Three homes in my area had electrical fires due to zinsco breakers. The fire marshel went strait to the panel box and showed me the over heating wires. No it was not any of my jobs, Im captain of a vol fire co. I had my lawyer draw me up a waver if people wont me to work in their home with a zinsco or FP panel. They usualy go with an upgrade when i tell them about the history.
I have seen many Zinsco panels during inspections, and some looked very old. I cannot recall any real issues with them.
Maybe those damaged wires were from neglect of maintenance???
Like other brands, there may be issues, but some brands receive more "press" when things go wrong.
I can tell you, I have seen damage to every brand panel...take that for what it is worth.
Oh, what kind of breaker...why those are Zinscos, made by Bryant.
Those are indeed Zinsco. Here in So Cali we have a ton of those panels.
Breakers are so-so, bus connections are fair to very poor, and replacement breakers are very expensive. Most Zinsco panels have serious wire-bending space issues.
I have seen many bus failures and a few cases of "FPE syndrome" where the breaker would not trip under an overload or fault.