Circuit Breakers Blog - Expert Safety and Usage Information

Circuit Breaker Reset Tests

MIDWEST — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:30:20 +0000

1600 Amp General Electric Air Circuit Breaker - Catalog No. AK-2A-50-1 Available at www.swgr.com

A customer called MIDWEST to ask why we did something called a “Reset Test” on his circuit breaker. He said he has had circuit breakers tested by switchgear service companies for nearly 30 years and never ever saw something called a circuit breaker “Reset Test.” He has Square D circuit breakers, Westinghouse circuit breakers, General Electrical circuit breakers and newer Cutler Hammer circuit breakers. He checked some of his old test reports and found no “reset tests.” He had never used MIDWEST before, so he was pretty interested when we explained the reason and procedure for the reset test. The reason was a very pleasant surprise because it gave him greater confidence in the proper performance of his circuit breakers. MIDWEST started using the circuit breaker “reset test” many years ago. It’s not a standard test procedure. You won’t find it in the text books or instruction manuals. You will find it in MIDWEST’s Training Manual under ‘Scars,’ meaning experience. It’s a carry over procedure from testing old dashpot type air circuit breakers and insulated case circuit breakers and molded case circuit breakers. The reason for the test is that occasionally, seldom but occasionally, a circuit breaker will nuisance trip when put back into service after it has been high current tested. For example, a 1600 amp air circuit breaker, after high current testing, might nuisance trip instantly at 500 amps. Basically the over current device failed during the high current testing. This was far more common with older “non electronic” over current devices. New electronic over current devices are more reliable, but not perfect. Strange things happen. We are not talking about the service technician forgetting to put the settings back to the correct positions. We are talking about an actual defective device. The test only takes moments. In the interest of quality control, the reset test addresses the “consequences of failure” as opposed to the “probability of failure.”

Yes, we are paranoid about safety and quality.

Arc Blast Damaged Westinghouse PC32000 Molded Case Circuit Breaker

MIDWEST — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 03:12:54 +0000

Arc Damaged Westinghouse PC32000 Circuit Breaker

If you want to see a good picture of a large circuit breaker that has been damaged by an arc blast, look at the pictures with this blog. The breaker was a Westinghouse PC32000 molded case circuit breaker. It was a 2000 amp circuit breaker that failed to interrupt a fault and blasted the inside of the breaker until it actually blew a hole through the side of the circuit breaker frame. If you look closely, you will see where a MIDWESTswitchgear service technician actually stuck a screwdriver through the hole. The close up picture shows the hole and shows the extensive arcing damage to the moveable arcing and main contacts. The phase barriers, arc chutes, pretty much the whole Westinghouse PC32000 circuit breaker, was arc blasted beyond repair. One picture shows the destroyed circuit breaker next to a MIDWEST inventory stock PC32000 circuit breaker. This is a tough Westinghouse molded case circuit breaker. It wouldn’t make any difference whether the breaker was Square D or GE General Electric. If the breaker contacts begin to open, but fail to interrupt the current, arc damage will quickly occur. If the breaker is trying to interrupt fault current, extensive arc damage occurs very fast and will quickly expand into a phase to phase fault with catastrophic destruction. The arcing fault may explode outside the case of the circuit breaker. This is one of the reasons for wearing protective clothing and following safe work practices when operation circuit breakers. Bad things can happen very fast. Too fast for you to get out of the way. We suggest being paranoid about safety when working around electrical power equipment.

