any electrician out there?

The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is
overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned
off when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a
hot day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker
needs to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't
make these 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in
100 AMP. He says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be
greatly appreciated.

Posted by Michelle on June 27, 2008, 9:13 am

I forgot to mention that this 90 amp circuit breaker is the main
circuit breaker to the house. On the panel outside the house, there
are 2 circuit breakers. One for the main, and one for the AC. The AC
breaker is OK. Only the main 90 amp circuit breaker trips when I use
the AC. The AC was tested, and the AC was not the root cause of this
problem. The main circuit breaker was the problem.

Posted by David L. Martel on June 27, 2008, 9:24 am

Michelle,

Without seeing the breaker box I doubt that anyone can tell you whether
it is safe. The electrician you hired thinks it's safe and he saw your
breaker box. Selling you a new and larger breaker box would be profitable
for him so if he recommends just swapping the main breaker he's saving you
money and is guaranteeing that the swap is safe. Sounds good to me. Make
sure he's licensed and get a receipt.

Dave M.

Posted by franz fripplfrappl on June 27, 2008, 10:13 am

On Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:08:21 -0700, Michelle wrote:

> The main circuit breaker on the side, at the outside out my house is

> overheating and trips. All electricity inside the house gets turned off

> when this hapens. It tends to happen whenever I use the AC on a hot

> day. The electrician says that this 90 AMP main circuit breaker needs

> to be replaced. The problem is that he says that they don't make these

> 90 AMP circuit breakers anymore. They only have them in 100 AMP. He

> says it's safe to go up from 90 to 100 AMP.

> Is this safe to do at my house? Your suggestions/advice would be

> greatly appreciated.

Upgrade to 200 amp and have all your wiring rechecked before you burn the
place down. The A/C is straining your system but every time a motor
starts, e.g., the fridge, you can expect something to give.

Be safe.

--

=================================================
Franz Fripplfrappl

Posted by Douglas Johnson on June 27, 2008, 12:47 pm

>Upgrade to 200 amp and have all your wiring rechecked before you burn the

>place down.

Let's not play Chicken Little. The sky is not falling.

>he A/C is straining your system but every time a motor

>starts, e.g., the fridge, you can expect something to give.

You have no way of knowing this. While 90 amps is kind of small by modern
standards, it is not necessarily too small. We don't know the A/C load or other
loads that are present.

It is quite likely the breaker is failing. It happens. If so, all she needs to
do is replace the breaker. This is much, much cheaper than upgrading to 200
amps, which would require a new panel, likely new breakers, and possibly a
service upgrade.

-- Doug

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