Originally Posted by
Jason Roehl
A breaker can't limit the current, but a multi-pole breaker can fail on one leg, causing all sorts of weird things to happen. I had it happen on a two-pole 240V breaker for my electric dryer a few years ago. The dryer would run the drum and blow, but would not heat. I started poking around with a voltmeter, and found that the Pushmatic breaker had failed open on one leg. Even with no wires attached, it would not close with a reset. Fortunately, my wife's coworker (they work at an electrical supply company) had a 30A Pushmatic 2-pole breaker in his personal supply at home, for whatever reason. Cost me a couple beers for him to bring it by.