Thomas and Betts compatibility

Status
Not open for further replies.
Stevenfyeager said:
Haven't found a source yet, Menards, Ace,... My supply house is searching for me but....
Click to expand...
Just curious, how many do you need and what current ratings?
If you haven't tried already, you could ask your local Menards to order them, or get them from their other stores that have them in stock.
 
Here is one source for T&B breakers. Mail order.

www.electrical.com

Circuit Breakers

Circuit Breakers - Molded Case, Insulated Case, Vacuum, Air and Parts. Eaton, Square D, General Electric, Siemens, Schneider. Buy circuit breakers from the #1 source for electrical equipment.
www.electrical.com
 
NTesla76 said:
That's a good PDF. So Eaton makes theses breakers which are classified replacements for use in other manufacturers panels. But, for example, would SQ D allow the use in their panel?
Click to expand...
Per SQ D, no but the Eaton product is UL classified for HOM, they are of the opinion that only SD Q be used in SQ D panels, which is a reason the you do not see SQ D UL classified breakers. If the listed OEM product is available then that is in my what I think should be used, but where there are not any new listed breakers made for obsolete brands, (Zinsco, FPE, & so on,) the classified product fills the need.
 
NTesla76 said:
That's a good PDF. So Eaton makes theses breakers which are classified replacements for use in other manufacturers panels. But, for example, would SQ D allow the use in their panel?
Click to expand...
Technically, NO manufacturer of PANELS lists their panels with anything OTHER than their own breakers*. Why would they? Breakers and panels have to be tested together and testing is very expensive, but there is zero incentive for them to pay to test their panels with another brand of breaker. Most panels are sold for NEW construction, not retrofits to existing. So you buy the panel and the breakers for it at the same time. If you are the panel mfr, you will not sell more panels just because it is listed with a competitive breaker.

For the Classified breakers however, there IS a market for retrofits, as evidenced by this thread (and many many others). So for the classified breaker manufacturer, they have to buy ONE of each panel they want their breakers listed in and pay to test it with ALL of their classified breakers of that design. It's a much lower cost testing program and stands to have a decent return on that investment. In the case of the T&B panels and breakers, Eaton now owns the rights to both the panels and breakers, so it was a no-brainer for them.

* In days gone by, there was a concept of "universal" breakers that fit in many different panels (Bryant / Westinghouse, Crouse-Hinds / Murray / ITE / Siemens and Sylvania, then later some Challenger) and some panel mfrs listed these competitive products on the panel labels. Sylvania panels comes to mind because I recently saw one that listed Bryant as acceptable replacements. UL changed the rules on that decades ago and came up with the "classified" breaker listing system. One of the reasons was that people kept taking GE THQP breakers and ASS-U-MEd that they fit because they were close, but it required forcing them in and that would actually crack the case. This led to some fires and lawsuits, forcing UL to make the rules a lot more clear.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top