Siemens only dropped the I-T-E brand in the mid 1990's.
cutler hammer, square d, or murray?
- Thread starter wireguru
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Siemens only dropped the I-T-E brand in the mid 1990's.
ItsHot
Senior Member
- Location
- A little piece of heaven!
I think they're secure now! Last year Siemens did around $458 billion!!
ty
Senior Member
- Location
- 3rd Rock from the Sun
I have never seen or heard of this problem. ever.
I have never seen or heard of this problem either.
Is this something YOU have witnessed, or your guys in the field are reporting?
Our CH breakers snap in tight every time.
Maybe you've installed a few that were missing the clip, for some reason.
Doubtful, from normal torque, but if it happened, that would be a warranty issue.
I don't think that some odd, rare fault deems the whole product line 'junk'. But I take it you are being sarcastic.
Let's see..for starters, how are you going to 'make' this breaker trip? By using my 'boom box'?
What does it really matter if there is a trip indicator window??
The panel label should be clearly marked.
And, one should never just re-set a tripped breaker, without first checking out the circuit, which would require the panel cover to be removed, anyway.
PetrosA
Senior Member
- Location
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania
I have to agree that the QO series are great for the orange trip indicator. It makes dealing with tripped breakers over the phone an easy task, even if you're talking to the lady of the house who's not even sure what the "panel" is.
I've seen both QO and CH breakers loose on their bus bars (likely due to loose spring clips, which are a poor design in the first place), so no clear winner there. I do prefer the CH neutral busses, though.
I've seen both QO and CH breakers loose on their bus bars (likely due to loose spring clips, which are a poor design in the first place), so no clear winner there. I do prefer the CH neutral busses, though.
kbsparky
Senior Member
- Location
- Delmarva, USA
In the real world panels are often marked improperly, if at all.
Checking out a tripped circuit is not always necessary, especially if the known source of the fault has been corrected.
It is not necessary for a homeowner to remove a panel cover before resetting a tripped breaker. They reset them all the time without incident. It all depends on the circumstances that caused the breaker to trip in the first place.
Now if one resets a tripped breaker and it immediately blows again, that is grounds for calling in a professional and testing the circuit removing, the cover, etc.
In the case I posted about earlier, this came from personal experience. We were on a new mall construction project, and had an extension cord plugged into one of the temp outlets there. Running a saw, along with all the temp lights caused an overload, which tripped out the breaker.
We checked the panel, and discovered it was a Cutler-Hammer, with about ? the breakers on, and the rest off. Nothing was marked. No way could we tell which breaker was the one that needed to be reset without removing the cover, and manually tracing the wires and circuit.
No way were we even going to attempt switching on any of those "off" breakers due to the numerous other temp lines hanging about.
A panel with breakers that indicate a tripped condition would have been much more desirable in such a scenario.
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
I have found that with the GE's,Murray's and the like, if you run your thumb or finger down the row of breakers pushing them to the "On" position, that if there is a tripped one you will feel it move. A lot of times it will actually go back to the middle position like it was supposed to. QO's and CH's seem to clear faults quicker than the rest of them. I actually have an NQOD single phase panel in my house (being free also helped).
switch electric
Member
Square D I personaly dont like Cuttler Hammer in res. or comm.
guitarchris
Senior Member
- Location
- Central North Carolina
If you get your pricing set up and actually buy a decent amount you can get your single pole CH classic's for under 3 bucks. Very fair prices for a great problem. We have only had one problem with new CH stuff, it was a batch of breakers that would not reset. CH rep brought new ones to the job site and collected the bad ones, this was 15+ years ago.
I like to stick with one brand so that we can service our existing customers. I can know when they call that I will have the full line of basic breakers on my truck to do most any additions they might need.
We carry a fair amount of common breakers anyhow:
15's and 20's SP and 30A DP of:
We carry a decent amount of ITE/siemens stuff too and
SQD QO and HOM, CH BR,GE, various used crouse hinds,zinsco and FPE.
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Occupation
- PE (Retired) - Power Systems
I know the QO design was introduced in the mid 50's and has remained unchanged since then. The CH design has been available for at least 35 years.
So, what in your opinion makes them a 'poor design'?
Other than these two, I cannot think of another breaker that is used in both residential and 'spec grade' (i.e. 20" wide box) panelboards.
shepelec
Senior Member
- Location
- Palmer, MA
Anything GE is junk!! I will never buy GE crap again!!
Murray is good for resi, QO or QOB for commercial / industrial.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Yeah, but what were their costs?I think they're secure now! Last year Siemens did around $458 billion!!
()
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Okay, but what would you have done if the half-of-the-panel-were-off breakers you found off were QO's and they all showed orange?
hillbilly1
Senior Member
- Location
- North Georgia mountains
- Occupation
- Owner/electrical contractor
Anything GE is junk!! I will never buy GE crap again!!
Murray is good for resi, QO or QOB for commercial / industrial.
GE is crap for commercial too, the orange box switched to GE for their new stores once Nardelli took over (previous GE big shot). The buss floats in the panels, so if you push on a 20 amp breaker, the buss bends back into the cabinet. Real crappy design.
readydave8
re member
- Location
- Clarkesville, Georgia
- Occupation
- electrician
Main breaker in 200 amp power was too stiff to turn on if someone turned it off couldn't get it back on. I don't have the statistics but remember changing several, the supplier made them good but I had the trip and labor time. At least two I changed out hot where there was a bolt-in meter, don't worry, I was younger then and would not recommend this practice.
guitarchris
Senior Member
- Location
- Central North Carolina
BR Main breakers are now pretty much the same as the CH classic last time I had one side by side.
kbsparky
Senior Member
- Location
- Delmarva, USA
Same thing that we ended up doing: Had to remove panel cover, and manually trace out the line for our circuit.Okay, but what would you have done if the half-of-the-panel-were-off breakers you found off were QO's and they all showed orange?
quogueelectric
Senior Member
- Location
- new york
Simple for me Square D all the way.....................
electricmanscott
Senior Member
- Location
- Boston, MA
I'll sum it up. Personal preference. Other than some isolated issues it doesn't matter.
New thread coming soon..... Partly sunny or partly cloudy?
New thread coming soon..... Partly sunny or partly cloudy?
gngren
Member
- Occupation
- Master Electrician
Squared D for what I pay for breakers I can put 2 200 amp panels fitted out with comparable breakers for less than 1 CH panel with the same breakers. Also Don't you need to load balance the meter stacks with Cutler hammer?
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