I was on a fire job with my brother-in-law this morning. The panel was likely original to the house built in 1952. Apparently, the tenants plugged a space heater into a light socket adapter on a ceiling fan light. The ensuing fire melted the hot and neutral wires together in the attic on two circuits, but the breakers failed to trip.
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That’s common. Do you have a question?
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Wow, I’m curious what inspection software do you use?
No, I don’t. Just sharing.
Out of curiosity, how was it determined the breakers failed to trip? Was there still current flowing when firefighters arrived? Did the main trip instead? Or did something else give before the breaker tripped?
Edit. Or are you saying the failure of the breaker caused the fire?
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IMO, based on the little bit of factual data…
Seems to me an Arc Fault occirred…
But that’s just my WAG!
Perhaps George @gwells or Robert @rmeier2 will chime in with their opinions, (again, without all the facts available to them).
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Based on the appearance of the bus bars, my brother-in-law, a master electrician with over 45 years of experience in the field, concluded that the breakers failed to trip. I would have to say yes, the failure of a breaker to trip is what initially started the fire and both circuits continued to fail during the fire. We do not know the exact chain of events since the fire was months ago.
Yes, there was certainly arcing in the panel.
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What are you referring to?
That is interesting. I find it hard to believe that two breakers would fail at the same time, and also, why didn’t the main trip eventually? The answers are above my pay grade unfortunately. I’d love to hear what the electrical experts on the forum have to say though.
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I found it curious as well, that’s why I decided to share this. The breakers are 70 years old, which is reason enough to recommend an upgrade if a panel this old was found in a home inspection.
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There was an electric range in the house. I don’t know why it was pulled. It was like that when I arrived this morning to help demo.
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Yeah, something tells me there is a more logical explanation to this than multiple breakers failing to trip.
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Firefighters might have pulled it just because it looked so ratty. They aren’t going to evaluate everything during a fire, just pull anything that looks suspicious.
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Old dryer circuit removed when gas dryer was installed?? Hard to say.
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Looks to have been connected to the upper damaged breaker location, while the other to the lower damaged breaker location.
I’m sure someone with forensic investigating experience such as George Wells @gwells may have some insight for us to ponder.
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Which conductors are you referring to?
