Re: Ouch


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Posted by D Sherman [72.47.9.228] on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 02:28:09 :

In Reply to: Re: Ouch posted by Jerry in Idaho [64.139.238.43] on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 00:39:36 :

With two breakers in series, there could be a couple of twists to this. If breaker A is a lower amperage than breaker B, then a short in the compressor as I described would trip A even though A is closer to Grand Coulee (or Albeni Falls in your case). On the other hand, if A is higher amperage than B, which is more likely since B is a sub-panel of A, then the short to ground or neutral must be somewhere between those two breakers, probably in one of the panel boxes. There's nothing illegal about having one sub-panel feeding another. All that matters is that the upstream breaker is rated low enough to protect the smallest of the downstream wiring. I suspect if you track it down you'll find a wire nut that's come loose, or a taped-together bundle of wires where one wire has poked through the tape, shorting it to the box.

On the other hand, if either breaker is a Zinsco/Sylvania unit (popular from about 1970 to 1990) it could have gone so far out of "calibration" that the low-rated one didn't trip when it was supposed to, and the higher-rated one saved the day. Zinsco breakers are notorious for wearing out in exactly the wrong way -- when they're worn out, they fail to trip, whereas better breakers trip too easily when they're worn out.



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