Old Loadcenter

J

JDM1457

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Location
South Dakota
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Retired Electrical Contractor
What is the purpose of the square piece of bakelight screwed to the right side bus of an approx. 50 year old GE 42 circuit residential load center? Other than preventing the installation of a 1pole CB? I have never seen this before.
 
JDM1457 said:
What is the purpose of the square piece of bakelight screwed to the right side bus of an approx. 50 year old GE 42 circuit residential load center? Other than preventing the installation of a 1pole CB? I have never seen this before.
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Possibly a way to keep from installing tandem breakers? If they were even available in GE 50!years ago.
 
Does it only cover the upper right two slots? On some GE panels if you use a backfeed breaker as the main it installs in the top left two slots and the hold down clamp is a piece of plastic that mounts in the upper right two slots. Could it be that? I'm not sure if that's true for 50 year old panels.
 
robertd said:
Does it only cover the upper right two slots? On some GE panels if you use a backfeed breaker as the main it installs in the top left two slots and the hold down clamp is a piece of plastic that mounts in the upper right two slots. Could it be that? I'm not sure if that's true for 50 year old panels.
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no, it it only on one 1 pole space about half way down on the right side.
 

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It’s clearly put there to prevent the installation of a 1pole CB, but for what purpose? And there is no indication on the panel diagram on the cover that shows this piece.it shows all 40 spaces as available.just curious as I have been doingthis a long time and I’ve never seen this before.
 
nizak said:
Possibly a way to keep from installing tandem breakers? If they were even available in GE 50!years ago.
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GE doesn't have tandems. They do have the 1/2 width breakers the bus design is the rejection feature, if a slot wasn't intended to accept one those breakers it won't have the tabs to match up to the breaker connection jaws. There were no non CTL breakers to cheat with in this series.
 
kwired said:
GE doesn't have tandems. They do have the 1/2 width breakers the bus design is the rejection feature, if a slot wasn't intended to accept one those breakers it won't have the tabs to match up to the breaker connection jaws. There were no non CTL breakers to cheat with in this series.
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I know what you mean and this is not that. This was actually screwed on the buss. the screw appears to be 10-24 thread.
 

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My GE catalogs only go back to 1995. This item is not shown as a load center or breaker accessory, at that time. None of the loadcenter wiring diagrams show any skipped spaces.
 
jim dungar said:
My GE catalogs only go back to 1995. This item is not shown as a load center or breaker accessory, at that time. None of the loadcenter wiring diagrams show any skipped spaces.
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I know, weird huh? I was in the business for 49 years beginning in 1974, and this is a first. Thanks for looking...
 
kwired said:
GE doesn't have tandems. They do have the 1/2 width breakers the bus design is the rejection feature, if a slot wasn't intended to accept one those breakers it won't have the tabs to match up to the breaker connection jaws. There were no non CTL breakers to cheat with in this series.
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I got a notice from ABB, document
"1TQC143200E0001 REV.A September 2023"
Announcing a dozen type THQLQ breakers with:
  • Compatibility with new and existing single phase
    ABB & GE by ABB PowerMark™ load centers & Meter
    Socket Load Centers made over the last 50+ years
  • Flexible to work in all PowerMark™ Gold Load Center
    mounting positions, no THQP 1/2” breaker wing
    stabs required

Which at first reading would seem to say that the CTL non-CTL adventure has ended for ABB/GE, but maybe you read it differently.
Or maybe it relates to those "breaker wing stab"

I hope CTL restrictions are being swept away. Limiting number breakers was always a poor proxy for preventing panel overloads,
and that can't substitute for a proper load survey or calc.
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Update Jimeney Xmass: ABB put the wrong control number on the PDF. The correct one appears to be 1TQC113200E0001
 
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