The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

I forgot to mention that this 90 amp circuit breaker is the main
circuit breaker to the house. On the panel outside the house, there
are 2 circuit breakers. One for the main, and one for the AC. The AC
breaker is OK. Only the main 90 amp circuit breaker trips when I use
the AC. The AC was tested, and the AC was not the root cause of this
problem. The main circuit breaker was the problem.

Michelle,

Without seeing the breaker box I doubt that anyone can tell you whether
it is safe. The electrician you hired thinks it's safe and he saw your
breaker box. Selling you a new and larger breaker box would be profitable
for him so if he recommends just swapping the main breaker he's saving you
money and is guaranteeing that the swap is safe. Sounds good to me. Make
sure he's licensed and get a receipt.

Dave M.

On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:08:21 -0700, Michelle wrote:

The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned off
when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a hot
day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker needs
to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't make these
90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in 100 AMP. He
says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

Upgrade to 200 amp and have all your wiring rechecked before you burn the
place down. The A/C is straining your system but every time a motor
starts, e.g., the fridge, you can expect something to give.

Be safe.



--

=================================================
Franz Fripplfrappl

Michelle wrote:
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

Nobody here can tell what condition your panel/wiring/etc. are in but an
electrician came and looked and said "ok". What are we supposed to
say--he's wrong?

BTW, the increase in size from 90 to 100A is certainly ok if that's your
concern--wiring is not sized in such fine increments--wired sized to be
adequate for 90A is the same size as would be used for 100A.

I'd say the answer to the question is afa anyone here can tell, go w/
the electrician assuming he is a reputable one, not somebody you found
by knowing someone who has a b-i-l who moonlights as a fly-by-night on
the side handyman...

--

Michelle wrote:
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

What is the total amp draw on the 90 amp breaker?
I believe you should not exceed 80% of the breaker rating.

--
Moe Jones
http://www.MoeJones.info

In article , "Moe Jones" wrote:

What is the total amp draw on the 90 amp breaker?
I believe you should not exceed 80% of the breaker rating.

You believe wrongly. The 80% requirement applies only to continuous loads,
which is specifically defined by the NEC as maximum current for more than
three hours.

franz fripplfrappl wrote:



Upgrade to 200 amp and have all your wiring rechecked before you burn the
place down.

Let's not play Chicken Little. The sky is not falling.

he A/C is straining your system but every time a motor
starts, e.g., the fridge, you can expect something to give.

You have no way of knowing this. While 90 amps is kind of small by modern
standards, it is not necessarily too small. We don't know the A/C load or other
loads that are present.

It is quite likely the breaker is failing. It happens. If so, all she needs to
do is replace the breaker. This is much, much cheaper than upgrading to 200
amps, which would require a new panel, likely new breakers, and possibly a
service upgrade.

-- Doug

On Jun 27, 9:08*am, Michelle wrote:
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. *All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. *It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. *The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. *The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. *They only have them in
100 AMP. *He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? *Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

The electrician should have checked to make sure the box and the
supply will support 100. I believe it is likely it would, but without
seeing it, I guessing is the best I could do.

Those that are suggesting this might be a good time to consider
increasing your service to say 200 amps are doing you a favor. Ask
your electrician about it. If you have a small home and really don't
need it, then 100 should be fine.

wrote:
....
Those that are suggesting this might be a good time to consider
increasing your service to say 200 amps are doing you a favor. Ask
your electrician about it. ...

He (the electrician) has already there, assessed the situation--if he
was even half-way competent and saw an undersized service entrance
wouldn't he have already made the recommendation????

--

On Jun 27, 2:47*pm, Douglas Johnson wrote:
franz fripplfrappl wrote:

Upgrade to 200 amp and have all your wiring rechecked before you burn the
place down. *

Let's not play Chicken Little. *The sky is not falling. *

he A/C is straining your system but every time a motor
starts, e.g., the fridge, you can expect something to give.

You have no way of knowing this. *While 90 amps is kind of small by modern
standards, it is not necessarily too small. *We don't know the A/C load or other
loads that are present.

It is quite likely the breaker is failing. *It happens. *If so, all she needs to
do is replace the breaker. *This is much, much cheaper than upgrading to 200
amps, which would require a new panel, likely new breakers, and possibly a
service upgrade.

