whats happening here

Need a little help here. This is a picture of an AFCI breaker that looks like it is double tapped and real hot. It’s a 15 amp breaker running 3 bedrooms upstairs and 1 downstairs in the finished basement. (extra wire). Can someone let me know if this is a problem?

Jeff inspector in Colorado

FLIR0017.jpg

FLIR0017- full photo.jpg

AFCI breakers warm?

Along with Marcel’s link above, what was the load for the panel? Typically AFCIs run a little hotter than other breakers. So, with what you have showing there, I would say no.

I know this is Eaton but for instance:Expected heat rise in normal applications “Eaton AFCI circuit breakers consume less than 1 watt to power up the electronics within the breaker. This additional power consumption, above the contribution from the mechanical components mentioned above, can add another 5–10 °C (9–18 °F) of heat rise above ambient for the system.”

http://www.eaton.ec/ecm/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&allowInterrupt=1&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&noSaveAs=0&Rendition=Primary&dDocName=AP003001EN

Where did you take your IR training?

InterNachi

It is Not double-tapped. That’s how arc fault breakers are wired.

Depending on your intentions for IR, you may want to consider additional training with Infraspection ( Infrared Training, Infrared Certification from Infraspection Institute ) or ITC ( Infrared Training Center ).

While the photo looks pretty, look at your delta. Only 11 degrees from your coldest point to your hottest. With the breaker in question only slightly warmer than the rest.

Any breaker drawing power (i.e. something is on that circuit) will be warmer than breakers where nothing to little is on that circuit nothing is on.

When using thermal, what is hot and cold is relative. So yes, the breaker is relatively warmer. But then look at the temperature reading, and it’s not by much.

That within itself is the problem their training is not recognized by any standard of training. The 80 degrees indicated in your image is not much different than ambient where you shot the image

I will be imaging a 198 electrical panels come Thur and Friday and I hope all of them are not warmer than your image as it would make my report writing very easy;-):wink:

Please stop, until you obtain appropriate training and equipment to perform thermographic inspection of electrical equipment.

Its not hot, its not even warm and it isn’t double tapped. If it wasn’t warmer than the standard breakers it would likely be defective.

Concurring with previous posts:

  1. The breaker is wired properly
  2. It is not “hot”, merely warm as AFCI and GFCI circuit breakers normally are.
  3. You need more training, both in electrical and infrared.