GE M935AWL restoration

[Yamamaya42]

Originally Posted by bandersen

I was able to get the circuit breaker working with some deoxit. I also have a few used but good breakers.

I'm not sure how the rating works for these.
This set pulls about 3 amps, but I see a lot of breakers label "hold 2.1A". What exactly does that mean? Seems like they are undersized?

It is a bit confusing, from what I understand, they are all slow acting, there is the sustained “hold at” rating, and the trip at rating, but it is never clear what the trip rating is, or how long it must be at or over that threshold for it to trip.

I remember dissecting a bad one a long time ago when I was in High School to see how it worked, it has a bimetal contact that's reset by the button, and wrapped around that is a heater wire that has the current running through it.
And, yes, the contacts do burn and fail often.