Zinsco breakers

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Vertex

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Zinsco 2-pole breakers and tandem breakers come factory assembled with opposing stab sockets. Naturally this arrangement would balance the load on each bus.

Was it common practice for electricians to reposition the stab sockets in some of the 1-pole full size breakers to balance the load on each bus? I've never heard talk of this practice but it seems like it would have been the right thing to do.
 
vinster888 said:
two words 'panel change' if it says fpe or zinsco then the no blo must go! :smile:
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i agree, most every contractor i have ever worked for feels the same way, except the current one. they have a huge reserve of zinsco, fpe, and many other obsolete breakers, bussbars, dead fronts, etc... they dont want me to sell service upgrades?????

why???

it is much more cost effective for the customer to just r&r the existing.

what about when the system fails and the place burns down, or just the panel needs to be replace, and it is more to do it now than if we had done it 6 months earlier!
 
Vertex said:
Zinsco 2-pole breakers and tandem breakers come factory assembled with opposing stab sockets. Naturally this arrangement would balance the load on each bus.

Was it common practice for electricians to reposition the stab sockets in some of the 1-pole full size breakers to balance the load on each bus? I've never heard talk of this practice but it seems like it would have been the right thing to do.
Click to expand...

I have seen where the stabs were repositioned, most likely to balance the panel , but it didn't seem like it was a common practice, as most of the single pole Zinco breakers I have installed back when they were still available as new came with all the stabs on the same pole, we would reposition the stabs to make sure the MWBC were on the opposite legs, I'm sure there are some in here that remember the old Square D panels that had the round buss bars in them, they were like this also, and in three phase panels you could reposition the stabs on the single pole breakers to avoid the high leg in a 4-wire delta without missing a breaker space. of course the SD panels were a little before my time but I had to work on many of them :D
 
My question is not about safety or cost of Zinsco. I am curious about historical practices.

For what it's worth, I think Zinsco and and FPE are junk too. I sometimes suggest upgrades to customers but I don't do it like a used car salesman. Pushy salesmen really annoy me.
 
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