Old murray panel deadfronts

[TwoLeftHands]

I have a really stupid question. I do commercial and industrial work with modern gear so I don't see this much but we've got a couple older buildings now.

I have a 45 year old 1970 Murray meter/main box. I need to look inside the main box but the deadfront seems very loose and flimsy to me - like it could fall inward. I can't grab it enough to pull it outward. Is this normal? Or am I stupid and they just swing open from the bottom? I've always worked with screw-on deadfronts but so I'm confused and I don't want to pull the meter off unless I have to and have everything I need planned so the downtime is minimal. I figured someone here who works on houses would know.

 

[ActionDave]

Welcome to forum.

What you describe sounds pretty normal. There is usually some small metal tits or slot that holds the top of the dead front it so you grab at the bottom and pull out and down. I can't promise you nothing will happen if you do this with the panel energized. I can tell you its been done before, a lot. De-energize the panel if you have any doubts.

 

[kwired]

Maybe zip a self tapping screw into the deadfront to use as a handle - or better yet a magnet.

There usually isn't much problem and this is how many NEMA 3R "loadcenters" are designed, but there is still that occasional one where the top of that deadfront can fall into live components if not careful.