Cannot have 60 amp breaker in lower half of split bus panel???

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rt66electric

Senior Member
Location
Oklahoma
A customer is trying to sell their house and inspector

called out " an Apparent 60 amp 220 v sub panel feed on bottom half of split buss panel" ??

the sub feed load is a detached garage ( underground)

He does not like a 60amp breaker being on the lower part of split buss ???

it is a 200 amp GE split buss circa 1970??

So is it legal to have a 60 amp breaker below the 60 amp split-feed ???

I suggested to change the 60 to a 30 , the only loads in the storage shed are lights and a smal window A/c unit
 
Dennis Alwon

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
Unless there is something in the panel info that states a maximum size then I see no reason that you cannot do it.

This may apply

408.36 Exception No. 2: Individual protection shall not be required
for a panelboard protected on its supply side by two
main circuit breakers or two sets of fuses having a combined
rating not greater than that of the panelboard. A
panelboard constructed or wired under this exception shall
not contain more than 42 overcurrent devices. For the purposes
of determining the maximum of 42 overcurrent devices,
a 2-pole or a 3-pole circuit breaker shall be considered
as two or three overcurrent devices, respectively.
Click to expand...
 
Smart $

Smart $

Esteemed Member
Location
Ohio
iwire said:
I am betting the HI is going with the 'It does not make sense to me so it must be wrong' rule. :roll:
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Makes me wonder what he'd think if a licensed electrician came in, pulled the 60A breaker, and flopped the feeder conductors over to bus feed-thru lugs. Not saying the panel has 'em. Just stating a what-if scenario.

:D
 
J

JFletcher

Senior Member
Location
Williamsburg, VA
My aunts house has a ca. 1970 CH 'tri-split' panel, 200A with 36 spaces, 12 in each third. The mains feed only the top 12 breakers. 2 2p 60A breakers in the upper third feed the middle and bottom parts of the panel, via factory soldered on 4? ga wires. I mention this as there is a limitation as to the ampacity of the bottom thirds of the panel due to the size of those soldered on jumpers; maybe a similar situation here?
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
JFletcher said:
My aunts house has a ca. 1970 CH 'tri-split' panel, 200A with 36 spaces, 12 in each third. The mains feed only the top 12 breakers. 2 2p 60A breakers in the upper third feed the middle and bottom parts of the panel, via factory soldered on 4? ga wires. I mention this as there is a limitation as to the ampacity of the bottom thirds of the panel due to the size of those soldered on jumpers; maybe a similar situation here?
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But even if you plugged on a 125 amp breaker the main for that section would still protect to 60 amps. The only time it may trip is if a fault happens to get into the instantaneous trip range of that breaker otherwise the main is going to trip on overload before the branch breaker if it is a higher setting.
 
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