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Are Seimens breakers rated to be installed in Gould panels?
Yes. If you find the right person at a Siemens supplier who knows who to ask, Siemens has a pre-printed form letter stating that Siemens, ITE / Goulds and Murray are all the same and that breakers are 100% interchangeable, in case you get an AHJ who does not already know this.
I used to be the guy at Siemens who provided that letter, so yes, I have not only seen it, but delivered it countless times. The letter is something like 20 years old now, they just keep using the same one. The side problem is, Siemens cycles through people like you know what through a goose now, so all of us old-timers who knew where things like this were have been replaced by Gen-X half-price video gamerz who couldn't research their way out of a paper bag, so they spew out answers that they hope will just make you quit bothering them and/or buy more stuff so they can keep their job for another month.Have you actually seen an official letter from Siemens stating your can use Siemens and Murray Breakers interchangeably? We all know they are the exact same breaker but have different stickers. Anytime I have asked Siemens rep's they tell me I have to use Siemens breakers in Siemens panels and Murray breakers in Murray panels.
If they intended them to be used interchangeably why don't they list both part numbers (MP & Q)on the breakers? Westinghouse used to do the same thing with their Westinghouse (Bryant) line and the Challenger line. Exact same breaker but could not be used interchangeably. When CH purchased the Westinghouse group they changed this by printing both part numbers (BR & C) on all the breakers.
I used to be the guy at Siemens who provided that letter, so yes, I have not only seen it, but delivered it countless times. The letter is something like 20 years old now, they just keep using the same one. The side problem is, Siemens cycles through people like you know what through a goose now, so all of us old-timers who knew where things like this were have been replaced by Gen-X half-price video gamerz who couldn't research their way out of a paper bag, so they spew out answers that they hope will just make you quit bothering them and/or buy more stuff so they can keep their job for another month.
Not that I'm still holding a grudge 5 years later...
Simply because there are two completely separate distribution chains for Siemens and Murray product lines, going all the way back to when they were separate companies. When Siemens bought Murray oh so many years ago, they were eliminating a competitor and as such had to go through FTC and SEC negotiations regarding anti-monopoly measures. In that process, they had to commit to maintaining both brand names as separate companies with separate marketing and (most importantly) independent sales forces and pricing structures, for a number of years (decades). I don't know the duration, but as of 2008 when I left, it was still in force.Thanks for the info. Do you have any idea why Siemens doesn't just list both number on all the breakers? If they are willing say the breakers are interchangeable I don't see why they wouldn't list mark them as such. The other thing they could do is mark the loadcenters label for both Q and MP breakers. ...
Would you be able to point me on the right direction on how to find such letter?Yes. If you find the right person at a Siemens supplier who knows who to ask, Siemens has a pre-printed form letter stating that Siemens, ITE / Goulds and Murray are all the same and that breakers are 100% interchangeable, in case you get an AHJ who does not already know this.
That looks like the updated version of the letter I used to use, maybe because apparently Siemens is dropping the entire Murray product name now (the time period must have expired). I do notice though that it no longer mentions Gould. Maybe they figure that most Gould panels have been replaced by now.Could this be it?