The interrupting ratings are the headline here: 440 kA at 240 V, 330 kA at 415 V and 440 V, 220 kA at 500 V, and still 53 kA at 690 V. That means this breaker can clear a fault on a high-capacity transformer secondary or a large motor starter lineup without needing upstream current-limiting fuses — it's sized for high-fault installations where a standard MCCB would weld shut. The IP40 front protection keeps dust and tools out of the mechanism in a clean indoor panel environment.
Lifecycle and sourcing — still a current-production part
Siemens continues to manufacture the 3VA2 series as their main MCCB line for commercial and industrial distribution.
Mounts into a standard SENTRON panelboard or a DIN-rail adapter kit.
Trip unit detail — ETU850
The ETU850 electronic trip unit provides adjustable long-time pickup and delay (tr min. 0.5 s, tr max. 25 s), plus short-time and instantaneous protection. The N-conductor protection is adjustable from OFF to 40% up to 160% of the phase current — useful for sizing the neutral on a 4-wire system with harmonic loads. Ground fault monitoring is not included on this version; if you need GF protection, look at the -8KP46 variants with a different suffix.