Melted Bus

[homnspector]

What would cause this much damage to these bus lugs? all of the protrusions were melted. Spatters of metal were all over the bottom of the panel.

Download Attachment: meltedbus.jpg

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[mgbinspect]

Lightning maybe?

What does the rest of the panely look like?

[kurt]

I'd guess it's the Blue Light Special, ala someone crossing the bus w/loose wire or something similar & getting lit UP.

I've had the misfortune to see what happens when someone crosses the bus up; it's quite spectacular, and could easily have done the damage shown in you picture.

[homnspector]

There was some scorching on insulation and outer jackets of the wiring, but really not too bad, like maybe a small short lived fire in the panel.

Wierd thing is it was on every breaker tab or whatever they are called. Almost like somebody shoved the dead front in against the bus.

[mgbinspect]

That's what I was driving at. It it was on all lugs suggesting a "track", lighting just might be the source.

A flash fire could not get hot enough fast enough to melt metal in that fashion.

Either lightning or some form os shorting like Kurt has suggested.

Those are my guesses.

[Scottpat]

I would go with the shorting theory. All of the lighting strikes that I have seen have just about destroyed the panel (worse than the photo). Is that a Bulldog Pushmatic?

[mgbinspect]

Yup, and a fire hot enough to melt steel would have melted all of the insulation off the wiring and would have affected all of the buss metal, not just the ends like that. The buss tines would have probably held their shape and merely drooped.

And, come to think of it, if it's what Kurt suggests, I sure hope the poor fella survived...