Homeline 40/80 panel

[nizak]

Has anyone here been using Sq D Home line 200amp 40/80 panels?
The two that I recently installed seem to have "slop" in the bus attachment to the breaker.I'm noticing it when I plug the breakers in they seem to want to drop a bit. It appears the jaw connection is ok just not as tight as the conventional 40 space.Once the cover is installed everything looks OK.

 

[MHElectric]

Ive seen 'em at the SH. They said they havent sold ANY yet! I wouldnt be against trying one out, but with all the AFCI breaker requirements, seems like it would be a big waste, since you really are limited to what you can use tandems on.

 

[goldstar]

Haven't used one yet. Murry has had one for some time now. Seems like it might be good for a service upgrade where the HO has numerous and existing double and triple tapped breakers.

 

[kwired]

Ive seen 'em at the SH. They said they havent sold ANY yet! I wouldnt be against trying one out, but with all the AFCI breaker requirements, seems like it would be a big waste, since you really are limited to what you can use tandems on.

My thoughts as well - you would seldom get more then 40 spaces out of it in dwelling applications anyway.

 

[goldstar]

My thoughts as well - you would seldom get more then 40 spaces out of it in dwelling applications anyway.

Maybe so, but I just upgraded a 100 amp service to 150 thinking I had enough spaces in a 30 circuit panel. Surprisingly, I just made it. When I opened the existing panel they had numerous piggy-backed breakers double tapped. And this was basically a bungalow on a small piece of property. The existing main breaker had corroded and burnt up because a couple of hacks decided to add sub-panels for an electric dryer and an AC unit, tapped off the main lugs with copper wire to aluminum triplex and no anti-oxident. Go figure.

 

[kwired]

Maybe so, but I just upgraded a 100 amp service to 150 thinking I had enough spaces in a 30 circuit panel. Surprisingly, I just made it. When I opened the existing panel they had numerous piggy-backed breakers double tapped. And this was basically a bungalow on a small piece of property. The existing main breaker had corroded and burnt up because a couple of hacks decided to add sub-panels for an electric dryer and an AC unit, tapped off the main lugs with copper wire to aluminum triplex and no anti-oxident. Go figure.

Too much load should trip that main that is one of it's primary purposes - overcurrent protection. If it is corroded there is some other issue causing corrosion.

 

[goldstar]

Too much load should trip that main that is one of it's primary purposes - overcurrent protection. If it is corroded there is some other issue causing corrosion.

Granted. I believe the issue (in my case) was copper wire being tapped onto the aluminum SE cable at the line side lugs with no anti-oxident (primarily because they didn't want to pay an electrician to upgrade the service).

BTW, I didn't want to pirate this thread away from the OP. Using a 40/80 panel would be OK if the circuits were predominantly lighting and receptacle loads, IMHO.

 

[kwired]

Granted. I believe the issue (in my case) was copper wire being tapped onto the aluminum SE cable at the line side lugs with no anti-oxident (primarily because they didn't want to pay an electrician to upgrade the service).

BTW, I didn't want to pirate this thread away from the OP. Using a 40/80 panel would be OK if the circuits were predominantly lighting and receptacle loads, IMHO.

Now bring in 2014 AFCI/GFCI requirements and find us some tandem sized AFCI/GFCI breakers so we can use all 80 potential spaces. Most dwellings using this panel and wired with 2014 NEC will only be able to take advantage of just a half dozen spaces at the most that could utilize tandem breakers, so a 30/40 panel would work just as well and those have been around for some time.