Jamming a Tandem Circuit Breaker into a Non Tandem Accepting Panel - Experts; What are the Dangers ?

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Kevin-B

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Location
Minneapolis
Occupation
Retired
My friend just had Solar Panels put on his roof. He was away from the home when the work was done. When the Workers got to his Electrical Panel they needed four Spaces for the Solar Panels and a Panel Surge Protector. My friends Solar Panel was full, so they Combined 8 circuits into 4 Tandem circuit Breakers. The only problem was that my friends Electrical Panel did not Accept tandem Breakers. So, they crudely hacked out the bottom of the 4 breakers, so they would fit into the panel. We discovered this when a Circuit breaker tripped when we got home. It would reset, for a day then trip again. So, we were going to replace it, when we found out about their very crude Modifications. What are the Dangers of leaving the circuit breakers as they installed them? I would attach pictures, but this forum does not allow Pics, unless they are hosted elsewhere. Thanks for all comments. Especially the alarming ones !:eek:
 
We are allowing this thread for answering the OP's question. Please stay away from offering "How To" fix suggestions.
 
They could fail.

When they fail, they could burn your house down.

When the insurance company does an investigation, they would find the hack job and try to go after the contractor. (If they're even a licensed contractor? You called them "Workers".)

If they are licensed, there's a good chance they minimal to no liability coverage, they might just go under rather than pay your claim.

Was there an AHJ inspection?
 
Call them back to fix it.

File a complaint with the contractor's licensing board.

Ask the City for re-inspection or follow up inspection. Sometimes cities will cancel the business licenses of contractors that fail to rectify safety issues they created.

Leave negative reviews on all platforms.

Call your local newspaper.

Hire someone to fix it. File a small claims against the original contractor for the amount it took to fix it. Usually in the solar agreement there is language about the plans and building things to code or similar.
 
Kevin-B said:
My friend just had Solar Panels put on his roof. He was away from the home when the work was done. When the Workers got to his Electrical Panel they needed four Spaces for the Solar Panels and a Panel Surge Protector. My friends Solar Panel was full, so they Combined 8 circuits into 4 Tandem circuit Breakers. The only problem was that my friends Electrical Panel did not Accept tandem Breakers. So, they crudely hacked out the bottom of the 4 breakers, so they would fit into the panel. We discovered this when a Circuit breaker tripped when we got home. It would reset, for a day then trip again. So, we were going to replace it, when we found out about their very crude Modifications. What are the Dangers of leaving the circuit breakers as they installed them? I would attach pictures, but this forum does not allow Pics, unless they are hosted elsewhere. Thanks for all comments. Especially the alarming ones !:eek:
Click to expand...
Pictures don’t have to be hosted elsewhere, just click “attach files”, select medium size or less on picture size, but you won’t need to, most on this forum already know what they done.
 
O.P. Here - I think we know how to get this fixed..... We will end up replacing our Sub Panel with one that takes Tandem Breakers.

What I was really after in this thread was the Details about this 'Flaky Installation'. Such as is this 'Code'? - Is this Legal ? - Is it Dangerous? Would it pass Inspection? The Installer is at fault, as my friend just hired a Solar Panel Installer and they installed this 'Kluge' of an Install.

So now, he looking at getting a Licensed Electrician out at his house now to give us the answers to our questions. Then he will contact the installer and see if he will 'make it right'. If not his next stop is an Attorney. ---- So, that is all I was looking for.
 
That's pretty bad. It's going to overheat the panel bus and anything that has a thermal connection to the bus. Anything high resistance like that loose connection is what housefires are made of
 
If done with care, I honestly dont see what the issue is. Im not saying i would do that as a professional, but if its the type that is just a little piece of plastic on the breaker as the rejection feature, I dont see what issues chipping it out would cause as long as you dont mess up the stabs.
 
electrofelon said:
If done with care, I honestly dont see what the issue is. Im not saying i would do that as a professional, but if its the type that is just a little piece of plastic on the breaker as the rejection feature, I dont see what issues chipping it out would cause as long as you dont mess up the stabs.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but if he already has a tripping problem, chances are they messed up the stabs
 
I like how they say burn the house down and the entire town is going to blow up and release radiation —- common—

It’s wrong- but those breakers are self contained in an enclosure for a reason…
If it catches the house on fire than the panel enclosure was faulty to begin with—- this is no different than a burnt buss situation—-

Just get non rejection clips breakers a make sure the opposite side has no large load on those tabs and your going to be fine-
Only issue is that panel does not take tandoms —- but jets are not going to drop out of the sky by this
 
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