Warm breakers

[PirateTurner]

Daughter and husband are building within walking distance. They currently live ~20 miles away so I've been asked to make daily progress reports. They are in the final stages, no CO yet, but the power is on, parking pad and sidewalk poured today. Since the breaker panel went live, I like to take a look. At first there were two circuits tripped. I didn't mess with them, not my menke, not my circus. Recently those circuits have been made operational. All that is background.

Since being energized, everyone of the circuit breakers seem (overly?) warm to touch. Much warmer than the panel sheet metal. The panel is mounted in the garage so I would expect everything to be close to ambient with a modest accounting for the shade. It's a slab house OBTW.

Do contemporary circuit breakers stay warm(er) than my old ones in my 1995 built house? Why?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mike93lx]

What is connected to these breakers that are warm?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

breakers with low loads shouldnt be warm. my main service panel that is outside facing the west (evening sun) doesnt have breakers that are warmer than the metal panel....

as said above, what is connected to them?

are they regular (non GFCI non AFCI) breakers? if they are GFCI and/or AFCI they will have some heat losses due to coils and electronics in the breakers which could cause them to feel warm to the touch

 

[mm08822]

Without some load data, it is hard to say.

Since it's a new build, I would expect the panel has quite a few AFCI and GFCI cbs that contain electronic circuitry and that might be what you notice.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

The amount of "heat" depends on the load……. More amps=More heat.
Breakers do get warm but should never be hot.

Breakers MAY trip on excessively high ambient temperatures.

 

[purplezr2]

Are they arc fault breakers, or combo AFCI/GFCI breakers.

I believe that due to the electronics inside an AFCI breaker they are typically warm.

 

[PCustoms]

Are they actually warm, or feel warm?

Plastic will conduct heat differently from your fingers then metal. Generally metal is going to feel "colder"

 

[mike93lx]

Take a Pic with your thermal camera and post it.

You do have a thermal, right?

 

[steves_001]

The afci breakers put off a fair amount of heat on their own. I was surprised by that as well. as long as they are just "warm" and not hot to the touch you should be fine.

 

[PirateTurner]

What is connected to these breakers that are warm?

They're on lighting and receptacles. But nothing is turned on.

 

[PirateTurner]

The afci breakers put off a fair amount of heat on their own. I was surprised by that as well. as long as they are just "warm" and not hot to the touch you should be fine.

just warm.

I'll have to take a look. They all have little trip buttons so I suspect they are afci's. I'm a newbie to those.

thanks everyone.

 

[PCustoms]

Good thing this likely is a non issue, not much urgency here...

 

[American Locomotive]

This was discussed not too long ago. GFCI breakers are basically passive, but AFCI breakers consume a quite substantial amount of power. Anywhere from 0.5-1 watt per breaker. Get a panel of 30 breakers and you're just plowing 30 watts constantly.

Over $50 a year worth of electricity where im at.