Thoughts on this Proteus main 100A circuit breaker

[normspanners]

as per title on sunday power went off at house on investigation found this

Now I KNOW it was tightened and also all terminals where checked a few weeks after, the 23 way CU was fitted 10mths ago, the buzz bar was ok ish and cleaned up ok, any body had this happen with a proteus switch?. coz I am a little concerned and relieved at the outcome.
Now at the time of the outage we were not drawing heavily, ie was late ish on, Us two out at concert, lads in bedroom playing games, tumbler, immersion, compressor, all on auto, and a few lights on, Gas central heating, maybe a few things might have switched together, but a few mths ago I was welding heavily for hours with all those on also with no probs
I replaced with a wylex one for the night and was fine, till I could get a replacement proteus but I have managed to get an older style one, that seemed better with slightly larger screw head.
oh BTW have 100A wylex main switch on meter tails before the CU and that is fine.

 

[Spark plug]

CEF s**t, don't get me started!

 

[WorkshopChris]

Was that heat transmitted from a high resistance contact inside the switch?
If the power went out i would of expected much more damage at the terminal.

 

[normspanners]

Was that heat transmitted from a high resistance contact inside the switch?

I dont know----- that is just it, and causing my concern , the screw head doesnt appear to go all the way to the base when the wire clamp butts out, the buzz bar fits under and between the screw head.

If the power went out i would of expected much more damage at the terminal.

exactly my thoughts, my lad rang me to say power had gone, slight smell in the cupboard so told him to pull the 100A incomer, to be safe.

CEF s**t, don't get me started!

had issues then ?

 

[WorkshopChris]

I dont know----- that is just it, and causing my concern , the screw head doesnt appear to go all the way to the base when the wire clamp butts out, the buzz bar fits under and between the screw head.

It might be worth pulling that apart and having a look. Or scratch the terminal clean and put a meter across the terminals to compare resistance.

 

[normspanners]

It might be worth pulling that apart and having a look. Or scratch the terminal clean and put a meter across the terminals to compare resistance.

Yeah was thinking that, but have spoken with proteus in the week and they said they wanted it back, to check, but CEF said they couldnt do anything coz I havnt got my receipt for the CU.
I am a little concerned it might do same again ??
Buzz bar was hardly damaged BTW and cleaned up with wire wool??

 

[normspanners]

Thanks chaps

put a meter across the terminals to compare resistance.

just checked and OC through Live switch, switching feels good and neutral side is making the trip perfectly

 

[brightspark]

proteus = crap no way on earth would I use it. wylex or similar use .it doesn't happen suddenly it warms up over a period of time then burns out slowly then the end result

 

[rtbcomp]

The process speeds up as it gets worse, slight overheating causes a bit of resistance, which causes more overheating.

Loop until Flames = True.

 

[normspanners]

Thanks BS the problem is the buzz bar is equal through its length until the the main switch end where it has a SLIGHTLY longer terminal because the proteus switch is slightly less tall, by 4mm ish than wylex IE from terminal to terminal if the buzz bar was totally equal the wylex would fit ok, would I be better modding the buzz bar then? and using wylex switch coz have about 5 of them spare
all the rcbos are equal and longer than the proteus switch but withe wylex they ALL would be the same and I could spin the buzz bar round .

 

[brightspark]

and that's why they brought out the 17 th edition metal cased fuse boxes to stop that happening by bad fitting or cheap gear and setting the plastic case on fire . then torching the house like this at a job io had to go to and put rite

 

[normspanners]

wire all the way in or just catching one edge and no more?
was it catching the clamp or the back side of it?

what wire? the 25mm tails go in the top, ie line in and the buzz bar fits under the screw head where its burnt .

 

[normspanners]

and that's why they brought out the 17 th edition metal cased fuse boxes to stop that happening by bad fitting or cheap gear and setting the plastic case on fire . then torching the house like this at a job io had to go to and put rite

btw wasnt bad fitting and CEF wanted £22+ for the switch, so not exactly cheap

 

[WorkshopChris]

Is the terminal height the same?
They all vary to some extent.
I have a large custom build 3 phase enclosure that uses Siemens mcb's but they are like gold dust.
I will probably have to re build with a Schneider tray at some point, as i cant find anything with the same busbar height.

 

[Spark plug]

I have had more than enough bother with proteus and MSG both CEF own brand stuff. I've had MCB's fail out the box with one pole not closing etc. Don't have mutch faith in the stuff.

 

[normspanners]

Is the terminal height the same?
They all vary to some extent.
I have a large custom build 3 phase enclosure that uses Siemens mcb's but they are like gold dust.
I will probably have to re build with a Schneider tray at some point, as i cant find anything with the same busbar height.

If you look at the second pic you can see the difference in height as said I could cut/ file and match the buzz bar down to all the same height and fit the wylex permanently what are the views on that.

 

[normspanners]

Now I have taken your advise and done a res check it seems the switch was at fault not the buzz bar connection.

 

[WorkshopChris]

So much of this sort of thing gets put down to lose terminals but much of what i have seen is from terminal and contact faults.

 

[normspanners]

We are agreeing then the wylex would be the best option? coz my other half wants the kitchen back in order and the utility room where the cu is needs tumble dryer refitting on its shelf asa it needs moving to get to CU properly etc etc etc quite a big job !!

 

[normspanners]

So much of this sort of thing gets put down to lose terminals but much of what i have seen is from terminal and contact faults.

defo not loose !
1/ I have torque driver and
2/ where checked a few weeks later