Was reviewing electrical service to townhouses and there was a three phase feed to each meter-module section and then a single phase service to the individual townhouses but the circuit breaker for the townhouses were what appeared to be a 4-pole breaker, can anyone explain? thank you.
ever seen this before?
- Thread starter bwyllie
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- Massachusetts
Where they 200 amp breakers?
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
iwire said:
Not only that, but were they GE 200a breakers?
BBechtel
Member
- Location
- Dallas, Texas
LarryFine said:
I have seen those quite a bit down here in Dallas.
Residential panels with a 4 pole 200amp main in them.
ramdiesel3500
Senior Member
- Location
- Bloomington IN
I guess GE decided that (2) 100a breakers is cheaper than (1) 200A, so they paralleled (2) 100's and pushed it through the UL listing system! We install tons of them here in Indiana!
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
From what I've been told, the GE 200a 4-section main is a 2-pole breaker with a pair of contact-only cases paralleled for the purpose of lowering contact resistance. Only the two inner sections actually respond to over-current and faults.
jjs
Member
- Location
- Puryear, TN, USA
I believe I have seen Siemens CB's like that as well.
77401
Banned
ramdiesel3500 said:
A couple of years ago I had to replace one of these in a restaurant then a few weeks later I found the same breaker in a 200 amp contractor pack @ H Depot for 30 dollars less than the breaker alone.
Last edited:
necnotevenclose
Senior Member
bwyllie said:
Seems like this design was a sort of bang for your buck. If you are able to provide a three phase service rather than a single phase transfomer than you could get a larger sized commercial transformer to accomodate a and then alternate your single phase loads across the phases. This is done alot for residential units especially when they are over 600A and since there tends to be typical floor plans with similar power requirements the load is pretty much balanced.
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