I am at wits end....pleas help.

I have a circuit in the house that is driving me nuts. Started about a year ago, lights on this one circuit started flashing. I replaced the circuit breaker and the flashing stopped. Since then they started flashing again, and I could hear "crackling" in the circuit breaker. I replaced it again and everything has been fine for a few weeks.

Now it happened to another circuit, lights flashing and breaker making "noise" I replaced it and everything seems fine...

What is going on? Do I have a bad panel, bad bus-bar, or is the house haunted???

Any input suggestions??

stanfortyman

Bad buss bar in the panel it sounds like to me.

axman2

I was hoping I would not have to replace the panel but why would the circuit be fine as soon as I replace the breaker? Could a bad bus-bar cause a circuit breaker to fail???

Could this be just a string of bad circuit breakers? They were bought at a Big Box Home Center...is it true that they sometime get inferior stuff, while electrical suppliers, etc., get the primo stuff from the suppliers?

stanfortyman

Absolutely.
Your scenario is common. Replace the bad breaker only for it to fail again soon after.

The buss is probably pitted and/or burned. This creates high resistance at the buss connection that causes a ton of heat. This in turn takes out the breaker.

axman2

Thanks guys,

Does that leave me with the only option to have the panel replaced... or can the a bus bar be replaced or maybe sanded/cleaned to make a better contact?

stanfortyman

Most likely the panel will need to be replaced. Panel guts are not readily available as replacements.

axman2

Thanks

Stratmando

If not to bad, I have cleaned to good metal, then a good No-Ox.
If you have empty spaces maybe use that location, however use a new breaker, as a corroded/burnt breaker will burn buss again.
Be sure Buss is deenergized before working on it.

axman2

Thanks. Probably worth a try before doing a complete replacement.