NickManville
New member
Is it safe to have 4 different breaker brands in a breaker box?
Mix Match Breakers
- Thread starter NickManville
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- Lockport, IL
- Occupation
- Semi-Retired Electrical Engineer
There is no easy and comprehensive answer. It all depends on what the manufacturer of the panel has to say on the subject. I would say that it is unlikely that a panel manufacturer will have listed the panel for use with that many different brands of breakers. But it is possible. So the best answer I can give, and I know it's not going to be as helpful as you could wish, is that it is a good thing to notice, and a good thing to investigate. It is one of those things that might be OK, and might not be OK, and only an electrician can tell for certain.
frizbeedog
Senior Member
- Location
- Oregon
Safe? Mabey.
But the breakers need to be listed for the panel that they are installed in.
But the breakers need to be listed for the panel that they are installed in.
Cavie
Senior Member
- Location
- SW Florida
Safe? probably! Code compliant? Not unless listed for the panel. I have seen it done for MANY,MANY, years.
mdshunk
Senior Member
- Location
- Right here.
Safe... I can't say that I've ever seen one that I thought was unsafe except for a QO jammed in a CH-CH panel. Of the typical 1" Westinghouse-patterned breakers, I've never observed any special hazards in the field related to the mixing and matching of brands. Compliant is another story all together. Some have been investigated for such use, and some have not.
ultramegabob
Senior Member
- Location
- Indiana
they are probley "safe" as long as they arnt "General Switch" brand....
BackInTheHabit
Senior Member
- Location
- Lexington, Kentucky
More useful comments on this topic:
http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=93718&highlight=Match+Breakers
http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=93718&highlight=Match+Breakers
ItsHot
Senior Member
- Location
- A little piece of heaven!
fpe
fpe
fpe
Don't forget the Federal Pacifics!ultramegabob said:
BackInTheHabit
Senior Member
- Location
- Lexington, Kentucky
ItsHot said:
Don't get me started on FPE's!
ultramegabob
Senior Member
- Location
- Indiana
ItsHot said:
I was working on a complete remodel for a grociery store that had several federal pacific panels, they probly had close to a million dollars wrapped up in the project, but they wanted to salvage those F.P. panels no matter how much I told them they would regret it. we had to monkey around with moving breakers around to find ones that would hold a load several times before we ever got finished with the project. Oh well, job security for service techs.....
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
A panel will never be listed for use with other manufacturers breakers. Breakers may be "classified" for use in panels made by other manufacturers.
K8MHZ
Senior Member
- Occupation
- Electrician
I will have to post a picture of the breaker I am about to describe. It's around here somewhere.
Here is the scenerio:
Customer calls after purchasing an older home in rural Michigan. Says he is having electrical problems and there is noise coming out of the main panel. We get there and find that when the range is turned on indeed, panel makes noise. I took the cover off the panel to investigate. 'That smell' permeated the panel. I figured I should turn off the 240 volt breaker to the range to see if the noise would stop. When I tried, half of the breaker came off in in my hand and the other half stayed in the panel and started arcing wildly. I then shut off the main and attempted to get the burnt pieces out, which I could not. Right below us in the basement was a 500 gallon fuel oil tank with about 300 gallons of fuel oil in it.
The breaker was not of the same make as the panel, and there were actually a mish mosh of brands in that panel.
That service upgrade was the easiest to sell of any as the owner was there watching when the breaker came out and started burning.
Here is the scenerio:
Customer calls after purchasing an older home in rural Michigan. Says he is having electrical problems and there is noise coming out of the main panel. We get there and find that when the range is turned on indeed, panel makes noise. I took the cover off the panel to investigate. 'That smell' permeated the panel. I figured I should turn off the 240 volt breaker to the range to see if the noise would stop. When I tried, half of the breaker came off in in my hand and the other half stayed in the panel and started arcing wildly. I then shut off the main and attempted to get the burnt pieces out, which I could not. Right below us in the basement was a 500 gallon fuel oil tank with about 300 gallons of fuel oil in it.
The breaker was not of the same make as the panel, and there were actually a mish mosh of brands in that panel.
That service upgrade was the easiest to sell of any as the owner was there watching when the breaker came out and started burning.
- Status