Everyone.

I just got back from a fire call of someone turning on a lightbulb and his circuit breaker exploded. he had minor injuries and some smoke damage along with the obvious damages to the breaker.
He'll be alright.

So now I'm just wishing everyone a safe week.


-Pokey

ummmmmmmm so we shouldnt touch light bulbs???

why did his circuit breaker explode?

I like the idea of all my friends on JSH to be safe and have a great day

I think what Pokey was saying, is the breaker failed, probably upon resetting it. I've been in the electrical field a long time, practically all my life. These things do happen, sometimes to the extreme of fatalities. Who would think something as simple as resetting a breaker could be so dangerous? I've seen people so badly burnt, their bones were exposed. Electricity is an awesome force. in any household, you have a potential energy of 225 amps x 240 volts, which is in power rated at over 54 thousand watts, or the energy it takes to burn 540, 100 watt bulbs. While this may not seem all that much, in the event of failure it is possible to draw over twenty thousand amps, for a period of less than 1/2 second. And believe me....that 1/2 second can be a fireball of the brightest light you will ever see.

if the breaker failed, wouldn't the electricity not be on?

I'm just saying that you never know what's gonna happen. something as simple as turning on a lightbulb could be perilous. i'm just hoping everyone takes care of themselves.

(thanks to markecephus for clearing some of that up. to be completely honest, i wasn't entirely sure how any of it happened.)

-pokey

"if the breaker failed, wouldn't the electricity not be on?"

When we say a breaker failed, it can mean several different things,

1. The breaker failed because it could not "see" the fault. In this case the breaker did not function, because of inadequate grounding, which did not facilitate the operation of the breaker to trip.

2. The breaker failed because of a loose connection, between the terminals of the breaker and the bus it's plugged into. meanining minimal "arcing" at the contact point. ( an indication of this in the early stages is the breaker will begin to trip)

3. The more this "arcing" continues, the more likely carbon deposits are being left on the bus bar. these bars are very close, carbon tracks, will develop over time, on the insulating material between the bars, giving a path to the bar above it, or below it. This gives the potential for a flashover. And in this case, may blow the cover off the box.

4. when we say it failed, It may simply mean would not reset. This is an indication you should have an electrician look at it.

One thing i will point out here, Is replace the breaker with one of the same size, and one made for that panelbox. There are a lot of different brands that may fit the box, however, these things are designed right down to the inch pounds of torque the breaker has when you snap it in.

In closing, if anyone doubts this information, google breaker failure fatalities, I strongly urge anyone who may be having the slightest problem with your panelbox, By all means have a qualified electrician look into it. Nothing is worth the price of you and your family.

Thanks for posting Pokey
Mark

Thanks for making sense of this situation markecephus. I liked the info.

firefighter are ya, keep up the great work boxturtle247. your all heroes in my eyes.