Tarnish on Breakers Normal

[mobiledynamics]

Retweaked the panel a bit.

Removed one breaker. The center double pole breakers have this darkish discoloring on them. The copper wires *which I relocated*, looked nice and shiney per say.

Is this normal for this area of a breaker to develop some color ?

 

[dw1]

Are you sure that isnt a marking? that a quad breaker, the two red terminals are one 240 breaker and the two outside are the other, kind of like the handle ties, the inside handle joins with the red terminals.

 

[mobiledynamics]

I don't mess with breakers much, nor have it ever dawned on me to look at the connection point. Do they mark the Double Poles with a *hint of color*.

It was just sitting on the table face up as I was cleaning and putting the tools away and noticed it..

 

[dw1]

I don't mess with breakers much, nor have it ever dawned on me to look at the connection point. Do they mark the Double Poles with a *hint of color*.

It was just sitting on the table face up as I was cleaning and putting the tools away and noticed it..

No need to mark a double pole. only two terminals, the quad breaker has two terminals marked to coincide with the handle to have 240 volts, if you didnt know and put one device on the wrong terminals, you would have 120v to ground on each, but not 240v between them as they are on the same leg. The quad breaker plugs in like a double pole and has the same physical size, but you are gainging room for another 240 v device. (Hope thats clear)

 

[mobiledynamics]

I just checked a different breaker. It's all silverish on all 4 holes.....

 

[Mustang51js]

One set of wires is drawing more power,so it heats up a little more,that's prob what is making it change colors

 

[Mustang51js]

Also one in a while you find recycled copper in the wires which is makes it a darker color copper

 

[mobiledynamics]

Hi Mustang -

Interesting observation. Even though the copper enters the hole, it's possible....that recycled copper could have bled off color to make the exterior of that surrounding area of the metal - copperish ?

 

[404]

Are the lines marked by green arrows cracks, and if so, do they matter.

 

[mobiledynamics]

THAT area shows looks wrong in my pic, due to the flash. but i do see cracks in this white material
On the surface, it's like hard white sand or something similar in material. Can't get my hand to feel it. BELOW it, if I look closely, looks like RTV or some sort of epoxy/drive ahesive below now.

Let me try to take a pic but it's hard to capture without flash and focusing in ~macro~ in the area you have the green areas, as it's all white


Attemping to grab a pic. Picked one up on the way home, and this one has similar pinholes in it (not smooth) but not cracked..

 

[wyliesdiesels]

OP- Ive seen red on brand new breaker lugs but didnt think much of it....

Are the lines marked by green arrows cracks, and if so, do they matter.

Thats the bakelite. It was either dropped or overheated causing it to crack!

 

[mobiledynamics]

On the left. Brand new picked up from Homers for comparison. No coloration difference but do notice the pinhole in each of the ~white area~

On the right, the original breaker in question.

 

[404]

Sorry to be a broken record, but is the corner on the new one broken off, and does it matter? Is there a trend here?

 

[mobiledynamics]

That one is brand new. I plan to return it. I just picked it up to compare the *white area* and the color of the metal of the terminals...

The probably got dropped or something and chipped.

 

[FordTruckWench]

To me it looks like someone marked the inner two wire clamps with a marker! Perhaps the person installing the breaker had no clue how to hook the wires up - so someone marked them and said "hook the new device to the red terminals".

 

[Mustang51js]

Hi Mustang -

Interesting observation. Even though the copper enters the hole, it's possible....that recycled copper could have bled off color to make the exterior of that surrounding area of the metal - copperish ?

I was talking about the copper wires which I thought you were talking about until I reread it

 

[Mustang51js]

Sorry to be a broken record, but is the corner on the new one broken off, and does it matter? Is there a trend here?

It's a breaker that's not used much so it's prob been thrown around a bunch on the shelves , where that one is broken won't hurt anything