Coppersmith
Senior Member
- Location
- Tampa, FL, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
QO question - bolt vs plug
- Thread starter jaggedben
- Start date
- Status
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
We electricians have to get good deals on little things here and there, HVAC guys have it easier. Talked to one yesterday that I worked with on a past project and he and others that were there were talking about bidding high on projects they did not want to hopefully not get the job. He said he threw in enough extra on this one job he didn't want to cover a new fancy sports car for the wife, and still got the job. I can't seem to get away with that kind of thing, especially for residential or light commercial projects.This is the sneaky stuff one needs to learn to be successfulThanks
Coppersmith
Senior Member
- Location
- Tampa, FL, USA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
An EC I worked for did the same thing. From what I understand they did work for a bunch of schools. They were asked to bid one two hours away from home base. They bid it really high hoping they didn't win but got it any way. I spent several days sitting in the passenger seat of the truck two hours in each direction. This was before smart phones with internet, so really boring.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
This HVAC guy does schools, hotels, larger retail stores, etc, and travels to do a majority of those jobs. The somewhat local school that is a regular customer of mine is probably 150-200 miles away from his place of business. He put in all new heating/cooling in that school a year ago and was there yesterday doing some warranty stuff.
- Location
- Bremerton, Washington
- Occupation
- Master Electrician
I agree, you can see the reduced area on the horizontal bus for the plug on type.
ramsy
NoFixNoPay Electric
- Location
- LA basin, CA
- Occupation
- Service Electrician 2020 NEC
In my apprentice days, "Car pool dummy" was the name for this position.
If I understand the question right, its not only permissible, its the only way you can install the breakers in this panel.
Do panels look different across the pond?
jumper
Senior Member
- Location
- 3 Hr 2 Min from Winged Horses
Not sure what you mean by "top"? Are you referring to the fact that one side opposes the other in regard to the handle being open or closed?
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Supply in the OP is from the bottom, but that series of panel and most of them anymore for US market can be top or bottom fed.
jeremysterling
Senior Member
- Location
- Austin, TX
When I hear someone say Square D bolt-in are for commercial and stab-in are for resi, I like to point out I've seen a lot of Square D I-Line (stab-in) panels in commercial applications.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Just a slight difference between the jaws of a QO breaker and an I-Line breaker
I have seen I line breaker to bus connection fail before, like anything else age gets it one way or another. One I am thinking of was probably at least 40-45 years old when it failed, probably didn't owe the owner anything anymore.
- Status