-- Doug

Agree. A 90 amp house service does sound a little small in this day
and age. Maybe the house was built before AC and many other modern
gadgets became common and affordable for most if us? But if you have
gas or oil heating, not electric, then 90-100 amps may be quite
adequate!
But quite possibly the breaker is getting a little old and tired. If
the electrician says replace it with a new 100 amp and the wiring is
OK try that for a while.
And naturally even if you do not have 'a lot of electrics' in your
house maybe conserve a bit by not running anything else 'heavy' while
the AC is in use? For example don't go baking anything in an electric
oven (not that anyone might want to on a hot day anyway?) during a hot
day when the AC is on?
If the house has been extended or other additions, then perhaps,
maybe, it may be time to think about a larger new service. But doing
that can mean that major parts of the house may have may to be rewired
to meet current electrical code requirements and the consequent
expense; whereas the current problem, if nothing else has changed, may
be just a worn out circuit breaker!

On Jun 27, 1:23�pm, terry wrote:
On Jun 27, 2:47�pm, Douglas Johnson wrote:





franz fripplfrappl wrote:

Upgrade to 200 amp and have all your wiring rechecked before you burn the
place down. �

Let's not play Chicken Little. �The sky is not falling. �

he A/C is straining your system but every time a motor
starts, e.g., the fridge, you can expect something to give.

You have no way of knowing this. �While 90 amps is kind of small by modern
standards, it is not necessarily too small. �We don't know the A/C load or other
loads that are present.

It is quite likely the breaker is failing. �It happens. �If so, all she needs to
do is replace the breaker. �This is much, much cheaper than upgrading to 200
amps, which would require a new panel, likely new breakers, and possibly a
service upgrade.

-- Doug

Agree. A 90 amp house service does sound a little small in this day
and age. Maybe the house was built before AC and many other modern
gadgets became common and affordable for most if us? But if you have
gas or oil heating, not electric, then 90-100 amps may be quite
adequate!
But quite possibly the breaker is getting a little old and tired. If
the electrician says replace it with a new 100 amp and the wiring is
OK try that for a while.
And naturally even if you do not have 'a lot of electrics' in your
house maybe conserve a bit by not running anything else 'heavy' while
the AC is in use? For example don't go baking anything in an electric
oven (not that anyone might want to on a hot day anyway?) during a hot
day when the AC is on?
If the house has been extended or other additions, then perhaps,
maybe, it may be time to think about a larger new service. But doing
that can mean that major parts of the house may have may to be rewired
to meet current electrical code requirements and the consequent
expense; whereas the current problem, if nothing else has changed, may
be just a worn out circuit breaker!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

did the electrician check the current draw on each side? a main can
trip just because one side is overloaded, plus the main breaker may
just be bad.

who made the panel breaker?

Michelle wrote:
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

I'm not an electrician, but I play one on this newsgroup.

The swap of 100 amp breaker for a 90 amp will be fine.

Wow, you're famous! May I have your autograph?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"HeyBub" wrote in message
m...


I'm not an electrician, but I play one on this newsgroup.

The swap of 100 amp breaker for a 90 amp will be fine.

"Michelle" wrote in message
...
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

First, if your house has a 90 amp service, it must be old. Therefore, it is
from a time before we had toasters, microwaves, and all the gobs of goodies
everyone plugs into the wall sockets.

If you want to just save and use your 90 amp panel, you need to go through,
and throw out about half your "stuff", as you don't have enough electricity
to run it all. You could do that, and many people do when it costs too much
to upgrade, or they like a simpler lifestyle, or, say at a cabin where
service is limited. Or, you can just run certain things at certain times,
remembering not to use the microwave when the AC is on, etc, etc, etc, but
that is a pain, and something always ends up overloaded.

If you want to upgrade, you will have to run much more than a panel. Sure
you could put in a 200 amp panel, or a 400 or a 12,000. But from there, the
wires have to take it all over the house, and there again is where you are
weak. You'll need to upgrade all through the house, add outlets, add
heavier wire, etc.

Whatever you do, have a licensed electrical company do it, don't cheap out,
and wire for the future. You're betting your house on it.

Steve

wrote:
....

did the electrician check the current draw on each side? ...

who made the panel breaker?

U think Michelle is going to know what specific tests an electrician
made or really cares about the breaker itself?