Another View of a Arc Damanged Westinghouse PC32000 Circuit Breaker

Perfect Square D MA36500 Circuit Breaker an Ornamental Reminder

MIDWEST — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:52:36 +0000

Square D MA36500 Circuit Breakers For Sale at www.swgr.com

On one of MIDWEST’s Switchgear Service Desks is a Square D molded case circuit breaker in mint condition. It just sits there, in a place of honor, as a reminder that appearances may outright lie. It has nothing to do with whether or not the circuit breaker is Square D or a Cutler Hammer HLCG3400 or a GE General Electric TJK436400WL or any other manufacture. It is there as a reminder that you can’t tell the condition of the inside of the breaker, the operating condition, based on the outside appearances. We see breakers that look like junk, but test out perfectly. And, as in this case, we see breakers that look mint and are junk. We used this circuit breaker because it looks like it is in such great condition. Looks great, opening and closing sounds right and feels right. But, when we removed the cover, the contacts were what we call, and this is a technical term, fried. Moveable and stationary, main and operating contacts were burned, brown, and blasted. The inside of the arc dividers were charred. The breaker was fatally damaged and could not be used. But it looked in mint condition. This is a great training aid and we kept it just for that reason. There is a tendency to make technical judgments based on appearances. This is human nature. But is does not apply to the technical world and it certainly does not apply to the electrical switchgear world. We’ll call this, “Breaker fallacy number one.”

15 Kv Power Circuit Breaker, Perfect Scrap

MIDWEST — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:56:01 +0000

15 KV Vacuum Circuit Breaker

For an Electrical Power Engineer, it may seem strange to see someone tearing apart a 15 Kv GE magna blast circuit breaker for scrap. They are one of many work horse high voltage air circuit breakers used successfully for decades in manufacturing plants across the Country. But they have been replaced with 15 kv vacuum circuit breakers. Vacuum breakers are reliable, fast acting, low maintenance devices. Many air circuit breakers have been retrofitted with vacuum circuit breakers. The old air circuit breakers are being scrapped because there are just so many on the secondary market and many are not in good condition. They might look great, be in good mechanical condition, but the arc chutes may have serious damage or dielectric deterioration. These things are not noticeable to most people, but MIDWEST tests high voltage circuit breakers and looks can be extremely deceiving. In addition, the cost to recondition an air circuit breaker is very high. It’s not just the mechanics of the circuit breaker, but the dielectrics can be far more costly. The old GE General Electric and Westinghouse high voltage air circuit breakers are everywhere in the secondary market and they sit for years on the storage shelves. If we have 40 GE General Electric 1200 amp magna blast circuit breakers and we sell 5 a year and we can buy as many more as we need, at little cost, then their value today may be greatest as scrap. This is especially true with the value of scrap metal, like copper, being so high. It’s not 1970 any more.

Noisy Circuit Breaker is a Warning

MIDWEST — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 02:39:37 +0000

HKD3400F Westinghouse 400 Amp Circuit Breakers For Sale at www.swgr.com

A contractor called MIDWEST for a little free advice. His customer had a 400 amp molded case circuit breaker. This happened to be a 400 amp Westinghouse circuit breaker, but it could just as well have been Square D or General Electric. He was very worried because his customer’s 400 amp circuit breaker was rattling, making a terrible humming and rattling noise. He had never heard this before and didn’t know if the circuit breaker was going to blow up, fall apart or what. He said this was a very old breaker, 1960s. We recommended he measure the load on the feeder cables from the breaker, but to do this very safely. Measure the current at the load end of the feeder, if possible, not at the circuit breaker. It is not totally unusual for an old circuit breaker to rattle and hum away when the load is near or over the rating of the over current device. When the breaker’s internal over current device is picking up because of the load. It depends on the breaker. The noise might be an indication the over current device is picking up and may trip the circuit breaker if the load doesn’t drop down below pickup soon enough. Either way, it may be a good idea to replace the circuit breaker. Sometimes these breakers will nuisance trip at less than the pickup current level. If possible retrofit the old circuit breaker with a newer replacement model. Sometimes the rattling is from the metal arc dividers in the circuit breaker arc chutes. Either way, it is not a noise you want to hear. Check the load. If that is not the problem, change the circuit breaker. Safely.

