Overheated Wire at the Circuit Breaker

Comments

3 responses to “Overheated Wire at the Circuit Breaker”

1. 

   December 28, 2011

   Bob Johnson

   There are two questions here.
   Why did it overheat? Clearly a bad connection at the breaker. Either the terminal or contacts within the breaker overheated. If an overload occurred, all the wire would have been overheated. If the circuit can be monitored, simply clean and retighten the terminal. If not, replace the breaker.
   Why a red wire? It may be a simple two wire circuit installed with a red wire. However it should be checked to see if this is part of a multiwire circuit. If so it deserves a multipole breaker.

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2. 

   January 11, 2012

   Abdulgader

   can we get a good tighten on the breaker with the over head wiers? I think we break the termials, or we will have a lose concctions so we will have an over heat.

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3. 

   January 12, 2012

   Rusty Bennett

   This is a SquareD panel, one of the best in the business. I think the scorching of the wire indicates localized heating at the connection point, indicating a poor connection on a relatively heavy load. The breaker apparently was not tripping, so the load is likely within specs, but after repair, it should be tested with a clamp on ammeter or a current recorder if intermittent. The breaker should definitely be replaced as damage has likely occurred to it as well. A 2P breaker would only be required if the load is 2 or 3 phase or if the load supplies meet the conditions of a multi-wire circuit, especially if a neutral is connected to pass through a receptacle rather than a piggy back connection. That is worth verifying.

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