Bulldog push amatic circuit breakes?

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jgh1142

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Hello, does anyone have information on the old bulldog push amatic circuit breakers. I have a home 13000 square feet that has five of these 1950 plus circuit breakers. Does anyone have info telling if these CB's are safe.
 
The Pushmatic breakers aren't necessarily unsafe. They do have one drawback in that the original ones only have thermal trip mechanisms and do not have an instantaneous magnetic trip mechanism. In real world terms that means they won't react quite as fast in the event of a short circuit, but their overload response time is average.

The main drawback is that old ones tend to fail mechanically, ie they won't reset after a trip or if you turn them off. So far I have only seen and heard of them failing "safe", as in not turning back on as opposed to FPE and Zinsco which stay closed into a fault. :grin:

The little "on/off" indicators also go bad and stay stuck in either position or just rattle around loose.

UBI makes replacements (at $40+ EACH for single pole) which seem to have more robust mechanisms, but I don't know if they have magnetic trip added to them.
 
mxslick said:
The Pushmatic breakers aren't necessarily unsafe. They do have one drawback in that the original ones only have thermal trip mechanisms and do not have an instantaneous magnetic trip mechanism. In real world terms that means they won't react quite as fast in the event of a short circuit, but their overload response time is average.

The main drawback is that old ones tend to fail mechanically, ie they won't reset after a trip or if you turn them off. So far I have only seen and heard of them failing "safe", as in not turning back on as opposed to FPE and Zinsco which stay closed into a fault. :grin:

The little "on/off" indicators also go bad and stay stuck in either position or just rattle around loose.

UBI makes replacements (at $40+ EACH for single pole) which seem to have more robust mechanisms, but I don't know if they have magnetic trip added to them.
Click to expand...

I have serviced many Bulldog panels and have found a trick I will share.

If the breaker will not reset, grab the pushbutton with a channel lock and pull (gently). You will hear a click. You can now push on.

Seen the replacements at HD.
 
How about some pushmatic switchgear?

I think this has finally been torn out but I had made a few service calls to this gear. This is 3 phase Pushmatic, very odd phase arraignment.

Picture127.jpg
 
iwire said:
How about some pushmatic switchgear?

I think this has finally been torn out but I had made a few service calls to this gear. This is 3 phase Pushmatic, very odd phase arraignment.
Click to expand...

Arraignment? You going to jail?
jail1.gif


I like the LB with no access.
lb3.gif
 
That was a supermarket, the chain built a new store and has closed this one.

I hated going on calls there, that gear was the best part of the electrical system, everything else was rusty, brittle and well past it's 'best if used before' date.
 
iwire said:
How about some pushmatic switchgear?

I think this has finally been torn out but I had made a few service calls to this gear. This is 3 phase Pushmatic, very odd phase arraignment.

Picture127.jpg
Click to expand...
I like the LB under the circuit breaker enclosure at the right, & the fire exting. is in such a accessible location.


Thanks for sharing the pic. Pushmatic is rare around here but a Pushmatic 3? is something never have seen, a Zinsco plug in 3? panel is strange enough...
 
iwire said:
How about some pushmatic switchgear?

I think this has finally been torn out but I had made a few service calls to this gear. This is 3 phase Pushmatic, very odd phase arraignment.

Picture127.jpg
Click to expand...


I dont know why, but something about that picture makes me think i would use a long stick to operate any of the breakers in that gear.....
 
Iwire .,

Jezz that did bring back memory I did work on old triphase pushmatic load centre and yes it have odd phase set up on each bussbar you have to becarefull which leg ya working on it I know how it lay out one set will be AB while the other set will on BC and third set will be CA so on but one gem is a true triphase pushmatic common trip breaker that like hen's tooth.

Merci,Marc
 
wireguru said:
I dont know why, but something about that picture makes me think i would use a long stick to operate any of the breakers in that gear.....
Click to expand...


Why? I've heard of less "explosive" failures of Pushmatics than say, oh FPE... :grin:

But I am concerned about that missing deadfront section on the left...
 
jgh1142 said:
Hello, does anyone have information on the old bulldog push amatic circuit breakers. I have a home 13000 square feet that has five of these 1950 plus circuit breakers. Does anyone have info telling if these CB's are safe.
Click to expand...

Yep, I have two sub panels full of em in my house built in '29' :). The newer ones work fine, don't know about the older ones.
 
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