Circuit Breaker Overheating

[MarylandDragon]

DISCLOSURE: If you have not installed electrical wiring or circuit breakers, I recommend you hire a professional electrician.

For a couple of years I noticed that when I turned on the pool filter I would smell anti-freeze. I always associated the smell with pool closing/winterization so I never gave it a second thought. When the timer motor burned out I opened the electrical panel box for the pool and noticed that the top of the two-pole 20 Amp circuit breaker didn't look quite right. After turning off the power to the pool panel box at the indoor sub-panel box, I removed the two-pole 20A circuit breaker and could see the top of it was brittle...AND IT SMELLED LIKE ANTI-FREEZE. The circuit breaker was overheating and cooking the plastic casing. I replaced the circuit breaker, turned on the power and everything has been fine.

Lesson learned: in the future, if I get a whiff of anti-freeze when the filter is running, I will check to see if the circuit breaker is structurally sound.