poor man's back up generator

[Mini Horses]

I don't "do" electric but that breaker was sure a fire threat! Scary.

 

[CrealCritter]

I don't "do" electric but that breaker was sure a fire threat! Scary.

It never hurts any to snug down all the breaker lugs periodically. Just make sure the main is off or wear a pair of electric gloves, else it will be a shocking experience Aluminum wire is horrible for loosing up, any time the wire is moved the breaker or main lugs need to be re-tightened. Aluminum wire also needs a good coating of "lux," which is a anti-corrosive paste.

But the breaker CR posted is burned where the breaker attached to the buss bar. So I suspect he is right, loose or dirty connection caused arcing, hence the fire that resulted.

I've seen some older main and sub panel boxes with aluminum buss bars. And those buss bars would need a coating of lux, prior to seating the breaker. But I think most of if not all new sub and main boxes the buss bars l are copper now. Probably due to a code change. But I haven't researched the code for that, so it's just my guess...

 

[Ead]

Wow, ChickRustler - it's great you know enough to do all that yourself! I'm hoping to put in solar but just starting to research it, early days yet...