Twice in the past couple weeks I've tripped the 100A breaker that feeds my shop from the house panel. On the first trip, I assumed it was a power outage since we've been having them rather frequently this year. I was home alone and it was light enough out to do some cleaning so I did that for an hour or so then went in the house and noticed a ceiling fan running and found the tripped breaker. After resetting I went back out and resumed work without issue. The second time I went in the house right away and found the breaker itself was almost too hot to touch, and obviously wouldn't reset. After allowing it to cool while I ordered a new breaker (see below), I reset it and resumed work without further issue. Both times, I've been running my 3HP cyclone, using AC (2.5T central AC), lights on, and I've been using a power tool. Its possible the trip occurred on AC startup but I don't know. It was pretty hot out both days it happened and the AC seems like its been on more than off.
The house panel is a Westinghouse (now Cutler Hammer) BR series. The breaker the guy before me installed is a Siemens or GE, forget which and I realized a while back it isn't rated for a CH panel. It been on my list to replace it but I haven't gotten around to it. I've ordered the proper replacement which I expect to get today. The shop panel also has a 100A main breaker. I hadn't thought to check if it was hot when I found the other.
I do plan to stick a clamp on meter on there when I've got the cover off and start up everything to get an idea. But I'm wondering--is it likely that the breaker is the problem or am I just pulling too much through it? I've never noticed a breaker that is hot before which bugs me. If I'm just pulling too much I'll have to start leaving the air off when I'm actually working.