I live in Burlingame, CA in the SF bay area and have a main panel located on the outside of my house. The house has been re-wired within the last year and the panel is also less than 1 year old. Breakers are “Homeline” style and there is no sub-panel, so all the breakers are located in the main panel. I have 100 amp service, I think.
Lately, I have noticed a white powdery substance building up on the breakers similar to that which sometimes builds up on car batteries. I can’t imagine this is good, but wanted to solicit opinions on whether there was a remedy for this. Do I need to replace my breakers that are affected? Can I just clean them up? Is there a way to prevent this from happening in the future?
Thanks in advance.
Replies
Have an electrician check your panel. Particularly the condition of the buss bars. I have seen something that might be similar with some panels exposed to corrosive environments. Especially water treatment rooms or enclosed spaces with ammonia or chlorine present with moisture, as in water treatment systems or animal housing areas.
These buss bars are aluminum with a tin plating. As long as the tin remains intact the bars hold up. A single scratch can cause a cascade reaction that can turn the bars into an non-conductive white powder in months if some chemicals and moisture are present. Solid copper bus bars are much more durable.