Using A Circuit Breaker As A Manual Switch

How many times can you flip a 30 Amp CB on and off before it wears out? Say you as gentle as possible with the switch.

Bret Cahill

Reply to
Bret Cahill
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Different manufactures have different specs. What do you mean by "gentle"? Will you whisper sweet things to it while you switch a 30 Amp load on and off?

Tom

Reply to
Tom Biasi

You slam the switch, then kiss it ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Some are designed to be used as light switches in retail stores & factories, but others had warnings not to use them as a switch.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

I guess I wasn't clear... You BANG the switch, then kiss it >:-} ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I believe it's called an "switch" or 'S' rating. AFAIK, no residential breakers have a switch rating.

Reply to
krw

There is no "gentle" for a normal circuit breaker: the toggle action is so strong that the contacts are going to thump hard no matter what.

What Mr. Terrell said about switch-rated breakers: there was a breaker box at my dad's shop that had the circuit breakers turned on and off every working day for the ten years that I worked there, and we never had a problem (and I would know -- it would have been my job to swap the breaker out).

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Reply to
Tim Wescott

I've never seen any that would fit a residential panel.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

No thanks. The last one like that was on fire. My skin smelled like burnt Bakelite for weeks. That stench wouldn't wash out, no matter what I used.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

How would you know w/o a test, i.e., a short with a known resistance? Maybe nothing ever went wrong in your shop and the CBs still worked great as manual switches but had, over the years, been altered as far as the amperage that shut them off?

A shop would be the last place to offer as evidence as the "do everything within specs" mentality prevails. Much more compelling would be the dtisy residential situation test.

The thermal CBs that Square D introduced in 1935 took awhile to for the bimetalic strip to heat up and pull away from a contact. They were replaced starting in 1940 with faster acting magnetic CBs.

All the testing and innovation took place at the plant.

But you never hear of electricians advocating anyone going around testing installed CBs for safety.

This is similar to the idiot light problem. Supposing the idiot light has burned out?

Bret Cahill

Reply to
Bret Cahill

Here in the UK AFAIK there doesn't seem to be any way to test them. I had a brocken socket to be replaced and couldn't find the breaker. We tried the method of shorting the socket to earth to trip it. The wires just fused & sat there live. We eventually found the breaker at the other side of the store & had to replace with a derated one because the resistance of the circuit was too high.

Ron

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Reply to
Mr Ron

Last week my office's 30 years air con switch (single throw 20A ) breakdown , it was Mk brand , I manage to brough one balance stock from a shop at thi rty six dollar and it was make in UK during 2009. The seller said you can s ave cost by using MCB as a switch and it is very commom. BTW a china mak e unmark rating wall switch only cost one dollar fifty cents only, sure not to use for air con.

Reply to
mowhoong

t

What would you need besides an amp meter and some resistors?

That should be proof that the CB was no good.

Bret Cahill

Reply to
Bret Cahill

I have a gadget that plugs into an outlet that produces a signal that can be sensed (non-contact) at the breaker. I think it's magnetic since the probe must be oriented vertically at the breaker panel.

As for automotive idiot lights, now-a-days they're "smarter" than you think. If you watch the dash while you start the car you can spot any burnt out bulbs, because they're all lit up at "power-on".

One idiot light chip I designed for GM (~45 years ago) could even detect ONE open diode in the alternator. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson                                 |    mens     | 
| Analog Innovations                               |     et      | 
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Mr Ron wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@sand-hill.freeserve.co.uk:

Your wiring needs replacing, a short-circuit should blow even a breaker of double that spec. Or you can wait until the house burns down.....

Reply to
Sjouke Burry

mowhoong wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Perfect, those China breakers. They make the house burn down very nicely.

Reply to
Sjouke Burry

Thank you both for the insult to my father's abilities to wisely select appropriate switches, and for once again discouraging me to answer your questions.

Use switch-rated circuit breakers.

Stop being a troll.

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Reply to
Tim Wescott

An acquaintence owned a nice small old house with a fuse panel, probably 60 amps for the main. His insurance company refused to insure it. The house was supposedly torched by a meth head and he lost everything.

Bret Cahill

Reply to
Bret Cahill

If you read the above text, we had to derate the circuit from 32A to 16 Amp as the resistance of the circuit was too great for anything above a 16A breaker to trip in the required time. Wiring otherwise tested OK.

That's the point, CB was FAULTY & not testable.

Ron

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MrRonMan@googlemail.com
Reply to
Mr Ron

ad

t

mp

can wait until the house burns down.....

It seems like it was "over fused" or "over breakered" but how do you know it was faulty if there was no test to determine if it was faulty?

Apparently you had _some_ test to determine if it was faulty.

Bret Cahill

Reply to
Bret Cahill

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