Scorched

[Darren]

How big of a problem is this?

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[charlieb]

Nothing a new panel won't fix.

[Jim Katen]

I agree with Charlie. It looks like someone forgot to tighten the breaker bolts and things overheated.

Why does the panel only have two breakers in it?

[Darren]

Jim,

I just took a close up of the scorched area; here's the whole panel.

It's got other problems too; an open KO on the left side and double tapping on the right side.

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[John Kogel]

Hello Darren. A general rule that I use is that any scorched bus bar should be checked by an electrician.

In this case, there is scorching on the right hand bus bar is well. That may have been from the burn on the left, hard to say. An electrician should check all the breaker connections.

The other question is, What became of the branch circuit that was originally fed by that scorched breaker? It could be that circuit which is now double-tapped to that other breaker on the right hand bus. Is that breaker sized correctly for the wire size? It looks like someone did a quick fix amateur repair after the breaker failure.

They've pulled the cable farther into the panel on the left. An electrician would have stripped the insulation back properly.

So besides calling for a new panel, I would in this case call for an electrician to check over the amateur handiwork and make immediate repairs.

My reasoning is that the home buyer might put off replacing the panel as too expensive for now. They will stand there nodding but they're thinking "Sure, maybe next year". In that case, have an electrician check for hazards and repair what is there.

[Darren]

John,

The switches near the front door and the lights and receptacles in one of the bedrooms all were dead. I'm thinking that was the circuit that went bad and they just disconnected it (tenants present).

There were other problems with electric so I did call everything out and said while the electrician is on site, have him review the panel to determine if replacement is warranted.

[robert1966]

I agree, refer to an electrician, and recommend full panel replacement.

[charlieb]

I agree, refer to an electrician, and recommend full panel replacement.

The busbars are compromised, replace the panel.