This is a pretty basic question for future reference. What’s the proper technique for removing a circuit breaker? I’ve only done it once, and was afraid I was going to damage it with my method.
After de-energizing the panel, I tried to pull the breaker out by hand, holding on to the switch part of the breaker. My fingers weren’t strong enough, so I used a pair of channel lock pliers, with a rag in the teeth to prevent marring the switch. I got the breaker out, and I didn’t ruin it. But there must be a better way. I really had to pull on it, and am surprised I didn’t break off the switch.
Is there some special tool out there that grabs a breaker by the body instead of by the switch?
I know the breaker sort of hooks on to a plastic clip on one side, and a metal spring clip grabs the bus on the other side. So the breaker needs to pivot as it comes out and goes in.
The breaker I pulled out was corroded (water dripping in the panel), so maybe it was just holding on tighter than most breakers do. Is it really that hard to pull out a breaker?
Replies
Depends on manufacture but most pivot from the bus bars towards it's own wires, then tug it off the holding rail. No tools involved (usually!)
bake
OK. Thanks. I'll chalk it up to a corroded breaker that was holding on to the bus too tightly.
Sometimes there's a little notch in the bus end of the breaker that lets you use a (insulated!) screwdriver (prying against the opposite breaker) to pry it out.
For the most part tool should be unnecessary. There are two exceptions.
Federal Pacific breakers seem to be difficult to remove by design. Something about the barbed stabs on the breaker either lets it come out with just a bit of a fight or, on a bad day, after copious use of force, bad language, and vile oaths involving the hunting down of certain electrical designers and manufacturers.
I have, a couple of times, had to remove all the breakers to get to the barbs and force them to retract. Irony being that yanking a stuck breaker out with brute force can, another sterling design decision, rip the loosely attached buss bar completely out of the panel.
The other common case, likely in your case, is that corrosion has bound the clamp on the breaker to the buss bar. If the connection is bad enough I have seen the clamp virtually weld in place.
Removing the breakers on either side of the stuck breaker and wiggling sometimes helps. Using a wide blade screwdriver and gently prying between the two rows of breakers while holding the breaker your using as a fulcrum in place, be careful not to damage the breaker or short anything out if the panel is live.
Similarly I have sometimes used a pair of Channellocks to grip the breaker. You can use electrical tape to cushion the teeth a bit if it seems prudent. Key here is to grip near the corners and rivets where the breakers are stronger. Of course any breaker welded in place is likely to be already damaged so cracking the case may not be an issue.
Sometimes forcing the breaker sharply down onto the buss will free it enough to remove easily. I use my wide blade screwdriver, and my Kleins as a hammer to apply force to the top of the breaker directly over the clamps One good smack will often do it.
Be careful. Any doubt should have you calling in a contractor. An hours service call for an electrician is a value compared to the cost of an emergency room visit or tearing something up and burning down the house.
Thanks!
Although I'm sure this was the type in your case, for others reading the thread, be aware that there are some breakers that are held in place by screws: some (if not all) of the old "push-o-matic" breakers, and what I believe are "industrial strength" panels which I have seen in a few homes (GE was the manufacturer in the few I have seen.)
"It is as hard for the good to suspect evil, as it is for the bad to suspect good."
-- Marcus Tullius Cicero, statesman, orator, writer (106-43 BCE)
Good point about some being held in with a screw. I had forgotten about it.
Some brands use screws. Most DC breakers have screws that hold the breaker tab in contact with the bus. More commonly any back-fed breaker, one feeding the bus, are required to have a fastener of some description, usually a long screw or plastic clip, holding them in the panel.