She had an electrician evaluate the situation; her best bet is either
accept the professional advice she paid for or hire another if she
thinks there's something suspect about this one.

--

In article , "SteveB" wrote:

"Michelle" wrote in message
...
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

First, if your house has a 90 amp service, it must be old. Therefore, it is
from a time before we had toasters, microwaves, and all the gobs of goodies
everyone plugs into the wall sockets.

If you want to just save and use your 90 amp panel, you need to go through,
and throw out about half your "stuff", as you don't have enough electricity
to run it all.

What a load of garbage. You have no way of knowing that.

[snip of utterly useless drivel masquerading as "advice"]

Whatever you do, have a licensed electrical company do it

She already hired a professional electrician to come out and look at it. And
you think you know more about the situation than the guy who was actually
there. What amazing arrogance. And what amazing foolishness.

On Jun 27, 3:22�pm, dpb wrote:
wrote:

...

did the electrician check the current draw on each side? ...

who made the panel breaker?

U think Michelle is going to know what specific tests an electrician
made or really cares about the breaker itself?

She had an electrician evaluate the situation; her best bet is either
accept the professional advice she paid for or hire another if she
thinks there's something suspect about this one.

--

I asked if he tested or just LOOKED!

a neighbor had a problem like this, 2 minutes with my clamp on amp
meter, and 5 minutes moving a couple loads to the other side fixed it
4 or 5 years ago.......

no problems since.....

"Michelle" wrote in message
...
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

I too, agree that the electrician on the job, is in the best position to
make these determinations. While 90 amps is relatively small, it can be
perfectly adequate in a smaller house with non electric cooking, clothes
drying, and heating. There is no panel or service equipment rated at 90
amps, it would be a minimum or 100 amps, and any cable used in a service
that would be adequate for 90 amps would also be adequate for 100 amps. #2
aluminum or #4 copper is what's required for 100 amps, anything smaller
wouldn't be adequate for 90 amps either

On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:23:09 -0700 (PDT), terry
wrote:

On Jun 27, 2:47*pm, Douglas Johnson wrote:
franz fripplfrappl wrote:

Upgrade to 200 amp and have all your wiring rechecked before you burn the
place down. *

Let's not play Chicken Little. *The sky is not falling. *

he A/C is straining your system but every time a motor
starts, e.g., the fridge, you can expect something to give.

You have no way of knowing this. *While 90 amps is kind of small by modern
standards, it is not necessarily too small. *We don't know the A/C load or other
loads that are present.

It is quite likely the breaker is failing. *It happens. *If so, all she needs to
do is replace the breaker. *This is much, much cheaper than upgrading to 200
amps, which would require a new panel, likely new breakers, and possibly a
service upgrade.

-- Doug

Agree. A 90 amp house service does sound a little small in this day
and age. Maybe the house was built before AC and many other modern
gadgets became common and affordable for most if us? But if you have
gas or oil heating, not electric, then 90-100 amps may be quite
adequate!
But quite possibly the breaker is getting a little old and tired. If
the electrician says replace it with a new 100 amp and the wiring is
OK try that for a while.
And naturally even if you do not have 'a lot of electrics' in your
house maybe conserve a bit by not running anything else 'heavy' while
the AC is in use? For example don't go baking anything in an electric
oven (not that anyone might want to on a hot day anyway?) during a hot
day when the AC is on?
If the house has been extended or other additions, then perhaps,
maybe, it may be time to think about a larger new service. But doing
that can mean that major parts of the house may have may to be rewired
to meet current electrical code requirements and the consequent
expense; whereas the current problem, if nothing else has changed, may
be just a worn out circuit breaker!


Good answer!

"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...

"RBM" wrote in message
...

"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...

"Michelle" wrote in message
...
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

First, if your house has a 90 amp service, it must be old. Therefore,
it is from a time before we had toasters, microwaves, and all the gobs
of goodies everyone plugs into the wall sockets.

If you want to just save and use your 90 amp panel, you need to go
through, and throw out about half your "stuff", as you don't have enough
electricity to run it all. You could do that, and many people do when
it costs too much to upgrade, or they like a simpler lifestyle, or, say
at a cabin where service is limited. Or, you can just run certain
things at certain times, remembering not to use the microwave when the
AC is on, etc, etc, etc, but that is a pain, and something always ends
up overloaded.

