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Electrical Box under water, do I need to replace breakers?

Electrical Box under water, do I need to replace breakers?


  #1  
Old 09-27-11, 07:33 AM
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Electrical Box under water, do I need to replace breakers?

Hello, we recently had a pretty bad flood here in Pennsylvania. My cellar had approx. 8 feet of water in it. Right to the top step. My main breaker box was completely under. It dried out on it's own and hasn't had any problems. The water pump repairman said that electrical boxes will usually dry themselves out from the heat and be ok. I saw where a local electrician put an article in the newspaper saying that any electrical box that was under water needs all its breakers replaced to avoid possible fire. He said to get some kind of drying spray and replace all the breakers. The flood happened like a month ago. I would assume the electrician is right as this makes sense being that if a short where to happen, the breakers may not work and possibly start a fire. Any opinions are always appreciated! Thanks as always! Jack
 
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Old 09-27-11, 07:37 AM
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Here is a link from the electrical manufacturers association.

NEMA - Evaluating Water-Damaged Electrical Equipment
 
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Old 09-27-11, 07:56 AM
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pcboss....I think you have to have an account to be able to view that.....
 
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Old 09-27-11, 08:00 AM
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Unclejack - I had a wet service entry panel several years ago. It wasn't flooded but drenched from a leak where the drop entered the meter box. I dried the panel thoroughly, pulling and drying off all the breakers. Within a couple of months I started having problems. Looking at the breakers I found lots of corrosion around the connection points. I have no idea what was going on internally. I ended up replacing all of them.
 
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Old 09-27-11, 08:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Gunguy45
pcboss....I think you have to have an account to be able to view that.....
Not that I know of. I never created one with them. A google search may turn another link up using the search terms " NEMA and water damaged equipment".
 
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Old 09-27-11, 08:15 AM
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Here's the same thing...just no login required.

http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/EDEN...lect_equip.pdf

Unclejack....at the very minimum I would seriously consider replacing all the breakers and checking tightness/condition of the mains connection and all grounds and neutrals....that may be a job for an electrician if you don't have a disconnect between the meter and the panel.
 
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Old 09-27-11, 08:26 AM
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I'd agree with the article on items such as fuses and molded case breakers. Breakers have small, moving parts inside that corrode and compromise the ability to clear fault currents. NM-B might be more arguable, however (maybe the paper filler gets moldy?)
 
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Old 09-27-11, 09:19 AM
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My opinion is that the whole panel and all breakers should be replaced, possibly a lot of the conductors too. If you have a copper bus panel it might be okay having been in fresh water, but even copper develops surface corrosion. No way would I keep an aluminum bus panel or conductors. All wires will wick water down their lengths when the stripped ends are submerged, so you could have significant corrosion unseen inside cabling, especially in any stranded conductors.
 
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Old 09-27-11, 06:32 PM
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In addition to replacing the service equipment, I would also replace all of the gfci's that were flooded.

I personally think the romex will dry out and the receptacles and switches will too.
 
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Old 09-28-11, 08:56 AM
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Yes they will dry, but the problem is the layer of corrosion and mineral deposits left behind on all the contacts and mating surfaces.
 
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Old 09-28-11, 11:58 AM
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Ben - I'm still using my SEP panel that got drenched. Except for the areas around cable clamps I had zero corrosion of the box. All of the buss bars are fine but when I dried the panel I spent a lot of time cleaning them with grain alcohol.

FWIW we used to pull the electronics drawers out of radar and TACAN equipment and hose them down with freshwater as part of an annual maintenance program. This was in the electron tube and wired component age before solid state.
 
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Old 09-28-11, 04:13 PM
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Ben - I'm still using my SEP panel that got drenched. Except for the areas around cable clamps I had zero corrosion of the box. All of the buss bars are fine but when I dried the panel I spent a lot of time cleaning them with grain alcohol.
But how do you know the breakers will still trip?
 
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Old 09-28-11, 05:32 PM
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Originally Posted by ibpooks
Yes they will dry, but the problem is the layer of corrosion and mineral deposits left behind on all the contacts and mating surfaces.
And in the case of a flood, the mud and crud that follows the water into cracks and crevices is also a problem.
 
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Old 09-28-11, 05:35 PM
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All of the buss bars are fine but when I dried the panel I spent a lot of time cleaning them with grain alcohol.
That's absolutely the best excuse I ever heard for buying grain alcohol!
 
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Old 09-28-11, 07:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Justin Smith
But how do you know the breakers will still trip?
Justin - I mentioned earlier in the thread that I replaced all the breakers.
 
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Old 09-28-11, 07:11 PM
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I learned about using grain alcohol as a cleaning agent when I worked in a lab environment. On occasion we would need to make very low resistance measurements using a Kelvin bridge. Gold plated contacts were scrubbed with grain alcohol - a little bit for the contacts and a bigger bit for the scrubber.
 
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Old 09-28-11, 07:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Wayne Mitchell
I learned about using grain alcohol as a cleaning agent when I worked in a lab environment. On occasion we would need to make very low resistance measurements using a Kelvin bridge. Gold plated contacts were scrubbed with grain alcohol - a little bit for the contacts and a bigger bit for the scrubber.
I'll use isopropyl for cleaning. I'll have to remember grain. Thanks.

Justin - I mentioned earlier in the thread that I replaced all the breakers.
Duh! My bad... I forgot. sorry.
 
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Old 09-29-11, 07:36 AM
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Originally Posted by Justin Smith
I'll use isopropyl for cleaning. I'll have to remember grain. Thanks.


Duh! My bad... I forgot. sorry.
Justin - I would not use isopropyl. It's a different animal and IIRC it can in fact damage some metals.
 
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Old 09-29-11, 09:42 AM
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You probably can't even buy it in Pennsylvania. If I recall you have to go to a special store to even get beer.
 
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Old 09-29-11, 05:24 PM
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Justin - I would not use isopropyl. It's a different animal and IIRC it can in fact damage some metals.
Ok, I wont use it anymore. Thanks for the warning before I destroy something.
You probably can't even buy it in Pennsylvania. If I recall you have to go to a special store to even get beer.
I think it's sold as denatured alcohol.
Yes, you have to buy it (drinking alcohol) from the overpriced, state-owned monopoly. Since I'm under 21, I don't have to worry about it yet.
 
 

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