Sean just for you here are some electrical scan from today’s inspect. I very seldom do a residential electrical panel that has a electrical cook stove and or cook top that does not mirror these images take note they are in focus:D most important of all you can not change the focus in the software. FORD is the word.
Take note of the main L1 L2 feeds to the 150 amp breaker some what of a temp difference due to different amp on the two wires one had about 80 amps the other had 115 amps. Different story on the cook stove breaker, same amps on both sides of the double pole breaker but near 10 degrees difference between the two legs. I will report that as a loose connection
BTW this home was vacant and I still loaded that panel
One note of caution when comparing two conductors on the same heavily loaded circuit breaker; when the breakers are stacked horizontally, the heat from the lower conductor/phase moves upward from convection/conduction and the combined heat at the upper conductor will become warmer than the lower.
You will notice in Charley’s scan (which I modified) there is a V pattern above the lower phase, widening as it approaches the upper phase. The temperature gradients of purple are wider above the hot breaker then they are below the hot breaker. This is the visible effect of convection.
You’ll also notice heat moving across to the next breaker above where there is a slight blue pattern on that breaker which is 5° warmer than other parts of that breaker.
Extremely hot wires also radiate a considerable amount and you will notice a pattern change on adjacent wires and components from this radiating effect.
You can see a slightly lighter purple color on the conductors above the hot breaker on the bottom of the wires. In this case it is a combination of both radiation and convection. In some instances the same pattern will be noted at great distances across the panel, beyond the distance which convection will cause this affect. This would be almost total radiation affect.
We must always consider conditions which may push the anomaly over the top into the “repair immediately” zone when actually it may not have gotten there yet.
[size=2]This becomes even of greater concern when you own a higher end camera as the camera is sensitive enough to pick up these increases and record them.
There’s a high probability you would not even see any of this with an I5.
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Dave what you did not know and I did not tell was how much time did the breaker have the amount of load that it had which was less than 10 minutes when one uses a oven it is usually more than 10 minutes and the breaker would have exceeded the indicated temp had I extended the test which I deemed not necessary so in this particular case time was of more importance than the actual temp
I never judge a scan just by it’s temp (or without any of the other items of information that should be considered).
I found this scan to be a great example of thermal movement and it’s effect on the other elements in the panel.
If this was evident in a short time, it was in a very aggressive transition.
Sorry about messing with your scan, but when you mess with these things some interesting stuff always comes to light. Just though I would share what I saw that many never look at. All those colors and funny lines tell a story.
