Is my circuit breaker old/faulty?

[sunfarm]

There are so many issues here...

130F is 54C, below the 60C minumum temperature rating of all the 120/240V wiring in every house in north america whether its in a wiring cabinet or not. Breakers themselves have terminals rated to accept at least 75C wires, and some will deal with 90C.

In theory, you could literally put a flame source inside the main panel, and it shouldn't catch the house on fire. (I don't have the specs right here, but I'm sure they are supposed to run out of fuel before the fire can escape the case). This assumes that there are no unfilled knockouts(either wires or breaker-spaces).

It is the job of the NEC to keep things safe even when there's a failure or two. With around 150 million homes around North America, and probably 3 billion circuit breakers in those homes, there WILL be unexpected failures, regardless of product design. I visited one home where the dishwasher was slowly pouring water(and detergenty-water, at that!) THROUGH a wiring sheath all the way down one row of breakers, and they were all slowly becoming intermittent.

It seems like the DCC-10 worked for you(and that's great!) but it doesn't mean it will fix everyone else's electrical challenges.

This is not a big challenge, this is simply housing wiring.

 

[Gimmethecash]

My electrician installed a new 50A breaker today, and that seems to have solved my issue. No buzzing/hissing while charging and the temperature on the face of it only went from 84F ambient to ~104F (*barely* warm to the touch), and the main breaker is mirroring the charger breaker’s temperature. I took measurements an hour apart with no discernible difference, so it appears to be stable.

I left the 40A setting on the TWC, as 32A charging (28mph) is plenty fast and I now feel perfectly safe scheduling charging to happen at night when it’s cool and no AC running, to keep the overall load on the system low.

Thanks to all who contributed input.

 

[qdeathstar]

There are so many issues here...

130F is 54C, below the 60C minumum temperature rating of all the 120/240V wiring in every house in north america whether its in a wiring cabinet or not. Breakers themselves have terminals rated to accept at least 75C wires, and some will deal with 90C.

In theory, you could literally put a flame source inside the main panel, and it shouldn't catch the house on fire. (I don't have the specs right here, but I'm sure they are supposed to run out of fuel before the fire can escape the case). This assumes that there are no unfilled knockouts(either wires or breaker-spaces).

It is the job of the NEC to keep things safe even when there's a failure or two. With around 150 million homes around North America, and probably 3 billion circuit breakers in those homes, there WILL be unexpected failures, regardless of product design. I visited one home where the dishwasher was slowly pouring water(and detergenty-water, at that!) THROUGH a wiring sheath all the way down one row of breakers, and they were all slowly becoming intermittent.

It seems like the DCC-10 worked for you(and that's great!) but it doesn't mean it will fix everyone else's electrical challenges.

I have a panel in my shop that melted all the way through the steel enclosure...

A bad breaker could theoretically cause a fire inside of a panel and would also explaining the heat rise, so would an older panel.

 

[doghousePVD]

My rule of thumb is a breaker is goofy, replace. They’re cheap and you can do it yourself. Breakers crap out all the time. I had three (in different buildings) get wonky in the last five years.

 

[Adamb258]

I can’t find a 50a breaker to save my life

 

[Sophias_dad]

I can’t find a 50a breaker to save my life

take a picture of your panel information, I'm sure they are around

 

[Adamb258]

It’s a CH is the issue, called 20 local stores and none in stock. Found some online but on my third place to order from as other two came back with a back order also

 

[MN-MS100D]

Try Eaton.

 

[brkaus]

It’s a CH is the issue, called 20 local stores and none in stock. Found some online but on my third place to order from as other two came back with a back order also

Dang. No CH breakers available around here.

 

[petersk]

If your electrician installed NM in an existing conduit from end to end, he is a complete idiot and needs to be dismissed from any consideration or payment.

I have to ask, which part makes the electrician an idiot? The 6-3? The NM? Or the “existing” conduit vs new conduit?… what exactly?

 

[brkaus]

I have to ask, which part makes the electrician an idiot? The 6-3? The NM? Or the “existing” conduit vs new conduit?… what exactly?

Not allowed to install NM in conduit.

it’s allowed to be sleeved for protection but the definition of sleeved and the distances allowed are a bit up to the local inspector.

if it’s in conduit the entire way, should have just used individual wires.

reason - the additional insulation from the NM jacket plus the conduit slows heat escape.

 

[Rocky_H]

Not allowed to install NM in conduit.

Yes it is.

it’s allowed to be sleeved for protection but the definition of sleeved and the distances allowed are a bit up to the local inspector.

if it’s in conduit the entire way, should have just used individual wires.

reason - the additional insulation from the NM jacket plus the conduit slows heat escape.

But yeah, the part about bad electrician is just that if the entire thing has conduit there, it was just a dumb idea to try to force NM-B into it instead of using individual wires, which would be both easier to fish through and have a higher current carrying rating.

 

[Gimmethecash]

It’s a bit moot anyway, since the electrician installed 3 individually insulated THHN wires and did *not* use (nor attempt to use) Romex - it wasn’t a bad idea because it was not an idea at all, just a question raised here by Sophias_dad that was answered in post #8…

It isn't clear from the original post. Is that 6/3(NM-B/Romex) through conduit, or just three strands of conductor through conduit. The former is not allowed at all and the electrician should not have installed it.

It’s 3 individual insulated 6 gauge wires in the conduit.