Power went out and breaker box's main switch is hot to touch?

Question

Power went out and breaker box's main switch is hot to touch?

Answer 1

Is anyone else close out of power? It is the time of year for shortages and outages. The main switch will get really warm under a load.

Answer 2

Those breakers work on a thermal/magnetic trip sensor.

For overloads, it's the heating of this part that causes the

breaker to open.

If it's only your breaker, and not the power grid, causing

your 'power went out" condition, it means that you're using

too much power for your system to handle.

Even if it is a 'grid' outage, some heating of the

breaker under load is normal.

Answer 3

Inform the Power company of your findings. They will normally cover damages caused by outages and surges. It's just that people don't know this and they don't really like advertising it.

During surges sometimes the plastics melt or the wires molecular attributes change to cause more resistance. So it may be as simple as replacing the main beaker. but sometimes the current directions reverse and that can cause problems. but if this is at home everything should be single phased and so no problem there.