If you want to upgrade, you will have to run much more than a panel.
Sure you could put in a 200 amp panel, or a 400 or a 12,000. But from
there, the wires have to take it all over the house, and there again is
where you are weak. You'll need to upgrade all through the house, add
outlets, add heavier wire, etc.

Whatever you do, have a licensed electrical company do it, don't cheap
out, and wire for the future. You're betting your house on it.

Steve

Steve, not to be argumentative, but you don't have a shred of information
to determine what you've written. There are bazillions of houses with 100
amp services, that have every modern convenience and plenty of
electricity to power them

Sorry, just responding to what Michelle wrote, which were just shreds in
the first place.

And yes, there are lots of 100 amp services out there just chugging along.
But we weren't talking about upgrading them to higher numbers, were we?
And there are even limits to how many things can be plugged into a 100 amp
service. But then, that 100 amp rating is limited to 70-80% of capacity
from the get go.

But you knew all that, right?

Steve

You can plug an awful lot of things into a 100 amp service, and no, it's not
limited to 70 -80% of capacity

"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...

"RBM" wrote in message
...

"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...

"RBM" wrote in message
...

"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...

"Michelle" wrote in message
...
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

First, if your house has a 90 amp service, it must be old. Therefore,
it is from a time before we had toasters, microwaves, and all the gobs
of goodies everyone plugs into the wall sockets.

If you want to just save and use your 90 amp panel, you need to go
through, and throw out about half your "stuff", as you don't have
enough electricity to run it all. You could do that, and many people
do when it costs too much to upgrade, or they like a simpler
lifestyle, or, say at a cabin where service is limited. Or, you can
just run certain things at certain times, remembering not to use the
microwave when the AC is on, etc, etc, etc, but that is a pain, and
something always ends up overloaded.

If you want to upgrade, you will have to run much more than a panel.
Sure you could put in a 200 amp panel, or a 400 or a 12,000. But from
there, the wires have to take it all over the house, and there again
is where you are weak. You'll need to upgrade all through the house,
add outlets, add heavier wire, etc.

Whatever you do, have a licensed electrical company do it, don't cheap
out, and wire for the future. You're betting your house on it.

Steve

Steve, not to be argumentative, but you don't have a shred of
information to determine what you've written. There are bazillions of
houses with 100 amp services, that have every modern convenience and
plenty of electricity to power them

Sorry, just responding to what Michelle wrote, which were just shreds in
the first place.

And yes, there are lots of 100 amp services out there just chugging
along. But we weren't talking about upgrading them to higher numbers,
were we? And there are even limits to how many things can be plugged
into a 100 amp service. But then, that 100 amp rating is limited to
70-80% of capacity from the get go.

But you knew all that, right?

Steve

You can plug an awful lot of things into a 100 amp service, and no, it's
not limited to 70 -80% of capacity

Correct. Just keep plugging things in until it goes dark or lights up the
whole neighborhood.

Michelle has written in with a question that is similar to: "What's the
weather like"?

Well, I don't know, Michelle. I don't live where you are. Why are you
asking here for something that you should be consulting a local
professional for?

I have these sores around my ..... well ...... you know .............
Yesterday, my fingers started falling off. I'm down to eyesight in one
eye.

What should I do?

Doesn't make a lot of sense for someone to be writing in here in vague
terms asking about things they really need to find out themselves where
they live.

But it does make for fun conversation.

Steve

From what I read, Michelle questioned if it was safe and legal to replace a
defective 90 amp main breaker with a 100 amp main breaker, as was
recommended by the electrician she hired. I don't see the ambiguity

Rick-Meister wrote:

Personally, I'd pay the difference to upgrade the outside disconnect
to either 150 or 200amp. You're talking about the difference in price
of the panel, larger diameter conduit up to the service drop, heavier
gauge aluminum wire, new meter box, and a new weather head. Materials
wise, you're talking about $150. Labor wise, the additional labor to
run new conduit will probably be about 2 hours. The utility will have
to upgrade the service drop.

What!

We're talking $30 for a breaker ($75 labor) vs. $1200-$1500 to upgrade to
200-Amp service.

"RBM" wrote in message
...

"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...

"RBM" wrote in message
...

"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...

