Problem or not?

[Rayh78]

Ok here is the story. Have a house I rent out. Tenant calls late at night during a storm and saids half here power is out. Said she tried all the breakers. So I figured she had lost one leg of the service in the storm. Told her is should come back on soon or call power company to report it.
Well next morning I call to check on things. Assumed power would be on. But she said it was still out, just lights and outlet. She then decided to add this happened when she plugged in a iron. The outlet sparked and THAT’S when then power went out.
So I go over right away and find that it is a split buss panel, so has what I will call 3 main breaks. I think about 60 amps each. Is a 200 amp panel.
What I find is one of the 60 amp 220V breakers is tripped. Also took a bit of force, one of the hardest I have had to turn off then back on. Could not tell by looking at it so understand why tenant did not see a tripped breaker. It has now been a week and no other problems with the electric. But she did say that this fried two TV’s and a play station when it happened.
Sorry so long now to my questions.
If caused by the iron why didn’t the 120V single breaker for that circuit trip first? ( but then again maybe it did, and then tenant turned all the breakers on and off to reset, and could not turn the 60 amp one back on)
Also seems if caused by the iron the breaker would have protect the TV’s.
Guess I am just trying to figure out if I could still have a problem that needs attension. But again everything has been fine for a week.
Next time the property is empty I may go ahead and replace the split buss panel since I have heard in the past they could be problems. But better to wait until plenty of time with the house empty.

Thanks for any suggestions

 

[Reach4]

The only way that 60 amp 240 volt breaker should interrupt the outlet to the iron is if that breaker fed a sub-panel and the sub-panel fed the outlet with the breaker.

A 200 amp panel would normally have one main 200 amp breaker. I don't know what these "3 main breaks" would be.

If several things got fried, I expect there was a surge, perhaps lightning-induced, on the incoming power lines. In that case, the renter's insurance would have coverage, right?

The iron plugging might have been coincident to the surge. Glad the tenant was not injured.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ActionDave]

It's possible that if the 60A breaker had a bunch of load on it from other spots in the house that it would trip before the smaller branch circuit breaker that the iron was on.

 

[hj]

"Frying two TVs and a Playstation" would normally indicate that the system went into 220/240 volt mode, possible because of a failed neutral.

 

[bartstop]

Or maybe a shady tenant wanting a new tv and video game.