Challenger panels dangerous ?

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They had the stupid minis that have to overlap on the bus I don't trust those. If there's any issue eaton is the replacement so it's not a huge expense to replace the plug on breakers vs ones that need a "connecticut electric" modern replacement.
 
The most common Challenger type is just the same as Eaton BR, and is not dangerous. In fact if you look carefully at Eaton BR labels, they say 'Type C' on them which means they're listed to be in those Challenger panels.

The bad type of Challenger breakers are the half-space 'side clip' ones, what letgomywago calls the 'stupid minis'. (I was typing this while his post appeared.) Those are 'Type A.' Those make poor contact and can lead to arcing, so don't install those and be very careful with any panel you find that has them. That said I've seen hundreds of Challenger panels and only a few side-clips.

I seem to recall that the Challenger brand may have been put on Zinsco crap once or twice before they obtained the Bryant-Westinghouse line, but mostly I see the BR compatible ones.
 
jaggedben said:
The most common Challenger type is just the same as Eaton BR, and is not dangerous. In fact if you look carefully at Eaton BR labels, they say 'Type C' on them which means they're listed to be in those Challenger panels.

The bad type of Challenger breakers are the half-space 'side clip' ones, what letgomywago calls the 'stupid minis'. (I was typing this while his post appeared.) Those are 'Type A.' Those make poor contact and can lead to arcing, so don't install those and be very careful with any panel you find that has them. That said I've seen hundreds of Challenger panels and only a few side-clips.

I seem to recall that the Challenger brand may have been put on Zinsco crap once or twice before they obtained the Bryant-Westinghouse line, but mostly I see the BR compatible ones.
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I dont know, Ive got a building with a bunch of challenger panels with the regular 1" wide breakers and had a lot of them burn up on the higher draw stuff like HVAC and aux heat strips.
 
letgomywago said:
We're they the old ones not HVAC/R rated ones they used to need to be specified I think all normal ones are now.
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I dont know, IIRC this building was built in the early to mid 80's. I dont see why a non HCAR breaker would be any more likely to have the stab clips fail. There was never any difference between HCAR and non HCAR breakers. It was just a separate UL test. IT was found that breakers that passed the standard UL 489 test also always passed the HCAR test so they got rid of it.
 
electrofelon said:
I dont know, IIRC this building was built in the early to mid 80's. I dont see why a non HCAR breaker would be any more likely to have the stab clips fail. There was never any difference between HCAR and non HCAR breakers. It was just a separate UL test. IT was found that breakers that passed the standard UL 489 test also always passed the HCAR test so they got rid of it.
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Well idk then maybe the hvac guys were mean to the breakers when turning on and off before disconnects were required lol.
 
Eaton BR panels are Challenger design interiors, cheap yes, dangerous no. Challenger, & Crouse-Hinds, both were designed to allow twin breakers to be used for 240V, the design was shoving 10 pounds of manure into a five pound bag.
 
Everyone can do what they want, but based on my experience and others who have had the same problem, I would replace any 80s Challenger breakers with new BR's. I don't see anything wrong with the panel boards themselves
 
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