Short answer: a useful breaker test report identifies each breaker exactly, records the settings as found and as left, gives every measured value next to the limit it was judged against, and ends with a clear list of deficiencies and what to do about them. If a report only says "tested OK", you can't trend it, defend it to an insurer or plan the next shutdown from it.
1. Which breaker, exactly
- Location: building, room, switchboard or lineup, and cell or circuit number
- Manufacturer, type, model and serial number
- Ratings from the nameplate: frame and continuous current, interrupting rating
- Trip unit or relay model, and the sensor or current transformer rating
Without this, next year's results can't be matched to this year's, and a failed breaker can't be ordered or replaced quickly.
2. Settings as found and as left
Every protective function (long-time, short-time, instantaneous, ground fault) with its pickup and delay, recorded before anything was touched and again when the breaker went back in service. If a setting was changed, the report should say who asked for the change and why. Settings that differ from the coordination study are a finding in their own right.
3. Visual and mechanical inspection
A checklist, not a sentence: condition of the enclosure and cell, arc chutes, primary disconnect fingers, racking mechanism, lubrication, counters, and the result of cleaning and exercising the breaker. Each item marked acceptable, corrected on site, or deficient.
4. Contact resistance
The value for each pole, the test current used and the instrument. Good reports compare the poles with each other, with similar breakers on the same site and with the last test, because a pole that has drifted well above the others matters more than any single number.
Where the manufacturer publishes no range, ANSI/NETA MTS-2023 says to investigate any pole that differs from the adjacent poles or similar breakers by more than 50 percent of the lowest value.
5. Insulation resistance
Phase to phase, phase to ground and across the open contacts, with the test voltage used. Readings are judged against the manufacturer's data and the NETA tables, and a low or falling reading should be flagged for follow-up.
6. Trip testing
For each protective function: the injected current or signal, the measured trip time, and the acceptable band from the manufacturer's time-current data, with a clear pass or fail. The report should say whether the test was done by primary or secondary injection, because they prove different things.
7. Accessories and operation
Shunt trip, undervoltage release, charging motor, auxiliary and position contacts, and manual and electrical close and open operations: each operated and the result recorded.
8. Deficiencies and recommendations
Every problem in one list, each with its location, what was found, a priority and the recommended action: corrected on site, repair at the next shutdown, or replace. This is the part your maintenance planner actually uses.
9. Test equipment, people and references
- Each test instrument with its calibration date
- Who did the testing, and the date
- The limits used: manufacturer's published values and the ANSI/NETA maintenance tables
- Where the work fits in your maintenance program, for example one organized the way CSA Z463 describes
See an example
Our sample breaker and relay test sheets show how we record each of these items in the field. Read more about our circuit breaker testing, or how to plan intervals in our breaker testing guide.