How Do You Test a Circuit Breaker with Ground Fault Protection

MIDWEST — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:45:05 +0000

Over the years MIDWEST has been asked many times how we test circuit breakers that have ground fault protection. High current test sets inject single phase current through one pole, ie phase, of the circuit breaker and the test is timed to see if the breaker trips open within the manufacturer’s specified time, based on the TCC, time current curve. Whether a GE General Electric circuit breaker, or Cutler Hammer or Square D circuit breaker, molded case circuit breaker or air circuit breaker, the same theory applies to the test procedure. Some electronic overcurrent devices on circuit breakers have a feature allowing you to turn off or defect the ground fault protective function. The manufacturer’s specification sheets should explain this. But, if there is no way to turn off the ground fault protective function on a Westinghouse circuit breaker, for example, a specific test procedure must be followed or the circuit breaker will trip open on ground fault function long before you can put enough current through the breaker to properly test the long time or short time function. Maybe the ground fault pickup range is 100 to 1200 amps and the time delay range is 0.1 to 1.0 seconds. But your 1600 amp Siemens breaker should be long time tested at 300% or 4800 amps and it will take the breaker 22 seconds to trip at that current level. The procedure is to inject current through one phase, current transformer, and then connect the test set up such that the current returns through a second phase, current transformer, in the opposite direction. The currents will cancel out such that the ground fault pickup sees zero current. Be sure to test in all three possible combinations. Then each phase is tested for ground fault pickup and delay by just injecting current through that phase. These tests are more time consuming for many molded case circuit breakers. Always check the manufacturer’s literature if you are not sure how to test a specific circuit breaker. The test requirements may differ between a Federal Pacific circuit breaker and a Westinghouse circuit breaker, for example. But they may also differ between types of circuit breakers by the same manufacturer. And, of course, always be safe.

Draw Out Air Circuit Breaker Lubrication Problem

MIDWEST — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:38:14 +0000

DS-420 Westinghouse Low Voltage Air Circuit Breakers For Sale by MIDWEST

The over lubrication of low voltage draw out air circuit breakers drives the MIDWEST Switchgear Shop crazy. Sometimes MIDWEST gets these circuit breakers after the owner’s maintenance folks finally give up trying to permanently fix them. They usually do not have the luxury of time, which we have in the switchgear shop. But they are correct in one sense and it’s that they know most of the problems with air circuit breakers are actually mechanical and not electrical at all. But the solution of choice too often is to spray the mechanical operating mechanism with some aerosol type cleaner and lubricant. Then exercise the breaker, spray a little more lub, until the breaker opens and closes mechanically without a problem. But three months later or six or nine, whenever they actually operate it again, the breaker does not open and close properly. So eventually they get sick of this and send it to MIDWEST’s Switchgear Shop. Our job is to take the operating mechanism apart, clean everything, properly lubricate, and reassemble. Concerning lubrication, it is important to know three things. What lubricant to use. Where to put it. And how much to use. Or, as the shop says, how much not to use. The problem of too much lubricant might seem counter intuitive to some folks, but excessive lubricant collects dust and dirt. The wrong lubricant gets hard. And the wrong lubricant in the wrong amount in the wrong place just about guarantees an eventual problem. Whether an old Cutler Hammer or Westinghouse 1600 amp DA 50 circuit breaker or an old GE AK-1-50, or more modern air circuit breaker, we find most problems are mechanical and most are caused by OE (ie Operator Error), especially when racking in and out, and by poor maintenance. In the real world one sometimes must get the breaker to operate and back in service as soon as possible. But don’t confuse the temporary fix for a permanent reliable repair.

