Lost 3 hours on a service call because of a bad breaker

Last Tuesday I was troubleshooting no power to a kitchen outlet in a house built in 1982. Checked the panel, tested voltage at the breaker, everything looked fine. Turned out the breaker was internally tripped but the handle didn't flip. Anyone else run into Square D breakers that don't show a trip?

3 comments

3 Comments

amy_foster7926d ago

Check if the breaker was one of those older Square D QO with the red test button - those are the ones I've seen stick internally the most. Did you try manually cycling it off and on to see if the handle felt loose or spongey before you pulled it out? I'm curious if it was the load side burning out the internal mechanism or just a random QC fail from the 80s.

dylanmurray25d ago

I saw an old electrician on YouTube talk about those Square D QO breakers from the 80s. He said the red test button models had a known issue where the contact springs would get weak over time. The handle could still click but the internal mechanism was toast. That lines up with what you're saying about it feeling spongey. A buddy of mine had one in his basement panel that looked fine but wouldn't hold a load at all.

murphy.linda23d ago

Oh man, the red test button models, yeah. That reminded me of this one time I was helping my uncle fix his garage lights and we spent a whole afternoon swapping out bulbs and switches only to find out the breaker was the problem. It looked perfect, handle clicked fine, but when we put a load on it it would just drop off after a few minutes. We ended up replacing every outlet in that garage before we finally thought to check the panel. My uncle still has that old Square D panel and he swears by it but I tell him those 80s breakers are getting tired.