"Michelle" wrote in message
...
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

First, if your house has a 90 amp service, it must be old. Therefore,
it is from a time before we had toasters, microwaves, and all the gobs
of goodies everyone plugs into the wall sockets.

If you want to just save and use your 90 amp panel, you need to go
through, and throw out about half your "stuff", as you don't have
enough electricity to run it all. You could do that, and many people
do when it costs too much to upgrade, or they like a simpler lifestyle,
or, say at a cabin where service is limited. Or, you can just run
certain things at certain times, remembering not to use the microwave
when the AC is on, etc, etc, etc, but that is a pain, and something
always ends up overloaded.

If you want to upgrade, you will have to run much more than a panel.
Sure you could put in a 200 amp panel, or a 400 or a 12,000. But from
there, the wires have to take it all over the house, and there again is
where you are weak. You'll need to upgrade all through the house, add
outlets, add heavier wire, etc.

Whatever you do, have a licensed electrical company do it, don't cheap
out, and wire for the future. You're betting your house on it.

Steve

Steve, not to be argumentative, but you don't have a shred of
information to determine what you've written. There are bazillions of
houses with 100 amp services, that have every modern convenience and
plenty of electricity to power them

Sorry, just responding to what Michelle wrote, which were just shreds in
the first place.

And yes, there are lots of 100 amp services out there just chugging
along. But we weren't talking about upgrading them to higher numbers,
were we? And there are even limits to how many things can be plugged into
a 100 amp service. But then, that 100 amp rating is limited to 70-80% of
capacity from the get go.

But you knew all that, right?

Steve

You can plug an awful lot of things into a 100 amp service, and no, it's
not limited to 70 -80% of capacity

Correct. Just keep plugging things in until it goes dark or lights up the
whole neighborhood.

Michelle has written in with a question that is similar to: "What's the
weather like"?

Well, I don't know, Michelle. I don't live where you are. Why are you
asking here for something that you should be consulting a local professional
for?

I have these sores around my ..... well ...... you know .............
Yesterday, my fingers started falling off. I'm down to eyesight in one eye.

What should I do?

Doesn't make a lot of sense for someone to be writing in here in vague terms
asking about things they really need to find out themselves where they live.

But it does make for fun conversation.

Steve

Michelle wrote:
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.
Hi,
Replacing with another 90 amp one will not solve the problem. Usually
a/c draws 20 amp, 220V. Moving to 100 amp breaker may solve the problem
if the over load situation with the a/c is less than 10 amp.

dpb wrote:
wrote:
...

did the electrician check the current draw on each side? ...

who made the panel breaker?

U think Michelle is going to know what specific tests an electrician
made or really cares about the breaker itself?

She had an electrician evaluate the situation; her best bet is either
accept the professional advice she paid for or hire another if she
thinks there's something suspect about this one.

--
Hi,
As simple as loose connection(over time and age) can cause breaker over
hat and tripping. If electricial does the job and some bad thing happens
then he is liable.

wrote:
On Jun 27, 3:22�pm, dpb wrote:
wrote:

...

did the electrician check the current draw on each side? ...
who made the panel breaker?
U think Michelle is going to know what specific tests an electrician
made or really cares about the breaker itself?

She had an electrician evaluate the situation; her best bet is either
accept the professional advice she paid for or hire another if she
thinks there's something suspect about this one.

--

I asked if he tested or just LOOKED!

a neighbor had a problem like this, 2 minutes with my clamp on amp
meter, and 5 minutes moving a couple loads to the other side fixed it
4 or 5 years ago.......

no problems since.....
Hi,
It's called balancing the load on Edison circuit.

Shocking! Not to force, but do you have to be oily in the morning?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"HeyBub" wrote in message
m...
Stormin Mormon wrote:

Wow, you're famous! May I have your autograph?

Sorry. I'm disabled and can't write.

There was an unfortunate encounter involving a 220-volt outlet, a plumber's
helper, and a jar of mayonnaise some years back...

In article , "SteveB" wrote:

But then, that 100 amp rating is limited to 70-80% of capacity
from the get go.

No, it's not. Please stop giving advice on subjects you are ignorant of.

The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

I'd say go for the 100 amp brkr. It's a good start point, lots cheaper
than any of the alternatives, and sounds like sound advice from someone
on site that could have tried to sell you a bunch of expensive fixes,
assuming his license and insurance are current.
Be sure he gets the required permits and permissions if needed.
He'll know what they are but you can also always call your local zoning
office for info too.

