A/A Fuel GTX
Senior Member
- Location
- WI & AZ
- Occupation
- Electrician
Are Seimens breakers rated to be installed in Gould panels?
Gould Panel/Seimens Breakers
- Thread starter A/A Fuel GTX
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
Yes. If you find the right person at a Siemens supplier who knows who to ask, Siemens has a pre-printed form letter stating that Siemens, ITE / Goulds and Murray are all the same and that breakers are 100% interchangeable, in case you get an AHJ who does not already know this.
curt swartz
Electrical Contractor - San Jose, CA
- Location
- San Jose, CA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Have you actually seen an official letter from Siemens stating your can use Siemens and Murray Breakers interchangeably? We all know they are the exact same breaker but have different stickers. Anytime I have asked Siemens rep's they tell me I have to use Siemens breakers in Siemens panels and Murray breakers in Murray panels.
If they intended them to be used interchangeably why don't they list both part numbers (MP & Q)on the breakers? Westinghouse used to do the same thing with their Westinghouse (Bryant) line and the Challenger line. Exact same breaker but could not be used interchangeably. When CH purchased the Westinghouse group they changed this by printing both part numbers (BR & C) on all the breakers.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
I used to be the guy at Siemens who provided that letter, so yes, I have not only seen it, but delivered it countless times. The letter is something like 20 years old now, they just keep using the same one. The side problem is, Siemens cycles through people like you know what through a goose now, so all of us old-timers who knew where things like this were have been replaced by Gen-X half-price video gamerz who couldn't research their way out of a paper bag, so they spew out answers that they hope will just make you quit bothering them and/or buy more stuff so they can keep their job for another month.
Not that I'm still holding a grudge 5 years later...
curt swartz
Electrical Contractor - San Jose, CA
- Location
- San Jose, CA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
I used to be the guy at Siemens who provided that letter, so yes, I have not only seen it, but delivered it countless times. The letter is something like 20 years old now, they just keep using the same one. The side problem is, Siemens cycles through people like you know what through a goose now, so all of us old-timers who knew where things like this were have been replaced by Gen-X half-price video gamerz who couldn't research their way out of a paper bag, so they spew out answers that they hope will just make you quit bothering them and/or buy more stuff so they can keep their job for another month.
Not that I'm still holding a grudge 5 years later...
Thanks for the info. Do you have any idea why Siemens doesn't just list both number on all the breakers? If they are willing say the breakers are interchangeable I don't see why they wouldn't list mark them as such. The other thing they could do is mark the loadcenters label for both Q and MP breakers.
I use Siemens for almost all residential work. Sometimes if I'm short a breaker or two and it would be nice to be able to go to the closest home improvement/hardware store to grab Murray breakers if I'm not close to the supply house. Its not worth getting into a pissing match with an inspector because I used a Murray breaker in a Siemens loadcenter.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
Simply because there are two completely separate distribution chains for Siemens and Murray product lines, going all the way back to when they were separate companies. When Siemens bought Murray oh so many years ago, they were eliminating a competitor and as such had to go through FTC and SEC negotiations regarding anti-monopoly measures. In that process, they had to commit to maintaining both brand names as separate companies with separate marketing and (most importantly) independent sales forces and pricing structures, for a number of years (decades). I don't know the duration, but as of 2008 when I left, it was still in force.
Looking for Letters
Looking for Letters
I was wondering if someone could post a copy of the Siemens letter saying what breakers are interchangeable.
In other forums they gave links to a similar UL letter for Eaton, but all those links now come back 404.
If someone could post that letter or a current link - that would be great.
Thanks.
Looking for Letters
I was wondering if someone could post a copy of the Siemens letter saying what breakers are interchangeable.
In other forums they gave links to a similar UL letter for Eaton, but all those links now come back 404.
If someone could post that letter or a current link - that would be great.
Thanks.
EddieVizcaino
New User
- Location
- California
- Occupation
- Solar PV
Would you be able to point me on the right direction on how to find such letter?
Bluegrass Boy
Senior Member
- Location
- Texas
- Occupation
- Commercial/ Industrial/ Maintenance Electrician
Could this be it?
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
I'm so far removed from Siemens now, I have no idea (and they no longer pay me to care). The position that I had there when I had access to it is no longer a position they have in the local sales offices, so I'm not sure who would know. Sorry.
- Location
- San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Engineer
That looks like the updated version of the letter I used to use, maybe because apparently Siemens is dropping the entire Murray product name now (the time period must have expired). I do notice though that it no longer mentions Gould. Maybe they figure that most Gould panels have been replaced by now.
Bluegrass Boy
Senior Member
- Location
- Texas
- Occupation
- Commercial/ Industrial/ Maintenance Electrician
It was on Siemens site, there were some other links I have not examined yet.
- Status