General brand- breaker

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ItsHot said:
I just come off a trouble call. I found a bad gfci breaker. It is a General Switch brand. Anyone know what other brands will substitute in this application? Thanks!!
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What is the panel brand? Is there a list of approved breaker types?
 
ItsHot said:
General Switch.
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General Switch is long gone, and I have no clue if there is a listed replacement. I think GS was just Bryant or Westinghouse stuff in disguise. The breakers had the same multi-colored handles as Bryant did. At any rate, I think a Cutler Hammer BR is your best bet for a replacement.
 
peter d said:
I think GS was just Bryant or Westinghouse stuff in disguise.

I think a Cutler Hammer BR is your best bet for a replacement.
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If the first line is accurate, so is the second. :smile:
 
LarryFine said:
If the first line is accurate, so is the second. :smile:
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I actually "googled" General Switch, and found a breaker site that sells them. Well, low and behold, what kind of breaker are they selling for the General Switch replacement? A Cutler Hammer BR. :)
 
was that snap-in or bolt-in breaker?i have a older house and have a general switch load center in it.the sticker says replacement breakers are:general switch,bryant,ge,gould,murray and west.i know half of those listed are as old of names as the general switch.
 
zdog said:
was that snap-in or bolt-in breaker?i have a older house and have a general switch load center in it.the sticker says replacement breakers are:general switch,bryant,ge,gould,murray and west.i know half of those listed are as old of names as the general switch.
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Well, with that information in hand, I guess you could use all of them listed.

Bryant, Westinghouse, and Gould are all gone, but if you had old breakers of those makes lying around, you could use them. I keep breakers around like that for just this purpose.
 
peter d said:
The breakers had the same multi-colored handles as Bryant did.
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Speaking of whcih, aren't colored breaker handles the same colors as fuses of the same rating?

For instance, blue = 15a, red = 20a, green = 30a, etc.
 
LarryFine said:
Speaking of whcih, aren't colored breaker handles the same colors as fuses of the same rating?

For instance, blue = 15a, red = 20a, green = 30a, etc.
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Good point, I never noticed that before.

Now can you name how they colored 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100? ;)
 
Speaking of colored breakers, how about a certain vintage of FPE's where the whole case of the breaker was a rainbow of mixed plastic specks. The psychedelic breaker, so it would seem.
 
The 100 was black, the 90 was pink(!!) and the 60 is orange. The 40 and 70 I don't remember.

I know the two pole versions of the 15, 20 an 30 were the same color as the single pole, obviously.
 
What was really wild were the tandem 2-poles!

The inside two tandems would be one color, and the outside two were another color.
 
peter d said:
The 100 was black, the 90 was pink(!!) and the 60 is orange. The 40 and 70 I don't remember.
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I do know one of them was yellow - I think it was the 70a.

I can check my stock tomorrow. I have about 100 "pre-owned" breakers.
 
mdshunk said:
Speaking of colored breakers, how about a certain vintage of FPE's where the whole case of the breaker was a rainbow of mixed plastic specks. The psychedelic breaker, so it would seem.
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ive seen that a few times. must of came out in the 60's
 
80 was orange - I have one in the basement I think?

And Zinzco also used those same colors for handles for quite a few. And they too also had a period of time where they used colored speckles or flakes in white or gray bake-lite cases.
 
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