If that doesn't fix it, then perhaps more expensive repair will be
needed, but IMO it's a very sensible place to start.
The over-price will be negligible if more serious work is required,
but I don't think it will be.

You also *could* have someone make measurements (unless it's already
been done) to insure that a new breaker is going to suffice; but if it's
a 90A, it's fairly old already to start with, if it's outdoors,
conditions are worse on it, etc. etc. etc.. Measurements will cost
another few $ but sometimes it's better to be sure right up front when
you're close as you seem to be. It's quick & easy to make such
measurements though you might have to go in and turn a few things on
while they're measuring.
Appreciate your electrician; he seems to be doing the right things to
get you out of trouble at minimum expense.

HTH

wrote:
...
I asked if he tested or just LOOKED!

I don't know any electricians who can tell the condition of a breaker
or determine the cause of a regularly tripping one simply by looking
(other than the obvious it's fried which one would presume isn't the
case here since it apparently was still functional to the point of
tripping).

And you weren't there, so you haven't seen it.


"Professional" isn't "omnipotent".

wrote:
On Jun 27, 3:22?pm, dpb wrote:
wrote:

...

did the electrician check the current draw on each side? ...
who made the panel breaker?
U think Michelle is going to know what specific tests an electrician
made or really cares about the breaker itself?

She had an electrician evaluate the situation; her best bet is
either accept the professional advice she paid for or hire another
if she thinks there's something suspect about this one.

--

I asked if he tested or just LOOKED!

a neighbor had a problem like this, 2 minutes with my clamp on amp
meter, and 5 minutes moving a couple loads to the other side fixed it
4 or 5 years ago.......

no problems since.....
Hi,
It's called balancing the load on Edison circuit.

Which is something should always be considered anyway.

FWIW-- my parent's house had 50 amp service until 1995. It had a
little Square D box under the meter with 2 single pole 50 amp
breakers that fed the house panel in the garage. We never had any
problems, even when we got up to 5 window a/c's -- a 230v 1.5ton
later replaced with a 2 ton in the living room, the rest 115v 7-10k
btu more or less. Granted, the stove and WH are gas. The only thing
was that we could not run the LR a/c and the electric dryer at the
same time, but that was because they were double lugged into the same
breaker (was that way when we bought the house in 1961 --- built in
1957) . In 1995, I put in central air and installed a GE 100 amp
panel outside. The little Square D box was in such perfect shape that
I put a 2 pole breaker in it and installed it for a disconnect at the
a/c condensing unit, where it still is to this day. Larry

Sounds like an ideal setup if/when you ever decide to install a genset.

On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:47:09 -0500, Douglas Johnson
wrote:

franz fripplfrappl wrote:



Upgrade to 200 amp and have all your wiring rechecked before you
burn the place down.

Let's not play Chicken Little. The sky is not falling.


Actually it is, but don't worry the earth is falling too :-)

No; no such things as "falling" in the universal sense. "Falling" is
generally assumed to mean descending toward the earth. The earth isn't
falling; it's being suspended in a path by external gravitational and
electrical forces, among others such as black matter, material in space,
etc.. g


he A/C is straining your system but every time a motor
starts, e.g., the fridge, you can expect something to give.

You have no way of knowing this. While 90 amps is kind of small by
modern standards, it is not necessarily too small. We don't know
the A/C load or other loads that are present.


A clamp ammeter can be a useful thing sometimes.

Yup. But with a handy breaker to remove, a few clip leads and a good
ammeter gives great results without repositioning, proximity effects,
etc.. Love clamps, but love a chance to direct-connect even more!
Safely, of course! Clam ps are a lot safer as long as they stay plugged
in!

Cheers,



It is quite likely the breaker is failing. It happens. If so, all
she needs to do is replace the breaker. This is much, much cheaper
than upgrading to 200 amps, which would require a new panel, likely
new breakers, and possibly a service upgrade.

I'd say it's the best first-line of attack, viewed from "here"g.


-- Doug

"Douglas Johnson" wrote in message
news
franz fripplfrappl wrote:



Upgrade to 200 amp and have all your wiring rechecked before you
burn the place down.

