Eaton CH availability……

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MSU_Electrician

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I finally talked my supply house into stocking Eaton (they’ve been an Eaton dealer for 30 years just stock GE because it’s cheaper). I’ve asked for CH panels and breakers they say they can only get BR and that the CH line has a 2 year lead time. Is anyone else hearing this or is it just my part of the country?


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I wouldn’t believe the two year lead time, any company that does that is out of business, and just don’t know it. Most likely the cheaper BR is easier to sell, and they just don’t want any stock sitting on the shelf that sells slower. CH is tougher to get, but can be had. CH is much better than the BR. If I had a choice between BR and GE, I would buy Siemens! LOL!
 
Is the newer CH better than the old Cutlers? Had a lot of issues in the old Cutler Hammer breakers not tripping when they obviously should have and major corrosion issues on panel interiors. They seemed by appearance as if they were a sturdier build like the QO but didn't hold up over time.

Wish the local SHs would carry the Siemens line, only one that I could get at one point during beginning of the supply issues and by online order. I've so far been fairly impressed by their equipment and their AFCI technology with the trip codes indicator and upgradable software. According to a rep I met at a codes conference, you can contact them with equipment specific nuisance trip and give them the equipment info and they will send you a breaker with the software upgraded to no longer see the equipment as an arc. Also the only one offering a Tandem AFCI.
One that does it one better, and I've only seen advertised and from a rep at same conference is the Leviton panel and breakers. Their wifi breakers are upgradable on site via wifi. Just provide them with the equipment info and the claim is in 20 minutes they will send the code to the breaker, and while you're still onsite to verify the fix. Another one not available locally.
 
MSU_Electrician said:
I finally talked my supply house into stocking Eaton (they’ve been an Eaton dealer for 30 years just stock GE because it’s cheaper). I’ve asked for CH panels and breakers they say they can only get BR and that the CH line has a 2 year lead time. Is anyone else hearing this or is it just my part of the country?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
There are certain parts that we are being told are not going to be available for an unspecified but very long time. Maybe they are putting two years down as the timeline for availability just because they don't know when it will become available.

Some of this appears to be related to the manufacturing being moved out of China to other countries and they don't know when they can get the machines moved. There is some very weird stuff going on in China right now relating to foreign ownership of Chinese companies. If the company owns the machinery and the company is owned by a foreign company you would think that they could just move the machinery. However the Chinese have recently changed the rules so that foreigners are no longer able to own Chinese companies so it's not clear if the machinery can be actually moved. I'm not even sure whether existing companies that are owned by foreigners have been expropriated as they were in Venezuela and Mexico or whether they are still owned by the foreign entity and the new rules only apply to new companies. This is on top of the confusing set of covid lockdowns that are in place in various parts of China right now making it almost impossible to do anything.
 
Fred B said:
Is the newer CH better than the old Cutlers? Had a lot of issues in the old Cutler Hammer breakers not tripping when they obviously should have and major corrosion issues on panel interiors. They seemed by appearance as if they were a sturdier build like the QO but didn't hold up over time.

Wish the local SHs would carry the Siemens line, only one that I could get at one point during beginning of the supply issues and by online order. I've so far been fairly impressed by their equipment and their AFCI technology with the trip codes indicator and upgradable software. According to a rep I met at a codes conference, you can contact them with equipment specific nuisance trip and give them the equipment info and they will send you a breaker with the software upgraded to no longer see the equipment as an arc. Also the only one offering a Tandem AFCI.
One that does it one better, and I've only seen advertised and from a rep at same conference is the Leviton panel and breakers. Their wifi breakers are upgradable on site via wifi. Just provide them with the equipment info and the claim is in 20 minutes they will send the code to the breaker, and while you're still onsite to verify the fix. Another one not available locally.
Click to expand...
The majority of the older panels around here are CH, that’s all the hardwares sold, and we didn’t have any electrical supply houses until the late 80’s. Never had any problems with them. They are quick to trip just like SD QO. The most problems were the old Westinghouse and FPE that were in mobile homes. Very seldom had a call on GE because they would never trip, just like the FPE! LOL!
 
3 reasons I'm not fond of CH:

Covers were sold separately, so many builders would not buy cover, many in my area never had (permits/inspections started 1999)

Don't like when they trip all the way to off, instead of half way (underscore mistake,don't know how to undo)

Have seen some that breakers are bad to jump off stab, especially if no cover


I like lifetime guarantee though
 
readydave8 said:
3 reasons I'm not fond of CH:

Covers were sold separately, so many builders would not buy cover, many in my area never had (permits/inspections started 1999)

Don't like when they trip all the way to off, instead of half way (underscore mistake,don't know how to undo)

Have seen some that breakers are bad to jump off stab, especially if no cover


I like lifetime guarantee though
Click to expand...
One thing I like about Eaton CH is that all their panels rated from 150A to 225A have 225A busbars, and we have it in writing from Eaton. That makes them a lot easier to land backfed solar breakers compliant with 705.12. Maybe other manufacturers do the same thing; it would make sense, but Eaton CH is the only one we have documentation for.
 