Circuit Breaker Arc Chute Missing – Remove the Cover

MIDWEST — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:21:54 +0000

MIDWEST has its own internal blogosphere that especially hums away when something unusual happens, like when one of the Engineers or Engineering Technician discovers something important or rare or both with the electrical equipment they are working on. Here is an example of some internal buzz that also proved the

MA31000 Square D Circuit Breakers For Sale

importance of removing the covers from electrical power circuit breakers, whether Square D circuit breakers, Cutler Hammer circuit breakers or GE General Electric circuit breakers. The need is not related to the manufacturer. In this example, the Engineering Technician was reconditioning and testing a 1000 amp Square D circuit breaker. When he removed the cover of the circuit breaker, he was amazed to find the center pole arc chute was gone. Completely missing. Fortunately the arcing and main contacts appeared undamaged. There was some arcing marks on the arcing contacts, but nothing serious. One could do high current tests, contact resistance tests, and insulation resistance tests and never catch this defect. But the first time this breaker tried to interrupt a large fault current, it could have failed, with the resulting arcing causing an eventual phase to phase arcing fault on the line side of a large circuit breaker. This arcing fault might not be large enough to trip the main breaker immediately. If for some reason the panel board was a MLO, main lugs only, the protective device might be the main breaker or fused switch on the line side of an upstream transformer. This is a worst case environment, but it does happen. It is especially dangerous because the arcing fault may last several minutes before the main protective device operates. And more scary is the possibility of someone being injured by the fault. This is an incipient failure. Also an insidious failure. It is another example of the reason to properly recondition replacement power circuit breakers. Testing alone is not enough.

Overheating 1200 Amp Square D Circuit Breaker – Bus Bolts Bottomed Out

MIDWEST — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:22:45 +0000

Square D 1200 Amp Circuit Breaker - Cat. No. MAL361200 For Sale by MIDWEST

MIDWEST found a seriously overheating 1200 amp Square D circuit breaker during the annual Infrared Scan of a Foundry. The upper left corner of the newly installed circuit breaker lit up like a light bulb when viewed with Infrared. The foundry third shift electricians tightened all the bus connections to the back of the circuit breaker. They said a couple bolts turned a quarter turn and they exercised the breaker. Rescanning showed no change. They didn’t want us working on the circuit breaker in place, so MIDWEST provided a temporary rental circuit breaker so they could remove the defective Square D circuit breaker for us to repair, if possible. Before testing the circuit breaker in our shop, we inspected it. The technician immediately noticed there were different bolts holding the line and load side breaker bus details. In our famous words, “We’ve seen this before.” Got to love experience. As soon as he removed the bolts he determined the bolts, holding the bus detail in the overheating area of the breaker, were bottoming out before the bus detail was tight. This was a quick fix because no overheating damage had occurred. This was an old Square D molded case circuit breaker. But we have seen the same problem on Westinghouse 2000 amp circuit breakers and less frequently on GE circuit breakers. We have never seen it when the circuit breakers have been installed by the manufacturer. It happens when a breaker has been replaced for some reason.

Important Circuit Breaker Maintenance Tool – Wasp Spray

MIDWEST — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:39:35 +0000

On a field service project, the customer was amazed at how much equipment we had on the large service vans. Besides the test equipment for old and newer circuit breakers and for oil filled power transformers and switchgear, we had the equipment and tools to maintain the switchgear and make many potential repairs. Plus generators, fuel and lights and much more. The customer asked, kind of as a joke, if we had anything on the trucks that was very important but wasn’t technical. This was a shutdown project where the power was turned off at 5:00 AM and had to be back on by 11:00 AM. A lot of work in six hours, including replacing one of the circuit breakers.

The immediate simultaneous response from two Engineering Technicians was, “Hornet Spray.” Each truck has at least one can of hornet, actually wasp spray, in a can that will spray a stream 10 to 15 feet. We learned decades ago that it can be painful if you have a short shutdown project and open up the switchgear to access your favorite Square D circuit breakers or Westinghouse circuit breakers or new Siemens circuit breakers and you find the switchgear to be a hotel for a bunch of wasp nests. Hard to find a volunteer to take the bite clearing out wasp nests so you can replace circuit breakers. Instead, a little stream of spray here and there and you’re ready to go. No customer wants their project put at risk because of a few bees, even if they are mad. The bees that is. It’s a magic solution for a non technical problem. So that’s something non technical but extremely important for an outdoor project to inspect, test and maintain circuit breakers and electrical switchgear. Don’t leave home without it.