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Had a breaker catch fire on a 15A circuit last Tuesday and I'm still not sure what caused it
I was swapping out an old outlet in a 1970s house and the breaker just lit up when I flipped it back on, no signs of damage before that. The wire looked fine but the bus bar had some black marks I didn't notice at first. Was this just old equipment failing or did I miss something obvious in my check?
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rodriguez.jordan3d ago
Whoa, hold up. You said the wire looked fine but you didn't mention checking the breaker itself. In my experience, those old 1970s breakers are ticking time bombs. The bus bar having black marks is a huge red flag, that's usually from a bad connection or arcing. Your mileage may vary, but I'd bet that old breaker was already loose on the bus or had internal damage from years of heat cycles. The swap probably just gave it the final push it needed to fail. Take this with a grain of salt, but next time I'd replace the breaker if you see any black marks at all, not just clean the bus.
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