Saw a service panel go from fine to fried in under a month

I was back at a job in Oak Park to add a circuit and found the main panel's bus bars had started to corrode badly. The homeowner had a new humidifier installed right next to the panel in the basement about three weeks ago. The moisture level in that room must have spiked and done this. Has anyone else seen damage happen this fast from added humidity?

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3 Comments

murray.cole5mo ago

How much is that humidifier putting out? I've seen cheap ones that basically create a fog... they'll wreck a panel in weeks if it's right next to it. You need to move that thing far away or get a dehumidifier for the whole room running right now. That corrosion won't stop, it'll just keep eating the bus bars until you lose a leg.

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the_sean5mo ago

Murray's right about the fog, but even a fine mist will settle over time. That moisture finds every little crack and sits there, speeding up the corrosion you can already see. Honestly, moving it might not be enough if the room's air is already damp.

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lindaw123mo ago

That humidifier better be putting out nothing but DISAPPOINTMENT because that's all it's good for in that setup. @murray.cole is dead on about the fog - I've seen those cheap ultrasonic ones leave a wet film on everything within ten feet. You might as well be spraying water directly into the panel with a garden hose. The corrosion is already past the "oops I spilled coffee" stage and heading straight into "your bus bars are gonna look like rusty nails" territory. Move it at least six feet away, and honestly just run a proper dehumidifier if you want to save that panel from becoming an expensive paperweight.

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