The ambient temperature does have an effect on the tripping point of a breaker. If a breaker is operating at near capacity the additional ambient temperature will lower the breaker trip set point.
A short circuit is the term for hot touching ground. This can cause a breaker to trip which will then open the circuit.
If it is a properly wired circuit (according to code) in the home, the breaker for that circuit will trip deenergizing the shorted circuit. If it is not properly wired, it could get hot and start a fire and possibly burn down the home.
A double pole breaker has one pole attached to one side of your breaker panel's bus or hot leg, and another pole attached to another hot leg or bus, if it is in a residential panel (in the US) each leg of the breaker is 120 volts to ground or neutral and 240 hot leg to hot leg. The 15 amp indicates that the breaker will trip if the circuit exceeds 15 amps across the two outputs of the breaker.
This is one way that can locate hidden circuit breakers. It is not the best way because an arc flash could result if the breaker does not trip. An arc flash can generate enough heat instantaneously to burn the flesh off of any exposed skin. If there is combustible products or combustible air mixture that is in the general location of the arc, a fire could be easily started. The way that I do it is to load the circuit. I have a 3000 watt heater that I plug in to the circuit that I am trying to locate the breaker for. This loads the 15 amp circuit to 25 amps. The circuit breaker is located in a few seconds.
You will get a short circuit and breaker will trip. If they are tied together on the load side of the switch the short will happen when you turn the switch on.
A short circuit is the term for hot touching ground. This can cause a breaker to trip which will then open the circuit.
If this is is exactly what you are seeing then the breaker will not be resettable. The breaker will instantaneously trip. If the identified conductor comes into the distribution panel from an external circuit then this is another scenario.
If it is a properly wired circuit (according to code) in the home, the breaker for that circuit will trip deenergizing the shorted circuit. If it is not properly wired, it could get hot and start a fire and possibly burn down the home.
A short circuit. If things are working as they should breaker will trip or fuse will blow.
A double pole breaker has one pole attached to one side of your breaker panel's bus or hot leg, and another pole attached to another hot leg or bus, if it is in a residential panel (in the US) each leg of the breaker is 120 volts to ground or neutral and 240 hot leg to hot leg. The 15 amp indicates that the breaker will trip if the circuit exceeds 15 amps across the two outputs of the breaker.
This is one way that can locate hidden circuit breakers. It is not the best way because an arc flash could result if the breaker does not trip. An arc flash can generate enough heat instantaneously to burn the flesh off of any exposed skin. If there is combustible products or combustible air mixture that is in the general location of the arc, a fire could be easily started. The way that I do it is to load the circuit. I have a 3000 watt heater that I plug in to the circuit that I am trying to locate the breaker for. This loads the 15 amp circuit to 25 amps. The circuit breaker is located in a few seconds.
The best way to determine which circuit breaker is for the water heater is with a voltage meter, It is suppose to be only one circuit breaker, but in a faulty application it could be two breakers
Your water system is not grounded. Turn the main breaker in your distribution panel to off and ground the water system. If a "hot" wire has come into contact with the plumbing, when you turn the electrical panel main breaker back on a breaker will trip. This will give you the circuit that is at fault and a place to start looking for the short circuit.
the hot water circuit beaker
You will get a short circuit and breaker will trip. If they are tied together on the load side of the switch the short will happen when you turn the switch on.
A circuit breaker can be magnetic; the higher the current is the stronger the magnetic field will be, if the magnetic field gets strong enough it will pull open the circuit. A circuit breaker can also be thermal; as current travels through the circuit heat is generated (higher current = more heat), in the breaker there is two different kinds of metal bonded together, each will expand and contract at different rates, since they are bonded together they will bend and trip the circuit open. A circuit breaker can be a combination of magnetic and thermal.
It works just like a normal circuit breaker with one additional function. A shunt-trip breaker also has a built-in magnetic coil that can be energized externally to trip the breaker. For instance, fire sprinklers are sometimes required in the top of elevator shafts in case of a fire in the shaft. If the sprinklers were to spray water on the electric controls in the elevator cab, people could be hurt or killed, either from electrocution or from the elevator malfunctioning. In these cases, a shunt-trip breaker is installed in the circuit feeding the elevator controls, and the fire alarm system sends a trip signal if it detects waterflow from the sprinkler system. This trips the breaker and removes power from the elevator cab. Once tripped, shunt-trip breakers require a person to manually reset them.