing or overheating on any of the feeder conductors. (4/0). feeder disconnect fuse size 200 amp. no evidence of any overheating at the service disconnect as well but the fuses did finally open. There is clear evidence of a hole actually burned through the back of the panelboard where the fire obviously started ...again in a no breaker location. Has anyone had similar experiences in that there was nothing out of the ordinary to focus on as a cause. I have seen spikes do this from the utility as a former state inspector and the utility crews are ij the process of transferring all the hi voltage lines on this road due to a bridge replacement project. Allegedly,the utility crews were not working today. Total load observed earlier in the day was max of 130 amps per leg with all electrical equipment running and everything is staggered so max load per time of the day is about 80 amps per leg. It is a bottom fed panelboard also making the location of the fire starting that much more strange.
 
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Any chance a critter, like a mouse, or even a large cockroach, caused the initial arc? 480V will sustain an arc once it's started. With the damage you described, the critter would probably have been incinerated.

Power got knocked out on my block a few years ago thanks to an adventurous squirrel (or so the lineman later told me). Heard a loud BANG! and the block went dark. Turns out the squirrel bridged two 4KV phases and was pretty much vaporized, except for his tail.

Lineman told me that rodents are often attracted to the warmth in panels and switchgear, and sometimes it ends up rather poorly for them and the panel / switchgear.


SceneryDriver
 
mgawatt said:
Had an interesting day today. We had a 6 month old main lug panelboard 200 amp GE TEY panelboard catch fire for no apparent reason. Once the fire was extinquished, it seems that the fire started on one of the top portions of the bolt on panelboard that had no breakers attached to it. All of the load was on the bottom portion of the panelboard consisting of 3 100 amp feeders (ONE FOR 2 LIGHTING PANELBOARDS THROUGH A CONTACTOR PULLING APPROX 40 AMP PER LEG AND ONE FOR A 75 kva TRANSFORMER puILLING ABOUT 30 AMP...primary breaker set for 100 and fused on secondary at 200) THERE WERE 2 3 PhaSE WALK-IN FREEZERS EACH PULLING ABOUT 12 AMP ON 480. All the breakers were bolted tight to the bus bar which is proven by they still being attached the remains of the bus bar. No evidence of any overheating on the load side of any the breakers. No evidence of arcing or overheating on any of the feeder conductors. (4/0). feeder disconnect fuse size 200 amp. no evidence of any overheating at the service disconnect as well but the fuses did finally open. There is clear evidence of a hole actually burned through the back of the panelboard where the fire obviously started ...again in a no breaker location. Has anyone had similar experiences in that there was nothing out of the ordinary to focus on as a cause. I have seen spikes do this from the utility as a former state inspector and the utility crews are ij the process of transferring all the hi voltage lines on this road due to a bridge replacement project. Allegedly,the utility crews were not working today. Total load observed earlier in the day was max of 130 amps per leg with all electrical equipment running and everything is staggered so max load per time of the day is about 80 amps per leg. It is a bottom fed panelboard also making the location of the fire starting that much more strange.
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As has been said Pictures would be very Helpful. Also don't forget to hit the "Enter" key once in a while.
 
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