Dead front has gap.

Green digger

Member
Location
Bay Area
Occupation
Excavation
Hello, I hope to get a little help from this forum.
Recently had a new 200A Eaton main breaker panel installed on our personal residence. This is the 20 / 42 panel. Probably a very common residential panel.
Problem, when cycling the breakers to off after tripping or simply shutting one down to work on a circuit, the breaker physically pops out of the dead front cover. Thumb pushes right to the off position, breaker cantilevers out of the buss bar.
At that crazy point one could simply push it back in or pull it all the way out.
Of course leaving a large enough hole creating an extreme hazard.
I was on the phone with Eaton tech for several hours several different times. My conclusion is the factory installed main 200A breaker is not sitting flat in its position. This causes the dead front to bulge, bulge enough to leave the breakers unsecured. I have a photo, but I’m new here and cannot figure out how to post it.
 
Hello, I hope to get a little help from this forum.
Recently had a new 200A Eaton main breaker panel installed on our personal residence. This is the 20 / 42 panel. Probably a very common residential panel.
Problem, when cycling the breakers to off after tripping or simply shutting one down to work on a circuit, the breaker physically pops out of the dead front cover. Thumb pushes right to the off position, breaker cantilevers out of the buss bar.
At that crazy point one could simply push it back in or pull it all the way out.
Of course leaving a large enough hole creating an extreme hazard.
I was on the phone with Eaton tech for several hours several different times. My conclusion is the factory installed main 200A breaker is not sitting flat in its position. This causes the dead front to bulge, bulge enough to leave the breakers unsecured. I have a photo, but I’m new here and cannot figure out how to post it.

 
I think there's been a general consensus that the quality of residential load centers has gone down in the last several years. I frequently find that the breakers don't line up well with the punch outs in the dead front and you have to pry them into position to get them to come through the dead front and be held in place like they should. Another possibility is just that the dead front isn't installed correctly.
 
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