Do you think this is how fires start?

Questions about repairs and parts for Nordyne furnaces, air conditioners and heat pumps for manufactured homes including Intertherm, Mac and Miller brands. Click here for Nordyne parts.

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flcruising
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Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: Florida Panhandle

The lights flickered slightly yesterday morning as we were getting ready, and when I came home and inspected why our furnace wasn't working, here is what I found. Upon seeing this, I decided to check the connection of the lugs and all of them were under-tightened. Each required 1/2 to 1 full turn to snug them up. The lower leg of the top service breaker wire could be pulled from the terminal without much effort. This would have been a very simple prevention, but who really thinks of this being a maintenance item? Thank GOD that it didn't start a fire. There is some permanently welded slag to the surrounding sheet metal.
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[color=blue]Aaron[/color]
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Man, That was lucky for sure. Glad you spotted it when you did. Is that to a heat pump? I haven't seen two 60 amp breakers is a regular heater. Also are all of those wires to both breakers 6 gauge (AWG)?

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flcruising
Posts: 606
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: Florida Panhandle

Not a heat pump, straight electric - Nordyne E3EB-017H

Not sure about the wire gauge, but the upper service breaker feeds the blower and two 5 kW heat strips. The bottom breaker feeds one 5 kW strip independently. I've been running with LO fan speed and the bottom breaker OFF because the furnace blasts out some crazy dry uncomfortable heat otherwise. If the bottom breaker had been turned ON, then something worse may have happened as its feeders were loose too! Couple that with a fan that couldn't run and this could have spelled disaster. I think this was an installation error/oversight. 6 years we've lived here (purchased new) and I now think it's time to torque down all the circuit panel breakers...
[color=blue]Aaron[/color]
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