DIYbanter - View Single Post - [FoxNews]A small town's sudden power surge fried tech gear inhundreds of homes

Ralph Mowery

In article ,
says...

Had two circuit breakers do something odd at home. One tripped, and I
assumed somebody had a space heater and a hair dryer on at the same time or
something. Then, a breaker for my computer room tripped when I turned on a
laser printer. No unusual loads that I haven't done a hundred times before.
I unplugged the laser printer, thinking it might have given up the ghost.
When I reset the breaker, it was noticeably warm, which seemed odd, as it
was not feeding a heavy load. The laser printer and everything else was
just fine.
It took a couple hours for the breaker to cool. I can't remember for sure
if the breaker that tripped earlier had also been warm, but it might have.

So, anyway, it seems these breakers developed poor contact after just
staying turned on for several years, and needed the contacts cycled to wipe
them clean. I have some other breakers in the shop that are used as
shutoffs for various machines, and they never do this, I guess because the
contacts are exercised routinely.

Jon

Can't help with the hot breakers.

Are the ones you are sing to cut off the machines designed to be used as
breakers and switches ? Some are and some are not. Then may become weak
and trip below he ratings if not over the years.