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I doubt if the 125 amp breaker will fit into a 100 amp box. This is due to the rating of the box only being rated at 100 amps. If this exchange could be made then the service conductors feeding the box must be upgraded to take the 125 amperage that the breaker will allow on the conductor.
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DevinYes, it is possible to upgrade a 100A main circuit breaker to a higher amp rating, but it must be done by a qualified electrician following local electrical codes and regulations. The electrical panel and wiring may also need to be upgraded to accommodate the higher amperage.
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Is 95 amps to much for a 100 amp breaker?
Yes, 95 amps is too much for a 100 amp breaker. Breakers are designed to protect the wiring in a circuit and should be sized to not exceed their amperage rating. In this case, you would need to upgrade to a higher amperage breaker.
If a 100a breaker keeps tripping?
If a 100 amp breaker keeps tripping there is an overload on the system.
Is the amperage of a breaker for total amps combined or on each leg?
The breaker will trip at the amperage notated on the breaker. If it's 100A...it will trip at or around 100A. It does not matter if that breaker is physically tied to another 100A breaker. To understand this, imagine that you remove the mechanical tie from the two-pole breaker. Now you just have two 100A breakers. In actuality, you always had two 100A breakers. The mechanical tie does not change that. If you then powered two, separate 120 volt devices from the two breakers, each breaker would allow 100 amperes to pass to each of the devices before tripping. So why are they tied together? That is done when the two-pole breaker is to be used to power a 240 volt circuit. In AC current, electricity flows in both directions. In a 120 volt circuit, it flows "out" toward the device via the hot (generally the black wire) and "back" via the neutral (generally the white wire). Then the cycle reverses. It does this 60 times per second (60Hz). The amperage in the hot and neutral wires are the same (in the perfect world). Only the hot wire is connected to the breaker. In a 240 volt circuit, there is no neutral wire. You are using two "legs" of 120 volts each that are 180 degrees out of phase with each other. In other words, as leg 1 is flowing "out", leg 2 is flowing "back". Because they are out of phase, the potential difference is twice the voltage of each line or 240 volts. The current flows out and back at the same 60 Hz but this time via the two hot wires (generally black and red). Each of these hot wires are connected to the two terminals of the two-pole breaker. Due to mechanical tolerances, one breaker will most likely trip before the other. Therefore, if the rated current, (100 amps), is exceeded on either breaker, that breaker will trip and the other breaker will trip via the mechanical tie. This ensures that all power to the outlet is disconnected. If you removed the tie and only one breaker tripped, there would still be 120 volts connected to the outlet. In summary, each leg of a single, double (2 phase) or triple (3 phase) breaker is capable of allowing the amount of current denoted on the breaker. The connected circuit, regardless of voltage is protected from exceeding that amperage.
What size of electrical wire needed for 100A circuit breaker?
For a 100A circuit breaker, you typically need a wire size of #2 AWG (American Wire Gauge) for copper conductors or #1/0 AWG for aluminum conductors. It is important to consult the National Electrical Code (NEC) or a qualified electrician to determine the appropriate wire size for your specific installation.
Did one leg of your 1950's 100A main breaker fry because it was overloaded by too many dedicated circuits?
It is possible that one leg of the 100A main breaker may have fried due to being overloaded by too many dedicated circuits in the 1950s setup. If the circuits were drawing more current than the breaker could handle, it could have caused overheating and damage to that leg of the breaker.
