# Oily wire/breakers



## John Valdes (May 17, 2007)

I cannot see how it is getting in other than through and down the conduits. I have worked many years in industry with alot of machinery and never have seen that much oil in any electrical enclosure. Maybe someone else will have an answer as I have no idea.
Did you trash the oiled filled breakers?


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## 220/221 (Sep 25, 2007)

> I cannot see how it is getting in other than through and down the conduits


But the substance is only at the ends.




> Did you trash the oiled filled breakers?


Craigslist/Ebay!!!





Yeah. That's the beauty of cheap breakers. When in doubt, throw em out.


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## Magnettica (Jan 23, 2007)

I've never seen this before but it seems possible that the breakers contain an lubricant so the inside parts can function more readily. Maybe the heat thinned the oil. Maybe it's because this is what you get when you terminate THHN on the wrong side of the terminal too.


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## 220/221 (Sep 25, 2007)

> Maybe the heat thinned the oil.


I think I'd see it a lot more often and in a lot more enviroments. It's hot as fuk here and equipment is generally outdoors. I've seen this in automotive and industrial settings.



> Maybe it's because this is what you get when you terminate THHN on the wrong side of the terminal too.


No wrong side on these.


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## Toronto Sparky (Apr 12, 2009)

I used to see that all the time in the screw machine shops I used to maintain.
But in those places there was a haze of oil filled smoke drifting about all the time. 
Even the high bay light fixtures had oil dripping off them and in them. 
The Panels were just nasty to work on.. and they had plastic/rubber sheets hanging over them..


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

I've seen it leach out of wire, leak in through conduit, collect out of the air, and sometimes it's been grease leaking out of the breakers. The leaching is due to heat I think so obviously we have the prime conditions for that. 

I've seen all kinds of colors too, last stuff I saw was leaching yellow oil and the wire was less than a year or so old.


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## eric7379 (Jan 5, 2010)

Jlarson said:


> I've seen it leach out of wire, leak in through conduit, collect out of the air, and sometimes it's been grease leaking out of the breakers. The leaching is due to heat I think so obviously we have the prime conditions for that.
> 
> I've seen all kinds of colors too, last stuff I saw was leaching yellow oil and the wire was less than a year or so old.


Ditto here. There was a similar thread at MH's site a while back on this topic. I agree with you. I think that it is heat related. Must be something to do with heat and THHN/THWN over an extended period of time. The panels that we have in environments where the space is air conditioned (or the panel itself) we have absolutely no problems with this.


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

What I heard but I have no proof that if you get over 40° { 104°F } the oily film do show up anytime get above that tempture range but it have do something with THHN/THWN coating but I doubt it on that part.

I have ran into simauir situation with machine shop I get simauir situation with both Americian and European type conductors oily mist one if the most common curpit.

Did you try to use the clean rag and wipe it clean ?? sometime with white rag or towel you can able tell which type of oil comming from.

Merci.
Marc


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## kbsparky (Sep 20, 2007)

TorontoSparky has it right on the head. Oil can evaporate and condense, and in a repair shop environment, that is likely to happen.

Heat by itself will not cause an oil slick to appear on your wiring or breakers -- just ask anyone who services electrical gear in the hot desert southwest. That equipment will be high and dry, not oily.

Oil does not conduct electricity (transformers are filled with the stuf), so all you really need to do is wipe it off. :whistling2:


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## bobelectric (Feb 24, 2007)

Capillary action. Repull new conductors.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

kbsparky said:


> TorontoSparky has it right on the head. Oil can evaporate and condense, and in a repair shop environment, that is likely to happen.
> 
> Heat by itself will not cause an oil slick to appear on your wiring or breakers -- just ask anyone who services electrical gear in the hot desert southwest. That equipment will be high and dry, not oily.


I was just at a lift station, no cutting oil near by, no repair shop, just a really hot outside control cabinet and the THWN feeding the pumps was dripping oil under the starters. It wasn't cutting/threading oil from the conduit either cause I checked for that. Really no other explanation then it's something in the wire leaching out.


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

Jlarson said:


> I was just at a lift station, no cutting oil near by, no repair shop, just a really hot outside control cabinet and the THWN feeding the pumps was dripping oil under the starters. It wasn't cutting/threading oil from the conduit either cause I checked for that. Really no other explanation then it's something in the wire leaching out.


 
You supposed if that was in the elevated tempture everoment which it get pretty hot and the plastique coating start to " partal " breakdown or sweat out??

I will try to find some peices of Americian THHN/ THWN conductors and experment with hot everoment and see if that leach out or not.

I know our European verison we do get that from time to time but I will check more deeper on that.

Merci,
Marc


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## Toronto Sparky (Apr 12, 2009)

Isn't oiling breakers part of preventive maintenance?


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## Split Bolt (Aug 30, 2010)

Toronto Sparky said:


> Isn't oiling breakers part of preventive maintenance?


You're supposed to change it every 3 months or 3,000 KW, whichever comes first.

I think the problem is the Homeline breakers crying because they were supposed to go in a nice house, not a commercial garage.:laughing: The homeline breakers also have that little dab of grease on the part that pinches the bus. I don't know how that would travel to the wire though. Maybe a surge pushed it right through the breakers!:thumbup: I also noticed a Siemens (or Murray) breaker in the mix as well. That means it must be a GE panel!


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

On a related note, there is such a thing as "oil mist fever" that can afflict machine shop workers and cause a great number of health problems. I have an acquaintance who's on disability from that.


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## LJSMITH1 (May 4, 2009)

Most (if not all) C/B's have internally lubricated parts. Take one apart and you will see dabs of grease on trigger mechanisms, reset linkages, etc. Also, as someone else pointed out, there is also lubricant on contacts that attach the breaker to the buss bar.

It is possible that the breaker is close to being overloaded, and heating up internally enough to melt the grease. The melted grease leaks out of the case and anywhere where gravity and capillary action want to take it.

It is also possible that there was a bit more grease applied in manufacturing than normal...

If you replaced the breaker, take the rivets out and lets look inside...


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

So who left the leaky oil can or part on top of the panel? I would be inclined to believe it seeped into in from outside .


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## 220/221 (Sep 25, 2007)

> If you replaced the breaker, take the rivets out and lets look inside...


It's still in the trash can at the shop. Maybe I'll be bored tomorrow and take a look. There is a possibility of melted grease. I'm not sure it showed up on the pics but there was a whole lot of oil. There also seemed to be some forming on the wiring on the breakers below.




> I would be inclined to believe it seeped into in from outside .


It would have had to skip all the breakers above it and leak in and out of the bottom half of the 250 then into the 120 below it.:001_huh:


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