SAS
Member
I discovered a burned wire at a 30 amp, 220 volt breaker for my electric clothes dryer. Here is the sequence of events so far:
- Dryer (which has been in place with the same wiring for at least the 4 years we've been in the house) stops mid-cycle with a "PF" (power failure) code.
- I check that there is power at the outlet, good connections at the outlet and machine, and restart the dryer. Nothing else is affected, so it doesn't seem as if there was any significant current disruption to the house, however brief.
- 15 minutes later the dryer stops. This time the breaker has tripped.
- I reset the breaker and the dryer continues normally for the remainder of the cycle.
- The next time we use it, the dryer works normally.
- The time after that, the dryer stops mid-cycle with a tripped breaker, but no error code.
- I reset the breaker and it finishes the cycle.
- I buy a new breaker, and when I remove the panel cover I see that one of the wires has burned, i.e. the insulation for about 2.5 inches from the connection has melted. The connection to the breaker is solid.
- I cut off the section with the melted insulation and install the new breaker. I test the dryer for about 15 minutes. It runs normally.
- I test the current draw in both feeds. One is 22.5, the other is 24. Neither wires is warm to the touch.