"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
A couple friends of mine were having power problems in their home. Their
panel box was modern, can't remember what brand. Anyhow, the mains power
came in through a double 100 breaker. There was a lot of white oxidation
where the breaker connected to the panel. Myself, and the resident used
strap on head lamps, to see. Turn off the main breaker, and unsnap it from
the panel. Tough to do, it was plenty corroded on. Clean the distribution
bars with sand screen. Pump a bunch of anti oxidant into the open slot end
of the breaker, and put it all back together. No further problems.
As long as you catch it before the buss metal is destroyed from overheating
that'll work. These Murray panels have bolt on main breakers, installed at
the factory. There was some antiox on the connection, so my guess is that
it's just a poor design. Murray no longer uses this type of main breaker.
Those are very good picture. Thanks for posting. The repair I did, was
before I got my digicam.
--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.
"RBM" wrote in message
...
A customer called with an intermittent electrical problem: The electric
range and refrigerator on occasion stop working, then start working for no
apparent reason.
It's obvious that one of the hot legs is opening, as that would be the
only
common denominator between a 120 volt refrigerator circuit, and a 240 volt
range circuit. The customer was also unaware of a multitude of other
circuits that were also dead. Usually when I get these calls, I start with
the connections in the most hostile environment, 1) The overhead service
connections, 2) The outdoor meter socket, then check the main circuit
breaker. In this case the culprit was the main circuit breaker, which by
all
outward appearance, looks fine. There was antiox paste on the conductor
connections, no hissing or crackling sounds, and the breaker was cool to
the
touch. Upon removing the breaker, the problem became clear. A bad
connection
(factory) between one pole of the breaker and the panel buss, over time
caused overheating and annealing of both the panel buss and the copper
contact of the breaker. Pictures to follow:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...ldamage006.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...ldamage008.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...ldamage003.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b9...ldamage005.jpg