The right side of my breaker panel is warm to the touch.

Everything works but I am worried that the heat may indicate problems. Should the box be replaced?

Reply to
catnip
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Go through each of the breakers and list every single receptacle, light, ma chine etc. that it controls in every wall of every room. That?s what the guy who installed your service panel in the first place was supposed to do in the first place and if you call an electrician he?s going to charge yo u a whole lot of money to do it for you.

Reply to
recyclebinned

I would phone your local electrical utility to see if they can send someone out to check it.

One side shouldn't be any warmer than the other.

Maybe phone the electrical inspector and see if they'd charge anything to check it.

Reply to
nestork

Put your ear up close to the panel and listen for any sizzling sound which can indicate arcing cause by a defective breaker or a bad connection on a breaker. If you cut the breakers off one by one until the sizzling sound stops, that will be the problem breaker and time to call an electrician. ^_^

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

DONT USE THE PHONE, (unless it's a cellphone). Adding the electrical power needed to operate the phone will surely overload the electrical system and cause a fire.

Use a cellphone, or drive to the electric company.

Reply to
rusty

Naah, you should get a Usenet provider, and usenet reader. This is Usenet, not a web forum.

. Christ> --

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

*A little warmth is not unusual, but if it is too hot to touch there may be a problem. Feel each individual circuit breaker to see if any one of them is significantly warmer than the others. If so there may be a problem with that circuit breaker or it just may have a large load on it such as your air conditioner.

Age, overall condition, brand (FPE) and room for expansion are the usual determining factors on breaker panel replacement. You could call a professional electrician to come in and have a look inside to be on the safe side.

Reply to
John Grabowski

*IF* you have only standard breakers, I'd worry.

However, if you have a slew of those new breakers to satisfy the 'arc over' problem; naw. They self heat and make the area warm.

Reply to
RobertMacy

Any special instructions if the Moaners Hub poster has FPE Stabloc panel?

. Christ>

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I have an infrared thermometer I use to scan a panel and back in the late 1980's I was working for an electrical contracting company that had gotten into using an infrared video camera to scan electrical panels at industrial sites. Non contact thermometers have become inexpensive compared to 10 years ago when I bought my first one. You can get one at the normal male's favorite toy store. ^_^

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TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

You can also hold a relatively small long screwdriver so the blade touches a breaker and the handle is 'in' your ear - a stethoscope. I agree sizzling is from arcing, and bad. Humming is normal.

My guess is the right side has 2 pole breakers that were loaded when the OP noticed one side was hotter. Or maybe random.

Reply to
bud--

Arrrggg! that tiny URL did NOTHING for my systme, would you post the 'long' version too? I can always unwrap it.

Reply to
RobertMacy

Nasty person...here is the long version requested:

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Reply to
Roy

Well, a hard-wired phone that's not FIOS only uses power that comes from the phone company.

And a cordless phone uses some of your power, but I think it uses almost as much when you're not even talking on the phone.

And it's just warm. It's not ready to catch fire yet.

Reply to
micky

It could be arcing or inductive heating. Inductive heading happens when the neutral is not in the same (metal) raceway as the hot.

If you do have inductive heating, (as someone else suggested) turning off the right breaker will cause the humming to stop.

Reply to
Metspitzer

My system jumped right in there but here's the long link. ^_^

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TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Thank you for your responses. More info: I listened to the breakers as advised. There is no sizzling sound. I noticed that all of the warm breakers were labeled AFCI. Does that give a clue to the problem?

Thank you very much for your help!

Reply to
catbyte

Hmmm, I bought similar thing on eBay for 12 bucks. Works well. If OP has Amprobe it'll be handy. Al. wiring by any chance? Any loose connections? Any smell?

Reply to
Tony Hwang

"catbyte" wrote in message

Yes! The AFCI breakers contain small power supplies for the electronic components that live inside them. That could easily account for the heat.

Reply to
Robert Green

Your problem is using a web forum to invade Usenet.

. Christ> Does that give a clue to the problem?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

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