Let's not play Chicken Little. The sky is not falling.

he A/C is straining your system but every time a motor
starts, e.g., the fridge, you can expect something to give.

You have no way of knowing this. While 90 amps is kind of small by
modern standards, it is not necessarily too small. We don't know
the A/C load or other
loads that are present.

It is quite likely the breaker is failing. It happens. If so, all
she needs to
do is replace the breaker. This is much, much cheaper than
upgrading to 200
amps, which would require a new panel, likely new breakers, and
possibly a service upgrade.

-- Doug

Yeah, man. Just rip out that old 90 amp panel and put a 200 in
there. That should hold it. What's the worst that could happen? Why
is everyone being so paranoid?

Steve

It's the state of the world today, I'm afraid. Everyone feels the loss
of control in their lives and some project that to their posts. It's
gotten better here lately; I actually left for several months because of
it making reading relevant next to impossible.

Cheers,

Twayne

In article , "SteveB"
wrote:

"Michelle" wrote in message
...
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

First, if your house has a 90 amp service, it must be old.
Therefore, it is from a time before we had toasters, microwaves, and
all the gobs of goodies everyone plugs into the wall sockets.

If you want to just save and use your 90 amp panel, you need to go
through, and throw out about half your "stuff", as you don't have
enough electricity to run it all.

What a load of garbage. You have no way of knowing that.

[snip of utterly useless drivel masquerading as "advice"]

Whatever you do, have a licensed electrical company do it

She already hired a professional electrician to come out and look at
it. And
you think you know more about the situation than the guy who was
actually
there. What amazing arrogance. And what amazing foolishness.

lol, well stated!

"RBM" wrote in message
...

"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...

"RBM" wrote in message
...

"SteveB" toquerville@zionvistas wrote in message
...

"Michelle" wrote in message
...
The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my
house is overheating and trips. All electricity inside the
house gets turned off when this hapens. It tends to happen
whenever I use the AC on a hot day. The electrician says that
this 90 AMP main circuit breaker needs to be replaced. The
problem is that he says that they don't make these 90 AMP
circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in 100 AMP. He
says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP. Is this safe to do at
my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

First, if your house has a 90 amp service, it must be old.
Therefore, it is from a time before we had toasters, microwaves,
and all the gobs of goodies everyone plugs into the wall sockets.

If you want to just save and use your 90 amp panel, you need to go
through, and throw out about half your "stuff", as you don't have
enough electricity to run it all. You could do that, and many
people do when it costs too much to upgrade, or they like a
simpler lifestyle, or, say at a cabin where service is limited.
Or, you can just run certain things at certain times, remembering
not to use the microwave when the AC is on, etc, etc, etc, but
that is a pain, and something always ends up overloaded.

If you want to upgrade, you will have to run much more than a
panel. Sure you could put in a 200 amp panel, or a 400 or a
12,000. But from there, the wires have to take it all over the
house, and there again is where you are weak. You'll need to
upgrade all through the house, add outlets, add heavier wire, etc.

Whatever you do, have a licensed electrical company do it, don't
cheap out, and wire for the future. You're betting your house on
it. Steve

Steve, not to be argumentative, but you don't have a shred of
information to determine what you've written. There are bazillions
of houses with 100 amp services, that have every modern
convenience and plenty of electricity to power them

Sorry, just responding to what Michelle wrote, which were just
shreds in the first place.

And yes, there are lots of 100 amp services out there just chugging
along. But we weren't talking about upgrading them to higher
numbers, were we? And there are even limits to how many things can
be plugged into a 100 amp service. But then, that 100 amp rating
is limited to 70-80% of capacity from the get go.

But you knew all that, right?

Steve

You can plug an awful lot of things into a 100 amp service, and no,
it's not limited to 70 -80% of capacity

Correct. Just keep plugging things in until it goes dark or lights
up the whole neighborhood.

Michelle has written in with a question that is similar to: "What's
the weather like"?

No, not at all. Reading comprehension problems?


Well, I don't know, Michelle.

Neither do I.

I don't live where you are. Why are

Why do you care about where anyone but the OP lives? That's OT.

you asking here for something that you should be consulting a local
professional for?

The OP DID that; reading comprehension problems again?


I have these sores around my ..... well ...... you know .............
Yesterday, my fingers started falling off. I'm down to eyesight in
one eye.
What should I do?

