Quote:
quote:Originally posted by bsmeaton
Quote:
quote:Originally posted by SlickWillie
Hmmm, I just can't agree with all of that. If you put a constant overload on a breaker, the breaker will heat up internally, regardless of how much heat you dissipate downstream. JMHO
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It's all about heat Slick, the breaker actually cannot detect amperage. With enought heat sinks downstream, you can practically double the amperage passing through that breaker. The most common examples of overloading are commercial office areas. I've seen the male end of a multi-outlet strip melt through the outlet on the wall and drip down onto the carpet while continously serving 3 office cubes, each running a 1500Watt space heater, computers, and flourescent lights. The breaker, located 300 feet away in the electrical room, was only 20A. It never tripped, nor was it even warm. Our clamp-on Amp meter indicated a 48A draw on that multioutlet strip.
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I know it is all about heat. The internals of the breaker are designed to overheat with a specific load. Ambient temperature can affect the breaker also. I've used freon to cool large breakers on water chiller units to get them started. But...I'm here to tell you, if you had 48 amps
constant load on a 20 amp breaker, and it didn't trip, you better start looking for new breaker. It doesn't matter how much you cool the load, the breaker is still what is gonna heat up and should trip.