[ndmick]

Can just 1 side of a 100 amp double pole Circuit Breaker go bad?

 

[jlmran]

My guess is yes.

 

[k_buz]

For sure

 

[ndmick]

Thanks .I feed a subpanel thru a 100 amp breaker and 1 side of the sub is not working(not getting full amps) even with none of the curcuits in the panel on, keeps popping 1 side of breaker.

 

[jlmran]

It's impossible for only one side of a 2 pole to "trip". Please describe further.

 

[ndmick]

It doesn`t completely trip but it doesn`t let full voltage thru the 1 side (1 feed to the sub panel )some voltage but not all.Seems like 1 side doesn`t catch when resetting it

 

[jlmran]

How/where are you measuring voltage? At the suspect breaker? At the subpanel? What is your reference?

Seems odd to me that a breaker is responsible for a "reduced voltage".

 

[mpoulton]

It's not really possible for a breaker to "not let full voltage through". It's either on or off. Could be a bit loose, but that would only be apparent under heavy load and would cause major heating. You need to do some measurements and describe in detail exactly what your observations are.

 

[gregzoll]

Yes it can.

 

[ndmick]

measuring at the subpanel where it goes into the main breaker.

 

[jlmran]

Yes it can.

How can this be explained in the context of Mr. Ohm?

 

[jlmran]

measuring at the subpanel where it goes into the main breaker.

What are your contact locations? Line to line? Line to neutral? Line to ground? What is the value of the reduced voltage?

 

[ndmick]

line to neutral

 

[ndmick]

Thanks to all that helped I`ll go pick up new cuircuit breaker in the morning .I`ll come back on friday night let you all know the results.

 

[gregzoll]

How can this be explained in the context of Mr. Ohm?

Nothing to do with Ohm's law. Breakers go bad, whether they are a Single pole or double pole. Just because you have two poles on a breaker, one pole can go bad, while the other still works fine.

Even more fun, when you have a 400amp breaker blow, causing the other phase to blow out that side. Nice fourth of July action.

 

[jlmran]

Nothing to do with Ohm's law. Breakers go bad, whether they are a Single pole or double pole. Just because you have two poles on a breaker, one pole can go bad, while the other still works fine.

Even more fun, when you have a 400amp breaker blow, causing the other phase to blow out that side. Nice fourth of July action.

Obviously a failed breaker could allow ZERO volts to be realized. I mistakenly interpreted your comment to mean that a faulty breaker could allow a partial voltage to be realized. Say, 50 volts for example.

 

[frenchelectrican]

Nothing to do with Ohm's law. Breakers go bad, whether they are a Single pole or double pole. Just because you have two poles on a breaker, one pole can go bad, while the other still works fine.

Even more fun, when you have a 400amp breaker blow, causing the other phase to blow out that side. Nice fourth of July action.

I just replace big 1600 amp breaker for my industrail customer it was no fun with that one it did knock the POCO transfomer out of commison end up replace that as well. ( BTW it is 415Y240 volt system )

I have see some three pole breaker go bad on one " phase " ditto with common 2 pole breakers.

Merci,
Marc

 

[frenchelectrican]

Obviously a failed breaker could allow ZERO volts to be realized. I mistakenly interpreted your comment to mean that a faulty breaker could allow a partial voltage to be realized. Say, 50 volts for example.

If you did get 50 volts going thru the breaker like example then you have something is burning inside the breaker useally the concat is bad or pitted up pretty serious. For sure you can hear the cracking sound ( I can pick up the viberations so I know it is cooking pretty hard )

Sometime you can get the larger two pole breaker like main breakers it can do show up in funny way depending on what model it is.

Merci,
Marc

 

[ndmick]

Thanks for all the help from everyone..It was corrosion where the breaker in the main box connected to the power..