QO vs HOM - worth the price?

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mnoone

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Location
California
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
Replacing a GE sub panel that was installed before I was born. It currently has 16 spaces but with multiple remodels coming up I need at least 28, asssuming no tandems are used.

The location can tolerate up to about a 34" high panel. I prefer PON. So that gives me the two contenders as:
QO140L200PG 40 space, 34" high, 200A
or
HOM3060L225PGC 30 space, 34" high, 225A

By my estimates parts cost for the QO for what is currently installed (so not using up all 28 spaces) is $416 while cost for the HOM is $225.

I like QO because it allows denser packing of single breakers (3/4" vs 1" width), has solid copper bus bars (instead of plated aluminum), and has trip indicators. I like HOM because they actually sell tandem breakers (OK technically they sell them for QO but they're $80+ so that's kinda silly). Also HOM seems to generally be more available and is obviously about half the price of QO.

I am inclined to get the QO currently but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything important.

Thank you in advance!
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
They, and the CH/BR cousins, are said to have the same guts in different cases.

The way the sides of the 1" cases are shaped, I can believe it.
 
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letgomywago

Senior Member
Location
Washington state and Oregon coast
Occupation
residential electrician
Both use the long body afci and gfi if you use homeline you'll get a little more space to work with between breakers. Homeline bite the buss harder too I think in a situation where there's a large load like car charger or furnace I'd prefer them over non bolt on. That being said I'd just add a 60 t0 90 amp subpanel to the side and not bother with a full change out so long as the bussing isn't ugly.
 
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mnoone

Member
Location
California
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
tom baker said:
Is there a reason you would regret HOM later? What is the overall project cost and what % of that is the QO?
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~$40K remodel. An extra $200 for QO is not a big deal realistically. Sounds like folks here don't see much advantage to QO though.

HOM just seems like a slightly inferior product - non copper bus bar, no indicators, and less spaces in the same box size (40 vs 30). But HOM has better support for tandems so maybe not a big deal.
 
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norcal

Senior Member
One argument w/ QO, vs HOM, would be Homeline panels use a aluminum bus. I seriously doubt the Eaton BR & CH share the same guts, they were competitive makes for decades, Cutler-Hammer, CH, & Bryant, then later Westinghouse, BR, before Eaton brought them together, QO, & HOM, sharing the same innards other then only the QO, having the VisiTrip trip indicator flag, I can buy that statement. Personally if left with the choice of QO or Homeline, I would choose QO, but lets face it, puppies & kittens will still be born blind if Homeline was chosen.
 
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letgomywago

Senior Member
Location
Washington state and Oregon coast
Occupation
residential electrician
mnoone said:
~$40K remodel. An extra $200 for QO is not a big deal realistically. Sounds like folks here don't see much advantage to QO though.

HOM just seems like a slightly inferior product - non copper bus bar, no indicators, and less spaces in the same box size (40 vs 30). But HOM has better support for tandems so maybe not a big deal.
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If electrical budget is fixed though that 200 bucks might be almost enough to get an extra circuit or some other upgrade mabe better use for it. I do enough service work in QOs to hate putting in afci and gfci in the old load centers they are only 14 inches wide so those long body breakers are brutal on the space on the sides. I'd honestly look into asking if siemens, GE, or even eaton br could be used just for this reason tan CH still uses long body afci and gfci breakers so stay away from that those won't get you anything more than what you have to start with now.
 
G

gar

Senior Member
Location
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Occupation
EE
221105-0807 edt

I have only QO breakers, probably about 40 to 50 in my home, and most date from 1965, and a few from 1960. Many of these I also use as a switch, at least 4 have been on-off bench switches since 1960 operated at least 2 times per day. On only very rare occasions do I trip a breaker. Never had a breaker failure. Very few ever see much current.

There was one time when I ran some breaker experiments using four 12 V car batteries in series as the voltage source. The purpose was to get some high current trip time, and traverse time of the contacts. These tests produced upwards of 8000 A peak.

.
 
Little Bill

Little Bill

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee NEC:2017
Occupation
Semi-Retired Electrician
ptonsparky said:
I would be inclined to reuse the existing QO breakers, where possible, if this were a budget sensitive project. Doesn't sound like it is.
I like the additional spaces available otherwise.
Toss a coin.
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OP said he was replacing a GE panel. Don't think he would have any QO breakers to re-use.
That said, disregarding the QO and CH panels, I wouldn't give you a hill of beans difference in all the other panels. With one exception, I don't care much for GE panels as the breakers don't seem to fit as tight on the stabs and always look like they are used/old breakers.
 
ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
Little Bill said:
OP said he was replacing a GE panel. Don't think he would have any QO breakers to re-use.
That said, disregarding the QO and CH panels, I wouldn't give you a hill of beans difference in all the other panels. With one exception, I don't care much for GE panels as the breakers don't seem to fit as tight on the stabs and always look like they are used/old breakers.
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Duh...missed that and even went back
 
electrofelon

electrofelon

Senior Member
Location
Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
I avoid square D entirely for several reasons. First is boycott/payback for them pushing and eventually getting the surge protector requirement in the code. Second is the stupid ridiculous length of the AFCI's. Third......I can't think of it right now but I'm pretty sure they are in the dog house with me for several more reasons. IMO QO is stupid (unless you need three phase). I hate the bus stabs and the price is horrendous. For not much more than the price of a QO load center, you can get a nice true Siemens panelboard with bolt on breakers. That's what I have at my house.
 
N

norcal

Senior Member
electrofelon said:
I avoid square D entirely for several reasons. First is boycott/payback for them pushing and eventually getting the surge protector requirement in the code. Second is the stupid ridiculous length of the AFCI's. Third......I can't think of it right now but I'm pretty sure they are in the dog house with me for several more reasons. IMO QO is stupid (unless you need three phase). I hate the bus stabs and the price is horrendous. For not much more than the price of a QO load center, you can get a nice true Siemens panelboard with bolt on breakers. That's what I have at my house.
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With a bolt-on panel, don't have to deal with twin breakers. My shop panels are a mix of QOB, Siemens BL, GE THQB, CH, the price was right so they were used.
 
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