So only half of our house has power and after looking around and doing some research I had came to the conclusion that the 125a service/main breaker is only half working. However just to be sure, we still called an electrocution and he said the samething AND wanted to charge 800 dollars for replacement. We figured that was steep and couldn’t afford it for replacing one breaker so we are deciding to do it ourselves. My question is, if I use another 125a breaker to replace the other one, but this one has an interrupt rating of 10000 and the breaker in the box has an interrupt ranting of 22000 can I still use the 10000 rated breaker in place of the 22000 breaker and not worry about nec violations/arcing /bus bar damage? All other variables are the same on both breakers. Also, is 800 a reasonable price for this kind of replacement?
I am not a electrocution :), but it sounds like you have a half a leg out on your power. I highly recommend you call your electricity company and have them check out your feed first.
$800 seems a bit steep just to replace the main breaker. Are you sure that’s all that the electrician said was wrong with it?
No, you can’t just arbitrarily use a breaker with a lower interrupt rating. The breaker has to be rated for the fault current available at that point.
Based on your post, I would say that you should not be replacing the main breaker yourself.
How do you plan on killing the incoming power feed? My main lines are tied into the main breaker. It is usually the first switch past the meter from your power transformer. There is typically not a switch between. The leads are a bit stiff to be wrangling live. If you plan on pulling the meter, your power company may have an issue with you. I was not able to do it myself last year. I wanted them to know so they could reseal it with the metal tag. They don’t like finding cut tags. Part of the $800 probably accounts for that. Are you positive it is a bad breaker and not a bad lead? Sure a stab on the meter socket hasn’t corroded open? Not a bad lug on your power transformer? Not an open winding in the power transformer itself? Have you safely tested the incoming powwer to verify it is there? What if the stab on your breaker has burned off your main bus? If you are hear asking for advice, I am unsure you have the tools or knowledge to safely get the job done. If you plan on doing it yourself hot, please add me to your will.
My brother needs a heart transplant and the surgeon wants 50K to do it. I’ve done some reading on the internet and I think I can do it myself. The only heart I can find on the black market is Type A blood, my brother is type B, but everything else about it is the same. Do I need to worry about it not working? BTW is 50K a reasonable price?
You shouldn’t be doing it yourself. People shouldn’t be advising you how to do it yourself. Get a second and third opinion from licensed electricians capable for doing the job.
We did get an opinion from another electrician today, and it is the main circuit breaker that is out in the panel. The breaker we had could not be used and we are waiting to get a hold of the proper one. We won’t do it ourselves as we have family who is in town and qualified to do so. Thanks for all of your guys advice. As for that heart transplant analogy… Just stop.
$50k sounds like a reasonable price if it includes a type A heart. If you still want to do this yourself you might want to check into renting the specialized equipment, for just a one time deal it’s not worth buying the equipment yourself. There is a slight risk things will go wrong, so I’d suggest having a black market death certificate in hand before you start. The authorities won’t be able to charge you with murder if your brother was already dead, paperwork-wise.
Good point. Be careful giving legal advice though, it’s against the rules to do so. People should only get legal advice from in person lawyers because the negative consequences may impact their lives.
It’s well documented that unqualified people working on electrical systems has no negative consequences which is why this topic remains fair game.
Agreed. I do [del]heart transplants[/del] electrical work on my house from time to time despite not being a fully licensed [del]doctor[/del] electrician, and I (and my house) have come through unscathed. A wise man once said “a man’s got to know his limitations;” he was right, but to compare home electrical work with heart transplants is to suggest that it’s something that should always be left to the pros, and I don’t agree with that.
*Real *electricians NEVER work with live electricity, they call the electric company and have power disconnected. Or remove the electric meter (need permission of electric company first).
Even the electric company will not work with live electricity if they can avoid it.
With that said, what you can do is fully turn off the main breaker, then turn it back on. That may work. Other than that, I would recommend you next call the electric company. They will check your service for free. Sometimes there is a loose connection and they can fix it for free.
If they say the problem is with your main breaker, then best to have a licensed electrician do the job. Someone who knows how to use an electric meter and how to get the main power disconnected. Someone who knows how to BE SURE the main electricity is off before doing any work.
And someone who knows how to use antioxidant compound on main electrical connections as well as how to torque those connections to the proper inch pounds so the connections will not heat up under load.
Yes. $800 is a bit much. Replace the whole panel? OK. A breaker switch? No.
Get somebody qualified. Don’t get your brother-in-law to do this while you hold his beer.
Let us know how it turns out.
Well stated…bolding mine for brevity
WTF?
That was my point exactly.
DIYS electrical work is not legal in Aus, and has not been for a very long time, so many people hare have no idea how to do electrical work. And Electricians don’t like to work live. ** but our (c)1990 house has no main switch.** And although it would be possble to call the electricity company and have the power to the house disconnected (for around $800), that’s not how it’s done here. The way to add another circuit breaker is to work live.
Adding “another,” that is, a branch circuit breaker, in a hot panel, is a ~very~ different proposition than replacing a main breaker on hot service conductors.
Isn’t it the power company’s responsibility from the pole/transformer to the meter box, and from the meter box to everything else the homeowner’s responsibility? Still, I can see me changing a sub breaker in the breaker box, but NOT the main breaker.
Around here, the dividing line is the meter itself. The power company is responsible for everything to the meter box, and the power company is responsible for the meter as well. But the homeowner is responsible for the meter base and everything inside the house. If a connection goes bad inside the meter base (happened to me once) then it’s on the homeowner’s nickel to replace it.
What is a main breaker on a hot service conductor? Do you mean hot at both ends?
All the “branch” circuit breakers are hooked up with unswitched power along the length (a bare copper bus trimmed to the correct length and pushed into the breakers because that is easier than wiring). Neutral is wired to common (copper screw terminal block).
We haven’t heard from Crushcader in a week.
Crushcader?
Crushcader?
mmm