Posted by John T on January 10, 2022 at 11:01:01 from (174.211.99.65):
In Reply to: Breaker trip? posted by 550Doug on January 10, 2022 at 06:39:13:
Doug, great QUESTION
however, I am wondering why the breaker did NOT trip? Usually a short would trip the breaker.
ANSWER
The breaker (assuming it was good) DID NOT SENSE ENOUGH CURRENT to trip even if you saw fire and arcing and smoke.
It doesn't take much current (even far less than the 15 or 20 amp breaker) to arc n spark and just because you see that DOES NOT MEAN the breaker senses 15 or 20 amps which is enough to trip.
What you experienced is one reason why the NEC started specifying ARC FAULT PROTECTION because its easy and quite possible a high heat and flame arc can start a fire even though there's NOT enough current to trip a 15 or 20 amp circuit breaker. A short may be too high resistance to allow 15 or 20 amps of current flow to trip a circuit breaker even if there may be big time arcing n sparking YIKES
..........If the compressor happens to be a Capacitor Start and its bad that can contribute to starting problems
..........If theres a loose or burned or carboned resistive connection (or bad plug or receptacle) that can develop extreme heat and sparks and arcs
.......... Check the start capacitor and especially its wiring connections IF IT HAS ONE
......... Replace/repair the plug and any receptacles with problems
......... If in doubt REPLACE THE CIRCUIT BREAKER JUST TO BE SAFE as they can fail especially if old and/or suffered too many trips
.......... There may be problems with the ampacity of the branch circuit being inadequate to start and run the compressor
........... There are all kinds of rules and exceptions regarding motors and circuits and overload protection and HACR Breakers and dual action time delay fuses etc etc but Im NOT going into that for now lol as it was NOT part of your question
John T NO WARRANTY Im too long retired from power distribution so where fire and life safety are concerned, DONT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT, consult trained professional electricians and engineers and the NEC, the risk is too great
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