Cutler Hammer Service with Square D panels?

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powerplay

Senior Member
The electrical room has an Cutler Hammer 800 amp service for a 7000 sq foot building for lease. I am wondering what, or if there are any issues with adding a Square D Panel (aside from esthetics) to the end of that metered Cutler Hammer ED Breaker with a 65K AIC rating. There is an 100K rated EDH breaker at a higher price but I assume is only required for certain engineered loads? Thanks again!
 

templdl

Senior Member
Location
Wisconsin
Based upon what you said I personally wouldn't give it a second thought of using the SqD panels. I'm partial to C-H panels and breakers but lean towards SqD QO load centers but really have nothing against the C-H CH load center. The KAIC rating of the breakers is solely dependent upon the available fault current at the service entrance.
Don't overlook if the CH panel had series rated devices in it and if so may affect a down stream SqD panel if it also had to be series rated.
The only other thought would be the interchangeability of breakers which really should be a minor issue.
The positive of using gear manufactured by the same company is for interchangeability and spare parts.
 
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powerplay

Senior Member
Based upon what you said I personally wouldn't give it a second thought of using the SqD panels. I'm partial to C-H panels and breakers but lean towards SqD QO load centers but really have nothing against the C-H CH load center. The KAIC rating of the breakers is solely dependent upon the available fault current at the service entrance.
Don't overlook if the CH panel had series rated devices in it and if so may affect a down stream SqD panel if it also had to be series rated.
The only other thought would be the interchangeability of breakers which really should be a minor issue.
The positive of using gear manufactured by the same company is for interchangeability and spare parts.


There are no panels in the suites yet, so using local Square D sounds like the right approach. Where can I find out more about the compatibility of the series rated equipment? Thanks again!
 

templdl

Senior Member
Location
Wisconsin
There are no panels in the suites yet, so using local Square D sounds like the right approach. Where can I find out more about the compatibility of the series rated equipment? Thanks again!

There are no series ratings for competitive panels. UL series rating testing is done bye each individual manufacturer for their own products. There are series ratings done with fuses though.

But, is the facility going to apply series rated panels? I get the feeling the you may not know. I brought up the series rating issue because it would be incorrect to say that any panek manufacture's panels could be used but only if they are fully rated which may be so in your case. But, if the project is designed with series rated panels then you must say with the manufacturer for with the series rating was designed around.
 

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
The "series rating" apply s when the manufacturer lists breakers with a lower fault current rating (say 10 k or 22k) to "series rate" with the breaker supplying them and used on a system with a the higher breaker fault current.
As tempdld noted, manufacturers do not have their breakers listed and tested with other brands.

If you are going to take advantage of the series rating using breakers, you would need to use the same manufacturer and, even then, you need to make sure the specific breakers do rate with each other. Series ratings only work with specific breaker types and sometimes specific amperages.

Your first step would be to find out the system available fault current..usually a number is aaialble from POCO.

There are various other ways of making sure your system is correct and those often involve engineering studies taking into account all factors in the system such as wire sizes, lengths, motor contribution, etc.,
 
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templdl

Senior Member
Location
Wisconsin
What is the difference from a series rated panel to another "normal" one?...or is series rated simply mean matched in design to prevent voltage drop? Thanks again!

It probably isn't a series rating application but I couldn't just answer that it wouldn't matter if you used SdD panel because it woulodn't be a 100% positive answer. If you were to purchase an install SqD panels and an found out that ithey were required to be series rated with the C-H panel upstream you would be dead meat. My reply was not meant to compicaate thinks be to bring attention to a potential issue.
But, again, it most likely isn't an issue in your case but just ask the question.
 
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