house panel has no main breaker

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Is the panel service equipment? Or
A sub panel? If it is service equipment, and it has less than six breakers FASTENED in, then it’s legal. (Provided it’s not installed where 2020 code is in effect) But if it is a sub panel, it is not required to have a main, unless it is on a different building than the service disconnect.
 
Oh! You mean a residential house panel, not a shopping center house panel. Answer is still the same. If there is a main at the meter, the panel inside the house does not need a main.
 
hillbilly1 said:
Is the panel service equipment? Or
A sub panel? If it is service equipment, and it has less than six breakers FASTENED in, then it’s legal. (Provided it’s not installed where 2020 code is in effect) But if it is a sub panel, it is not required to have a main, unless it is on a different building than the service disconnect.
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It is the main panel.
 
Yes. They made "split bus" panels that had 12 slots for double pole breakers (usually the top as slots) and those 6 breakers were your service disconnect. One of these would feed the lower section of the bus and was typically a 50A or 60A breaker. Both houses I had with panels like that labeled the breaker feeding the lower bus as "main" even though it isn't really a single main.
 
suemarkp said:
Yes. They made "split bus" panels that had 12 slots for double pole breakers (usually the top as slots) and those 6 breakers were your service disconnect. One of these would feed the lower section of the bus and was typically a 50A or 60A breaker. Both houses I had with panels like that labeled the breaker feeding the lower bus as "main" even though it isn't really a single main.
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Thank you. I thought they must have been allowed in the past because I have seen those in houses on jobs through the years. But what if there are more than 6 breakers in the house I've been asked to look at today ? Will that be a violation that requires panel replacement ?
 
If there are more than 6 breakers in the 'service' section then you have a violation of the earlier code.

The panels have two bus sections. The top section works as the service disconnect with 6 breakers. One breaker in the top section feeds the rest in the bottom section.

Jon
 
I’ve been in many houses that had breakers with no main, and many others that had fuses with no main. None had over 6.
Small houses built 50+ years ago.
that is unless the handyman uncle added some after they were built.
 
It doesn't have to be a split buss panel. You can have a main lug panel with 6 disconnects in it. New to the 2020 code this will be an illegal install. You still can have 6 disconnects but they would have to be in different enclosures.

The problem with 6 disconnects in one panel is that there is no way to kill the panel so that you can work on it safely.
 
So this 6 disconnects only has to do with services? What about when a Main lug panel is being fed from a breaker? Can it have as many breakers in it as it wants?
 
JoeNorm said:
So this 6 disconnects only has to do with services? What about when a Main lug panel is being fed from a breaker? Can it have as many breakers in it as it wants?
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Check out a 42 space panel with a main…
 
hillbilly1 said:
Is the panel service equipment? Or
A sub panel? If it is service equipment, and it has less than six breakers FASTENED in, then it’s legal. (Provided it’s not installed where 2020 code is in effect) But if it is a sub panel, it is not required to have a main, unless it is on a different building than the service disconnect.
Click to expand...
Six breaker or less is legal and so is a split buss panel but I have changed out many of those old panels so a house could be sold.

The problem is that most people really don't like not having a main breaker that's easy to identify in an emergency.

I would quote a price to change out the old panel. People don't like spending the money but they do want to sell the house and the buyer is normally very happy with a new panel.
 
Stevenfyeager said:
Thank you. I thought they must have been allowed in the past because I have seen those in houses on jobs through the years. But what if there are more than 6 breakers in the house I've been asked to look at today ? Will that be a violation that requires panel replacement ?
Click to expand...
Split buss typically has space above for 6 two pole breakers. That is all that should be up there.

You may want to do a load calculation for existing and added loads. If 125 amp bus is the magic number, and your calculations are less, I wouldn't worry.

That said, I'm where I am. You get to sign off on it.
 
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