It's your monitor! Get far, far away from it! And if the condition
doesn't improve within three months, see a PA or veterinary doc or
something; maybe a free clinic. Most will keep your diseases a secret
these days.

Doesn't make a lot of sense for someone to be writing in here in
vague terms asking about things they really need to find out
themselves where they live.

But ... but ... that's what you did! Got reading
comprehension/projection problems too?
And, did you ASK any questions? Did you ask her for the numbers on her
meter? Did you ask for any info on the box? ALL things that anyone
could likely see and write down with a modicum of instruction. No, you
didn't. But you sure still had a hell of a lot to say with your
"recommendations".


But it does make for fun conversation.

No, it makes for a pretty stupid set of posts from you, which have now
been memorialized for all time in archives at Google and about a
thousand other such repositiories around the world for all to see now
and after your grand-children's children pass on. You should learn to
us x- lines if you dont' want to be recorded for all posterity.
And after that you could use some education. And interpersonal
skills. And real world knowledge and experience. And ...

Steve


You're wrong, because these groups are a great place for confirmation
and verification of information if nothing else. The majority of people
have answered based simply on the input given and nothing more, because
there WAS enough to make certain judgements on. Some others felt the
need to suggest spending huge amounts of money on service upgrades and
rewiring et al, and although those are options, there was nothing in the
OP to indicate that money was no problem; in fact, it seems it would
have been, or an electrician would have made different recommendations
than suggesting that the breaker was simply likely worn out, and
recommending a replacement. He could have gone for the big bucks first,
but he didn't, and if he's an actual electrician as many have pointed
out, he's doing the right thing by the OP. We don't know what else he
suggested as possible alternatives, but we do know he said the brkr
appeared faulty and that replacing it should put the OP back in business
again. Since it's his rep on the line, it's likely to be good advice.
OTOH, had the OP said the electrician had this 50A camper breaker
sitting in his truck, and between that and rewiring 3/4 of the house in
14 ga wire, he could fix her right up, well, there might have been a LOT
of responses that weren't nearly as agreeable here!
Verify and confirm; it can be a LOT of comfort to those wondering if
they have decent advice or not, and I believe the concensus presented
here, is the correct one.

And lastly, the OP wanted to know if a 90 vs a 100 amp brkr would be an
OK change? Which of course it is.

Flame back, whatever you like; I won't be answering you. I've vented
and had my mental entertainment now, so there's nothing left to say.

HTH, I really do.

On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:08:21 -0700 (PDT), Michelle
wrote:

The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.


Probably. To be absolutely sure ask another locally licensed
electrician and upgrade to whatever is needed. It is also a good idea
for one electrician to inspect another electrician's work, nobody's
perfect.

Umm, you don't think the local board will be inspecting? What do you
know that I don't?

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:51:15 -0400, "ALOE.org"
wrote:

[snip]


Actually it is, but don't worry the earth is falling too :-)

No; no such things as "falling" in the universal sense. "Falling" is
generally assumed to mean descending toward the earth. The earth isn't
falling; it's being suspended in a path by external gravitational and
electrical forces, among others such as black matter, material in space,
etc.. g


The earth is a mass like any other object, and has no such privileged
status (that's just SLIGHTLY less unreasonable than anthropocentrism).
Falling is a movement caused by gravity, and it's happening to ALL
objects.

BTW, earth is also falling into the sun (that's part of what an orbit
is).

Drop a football and both objects (earth and football) move equally
(there's no way around that unless one or both were being restrained
by some external force).

[snip]


A clamp ammeter can be a useful thing sometimes.

Yup. But with a handy breaker to remove, a few clip leads and a good
ammeter gives great results without repositioning, proximity effects,
etc.. Love clamps, but love a chance to direct-connect even more!
Safely, of course! Clam ps are a lot safer as long as they stay plugged
in!

Cheers,



[snip]

ALOE.org wrote:
wrote:
...
I asked if he tested or just LOOKED!
I don't know any electricians who can tell the condition of a breaker
or determine the cause of a regularly tripping one simply by looking
(other than the obvious it's fried which one would presume isn't the
case here since it apparently was still functional to the point of
tripping).

And you weren't there, so you haven't seen it.

And I've not claimed I have...if you'll read my posts, I told the OP
(and others) she should take the advice of the pro who had...

--