Eaton PRL2A 120/208 breaker question

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Tennvolsman79

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Chattanooga, TN, USA
I'm doing a new restaurant/bar and am having trouble finding the correct breakers for an existing panel. It is a Eaton PRL2A. 120/208v. The panel is full of ghq1020 breakers (quicklag) bolt on. I need to install some 1p gfci breakers 15a and 20a. Also one shunt trip 15a 1p. And some 3 pole breakers various amperes. I've seen PRL2A panelboards being used for 277/480 but first time on 120/208. According to the sticker I can use ghb, gb, ghbs, ghq, ghbgfed, hghb, gq, and ghrrs breaker types. The gfci breakers I found are ghbgfed1020 and 1015 but are these going to work for 120 volt circuits? And is the ghb 3 pole breakers going to be fine for 208v? Does anyone have any insight or experience with installing the said breakers in PRL2A to operate 120/208? If this were a prl1a panelboard it seems simple to find what I need.. but any help is appreciated.
 
Unless you are looking at a breaker containing line powered electronics, such as typical GFCI and AFCI breakers, there is no reason not to use a breaker at a voltage lower than its rating.
That principle does bottom out when you get to the millivolt or several volt logic voltage levels seen in some control circuits, but any power voltage should be just fine.
 
Sometimes 277 volt breakers are used for 120 volt loads because they have a higher AIC rating. We use GE type TEY breakers for 120 volt loads because they're rated at 14 KA@277 or 65 KA@120.
 
I had a project to install washdown outlets at my work. Same panel board. Cheapest option was to mount blankface GFI's mounted in a regular jbox beside the panel, then
conduit up to the washdown area with rated receptacles. This was because I could not find any cheap GFI breakers for those panels. They don't make them or if someone
does they are hard to find. If money isn't a problem then use the higher voltage rated breakers they will work fine.
 
Aleman said:
I had a project to install washdown outlets at my work. Same panel board. Cheapest option was to mount blankface GFI's mounted in a regular jbox beside the panel, then
conduit up to the washdown area with rated receptacles. This was because I could not find any cheap GFI breakers for those panels. They don't make them or if someone
does they are hard to find. If money isn't a problem then use the higher voltage rated breakers they will work fine.
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If I understand correctly, this is a 277/480 volt rated panel. Not many, if any of those have a GFCI breaker, For most part there has been little or no requirements to GFCI protect anything operating at 277 or 480 volts, but that may be coming.
 
I like the idea of the blank faced GFCI' s, if I can talk them into it. They don't make a single pole shunt trip for this panel type, so will have to check if it's legal to use a 3 pole as a single? I'm assuming, as stated by infinity, this panel was in fact installed for the higher AIC rating which makes sense. They do make GFCI breakers but are extremely expensive and they take up two poles instead of one. Just like a single pole shunt would. Thanks for the insight.
 
Tennvolsman79 said:
They don't make a single pole shunt trip for this panel type, so will have to check if it's legal to use a 3 pole as a single?
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There is no code rule prohibiting that.

They do make GFCI breakers but are extremely expensive
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Are you sure they are GFCI and not GFP?

GFP breakers are often used in 480Y/277 panels but I do not believe there is a 480 or 277 volt GFCI available at this time.
 
iwire said:
There is no code rule prohibiting that.



Are you sure they are GFCI and not GFP?

GFP breakers are often used in 480Y/277 panels but I do not believe there is a 480 or 277 volt GFCI available at this time.
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They also should need a neutral conductor landed on them and likely the control board wants to see 277 volts instead of 120 volts.
 
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