Frank Adams Equipment and Zinsco

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good@math

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Hello all,

I am doing an electrical study for a hospital and they have a lot of Frank Adams and Zinsco equipment. These are no longer made and the owner wants approximate ages for all the equipment. I have catalog numbers and such but what I need to know is if there is anyone out there that knows if I can get dates from these!
Does anyone know about this equipment?
 
good@math said:
Hello all,

I am doing an electrical study for a hospital and they have a lot of Frank Adams and Zinsco equipment. These are no longer made and the owner wants approximate ages for all the equipment. I have catalog numbers and such but what I need to know is if there is anyone out there that knows if I can get dates from these!
Does anyone know about this equipment?
Click to expand...

The only Frank Adams panel I ever saw was from a house whose electrical service was approved in 1939. It was designed by a famous architect and the electrical was probably considered state of the art at the time. I gather from google that their heyday was in the 40s. I don't know when they stopped production, but I showed my pictures to an electrician who started working in the late 60s and he couldn't recall ever seeing one. (Although, of course, he might not remember anything from the 60s! :lol:)

Zinsco is likely from the late 60s or 70s, although the company apparently went back to the 30s. If it says Zinsco, and not Sylvania or GTE, then it's from before Zinsco was sold in 1973.

Kind of scary for a hospital to never have updated this stuff.
 
I think Frank Adams was still in business in the late 70's.
I recall they bought panel guts and breakers, like Westinghouse, and then built the back boxes and covers.
 
jim dungar said:
I think Frank Adams was still in business in the late 70's.
I recall they bought panel guts and breakers, like Westinghouse, and then built the back boxes and covers.
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If you look here you can find a thumbnail history. Zinsco was an off-shoot of Frank Adam which was formed in 1891. Just after the Crash of '29, Emile Zinsmeyer bought the West Coast stock of Frank Adam and formed Zinsmeyer Co. Emile's son, Martin, renamed the company to Zinsco in 1943. In 1973 the company was sold to GTE Sylvania.
 
gadfly56 said:
Zinsco was an off-shoot of Frank Adam which was formed in 1891.
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According to the above reference, Zinsco and Franks Adams existed at the same time. Zinsco was created from the West Coast operations of Frank Adams, which was based in St. Louis MO
 
The only ones I ever saw were in a Bell System facility that was built in the late 60's.
On second thought, those may have been Gus Berthold panels.
In any case, as I recall the bare bus bars were so close to the panel cover, it looked like if you pushed hard on the cover you could cause it to touch the bus.
 
I own a 4plex apartment, which I believe was built in 1979-1980, and all the panels were Zinsco (when I bought it. Mostly changed out now!). I don't know who sold them locally, but from what I have heard, they were used a lot here.
 
good@math said:
Hello all,

I am doing an electrical study for a hospital and they have a lot of Frank Adams and Zinsco equipment. These are no longer made and the owner wants approximate ages for all the equipment. I have catalog numbers and such but what I need to know is if there is anyone out there that knows if I can get dates from these!
Does anyone know about this equipment?
Click to expand...

If you post pictures and catalog numbers it's possible someone will be along who can help, or that someone will come along and be able to refer you to someone who can help. It costs only your time. Pictures of nameplates are invaluable.
 
Barbqranch said:
I own a 4plex apartment, which I believe was built in 1979-1980, and all the panels were Zinsco (when I bought it. Mostly changed out now!). I don't know who sold them locally, but from what I have heard, they were used a lot here.
Click to expand...

Zinsco / Sylvania was beloved by electrical contractors who did multi-family dwellings in CA, as was Zinsco bolt-on in 1960's nursing homes. The cheap stuff is not so cheap anymore. The Zinsco name was being phased out around 1975 in favor of GTE Sylvania, which was sold in the early 1980's to become Challenger.


http://www.mikeholt.com/newsletters.php?action=display&letterID=298
 
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good@math said:
Hello all,

I am doing an electrical study for a hospital and they have a lot of Frank Adams and Zinsco equipment. These are no longer made and the owner wants approximate ages for all the equipment. I have catalog numbers and such but what I need to know is if there is anyone out there that knows if I can get dates from these!
Does anyone know about this equipment?
Click to expand...
both of these panels were popular in Michigan into the eighties, with the frank adams panel used more in commercial settings. the adams panels will accept ite bkrs but you would have a listing problem. the frank adams breakers were not listed for 75 degree wire. its up to the AHJ as to what they will accept. a retrofit kit for the can might be your best way out
 
mtfallsmikey said:
Never saw a Frank adams panel, were they not sold in the Mid-Atlantic region? Zinsco is another story.
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I have seen more Frank Adams panels then I have seen Zinsco in this area. I would guess most of them (FA) were installed not much later then about 1955. Whenever the QO breaker came out (which was sometime close to then) they seem to be more dominant as original installs around here.

good@math said:
Hello all,

I am doing an electrical study for a hospital and they have a lot of Frank Adams and Zinsco equipment. These are no longer made and the owner wants approximate ages for all the equipment. I have catalog numbers and such but what I need to know is if there is anyone out there that knows if I can get dates from these!
Does anyone know about this equipment?
Click to expand...
Start by asking owner how old the building is, there is a good chance they were original to the building.
 
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