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Thread: Electrical safety reminder

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Burlington, NC
    Posts
    821

    Electrical safety reminder

    Just wanted to pass along a safety reminder. Today I was installing a new band saw on a 30amp 220v circuit. While I had the breaker box open I thought I would check the tightness of the screws on all the breakers. I was surprised that every one of the 120v circuits could be tightened, some at least 1 full turn. The box was installed about 6 years ago. I was also interested that all the 220v circuits, (20,30, 50 & 60 amp) were good and tight. I didn't see any evidence of any heat spots due to the loose screws, but I do know tight is safer than not tight.

    Just a reminder that you may want to check yours, with the main breaker off of course.

    Perry

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Under a rock in PA
    Posts
    115
    They recommend that they are tightened yearly. But who does it?

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Michael Wetzel View Post
    They recommend that they are tightened yearly. But who does it?
    Actually they need to torqued to factory specs & left alone, a over torqued fastener is as bad as being loose.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    SoCal
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    22,493
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    Thanks Perry. Despite taking care to torque the screws accordingly, I did find 3 screws that accepted an additional 1/4 turn or so to reach a good torque. I'm a better safe than sorry guy, so I took the whole 5 minutes it takes to check this.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  5. #5
    Talk of coincidences!

    Domestic power in Europe is 220V single phase.

    Last week, the incoming live 220V wire to my home main switch overheated due to a loose connection.

    The insulation burned. The wire melted its way through the plastic case, contacted the neutral, burned it's insulation and shorted with a mighty bang. It sounded like a car accident outside the house. It blew the Electric Company's fuse.

    My fault, I'd not checked the contacts for about 3 years. Fortunately nothing caught fire. If all the possible loads were on at once (3 water heaters + kettle) the amperage would have been around 40 amps.

    The moral is, check them regularly.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by David Cefai View Post
    Talk of coincidences!

    Domestic power in Europe is 220V single phase.

    Last week, the incoming live 220V wire to my home main switch overheated due to a loose connection.

    The insulation burned. The wire melted its way through the plastic case, contacted the neutral, burned it's insulation and shorted with a mighty bang. It sounded like a car accident outside the house. It blew the Electric Company's fuse.

    My fault, I'd not checked the contacts for about 3 years. Fortunately nothing caught fire. If all the possible loads were on at once (3 water heaters + kettle) the amperage would have been around 40 amps.

    The moral is, check them regularly.
    One little difference between the 50 hertz world & 230 volts and North American 240 volts is their line voltage is 230V line to neutral & NA is 240V line to line.

    Going into the main w/o proper protective gear is unwise, and there is absolutely no overcurrent protection between the PoCo transformer and the line side of a main breaker /switch.....

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