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I cycled through several brands as my favorite supply house changed brands. I got tired of having to stock new items every few years. CH was at another supplier for the entire time. I switched, and other than QO, I try not to use others.

I haven’t needed a 200 lately, so I don’t know what the supply is like. Busy with other stuff.
 
petersonra said:
There are certain parts that we are being told are not going to be available for an unspecified but very long time. Maybe they are putting two years down as the timeline for availability just because they don't know when it will become available.

Some of this appears to be related to the manufacturing being moved out of China to other countries and they don't know when they can get the machines moved. There is some very weird stuff going on in China right now relating to foreign ownership of Chinese companies. If the company owns the machinery and the company is owned by a foreign company you would think that they could just move the machinery. However the Chinese have recently changed the rules so that foreigners are no longer able to own Chinese companies so it's not clear if the machinery can be actually moved. I'm not even sure whether existing companies that are owned by foreigners have been expropriated as they were in Venezuela and Mexico or whether they are still owned by the foreign entity and the new rules only apply to new companies. This is on top of the confusing set of covid lockdowns that are in place in various parts of China right now making it almost impossible to do anything.
Click to expand...
Although I agree about the issues going on with China right now, the CH line of breakers comes from Eaton's plant in the Dominican Republic. That plant also makes some of the Siemens industrial breakers as well, and they are having trouble delivering them too. Ex coworkers from my days at Siemens tell me that the residential breaker delivery problems stem from component parts shortages, like the little copper parts inside in particular, because the skyrocketing cost of copper cause the raw materials to be diverted to making "more important" things.
 
Jraef said:
Although I agree about the issues going on with China right now, the CH line of breakers comes from Eaton's plant in the Dominican Republic. That plant also makes some of the Siemens industrial breakers as well, and they are having trouble delivering them too. Ex coworkers from my days at Siemens tell me that the residential breaker delivery problems stem from component parts shortages, like the little copper parts inside in particular, because the skyrocketing cost of copper cause the raw materials to be diverted to making "more important" things.
Click to expand...
Would not surprise me at all that some of the little component parts come from some factory in China. China is in a bizarre state right now.

On the bright side for residential stuff anyway, the real estate boom in China appears to be at an end so once the parts for those apartments get sourced there should be plenty for the rest of us.

A report I saw just yesterday stated that the big Chinese real estate company that had more or less defaulted on its debt has been taken over by the Chinese state. Something called a risk management commission is now running evergreen. It appears like they are going to default on their foreign debt entirely in favor of building the 1.6 million apartments that Chinese citizens have paid for either in full or partially that have yet to be built or finished. Evergreen also owes something like 300 billion dollars to Chinese State Banks that will probably never be repaid either.

And it appears like the suppliers are going to get stiffed as well. The report suggested that the 7,000 some suppliers that had stopped supplying evergreen were told by the commission to extend evergreen credit even though it's likely they'll never get paid. I have to wonder how that's going to work.

The commission is promising to finish 39,000 apartments per month. By my math 1.6 million / 39,000 is 41 months.
 
petersonra said:
Would not surprise me at all that some of the little component parts come from some factory in China. China is in a bizarre state right now.

On the bright side for residential stuff anyway, the real estate boom in China appears to be at an end so once the parts for those apartments get sourced there should be plenty for the rest of us.

A report I saw just yesterday stated that the big Chinese real estate company that had more or less defaulted on its debt has been taken over by the Chinese state. Something called a risk management commission is now running evergreen. It appears like they are going to default on their foreign debt entirely in favor of building the 1.6 million apartments that Chinese citizens have paid for either in full or partially that have yet to be built or finished. Evergreen also owes something like 300 billion dollars to Chinese State Banks that will probably never be repaid either.

And it appears like the suppliers are going to get stiffed as well. The report suggested that the 7,000 some suppliers that had stopped supplying evergreen were told by the commission to extend evergreen credit even though it's likely they'll never get paid. I have to wonder how that's going to work.

The commission is promising to finish 39,000 apartments per month. By my math 1.6 million / 39,000 is 41 months.
Click to expand...

I also just saw where Evergrand has been ordered to demolish 41 partially completed buildings due to “illegal construction.” It’s unclear what is illegal about them. They have been give 10 days to comply.
Maybe the scarce electrical components from these buildings will re-enter the supply chain?
 
retirede said:
I also just saw where Evergrand has been ordered to demolish 41 partially completed buildings due to “illegal construction.” It’s unclear what is illegal about them. They have been give 10 days to comply.
Maybe the scarce electrical components from these buildings will re-enter the supply chain?
Click to expand...
No doubt they will show up on eBay. :)

A report I saw said that they had bribed their way into approval. My guess is just about every project involves bribes and corruption. That's the way it is in China.
 
petersonra said:
No doubt they will show up on eBay. :)

A report I saw said that they had bribed their way into approval. My guess is just about every project involves bribes and corruption. That's the way it is in China.
Click to expand...
That's the way it is everywhere.
 
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