zinsco panel replacement

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sd4524

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I am replacing a panel next week that is a zinsco brand panel. It is fed underground and mounted flush in stucco. The utility entrance is in the center of the panel and all newer panels (all in one) are on the left hand side. I was looking for ideas because I believe the conduit is ridgid. Does anybody know of a modern all in one panel, underground feed in the center?
 
I am replacing a panel next week that is a zinsco brand panel. It is fed underground and mounted flush in stucco. The utility entrance is in the center of the panel and all newer panels (all in one) are on the left hand side. I was looking for ideas because I believe the conduit is ridgid. Does anybody know of a modern all in one panel, underground feed in the center?

it's a common problem with zinsco (prince of darkness) residential panels.

one solution, that may or may not work for you is to strip the center barrier out of
the new panel, cut it neatly, and have someone fabricate a little offset and weld
it onto the existing barrier out of sheet metal, so that it clears the center
entrance point. there is usually a rib on the edge of the barrier, so a jigsaw and
some trimming, and a neat little metal piece made up and painted will usually
suffice.

another solution is to use 6x6 gutters like this.

the surround is 304 stainless, with bitchathane for the vapor barrier behind
the stainless, and siliconed to the stucco, with silicone to seal around the opening
for the panel and gutters.

and no, there is no commercially available panel like what you are seeking.
at least, not according to my wholesale house inside salesman, and he's
seen most everything, twice.


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That is a slick looking setup you have there. do those gutters come with a flange? I'm going to check with power company to see if they will allow a gutter or j-box before the meter panel. Something tells me I'm going to be cutting studs and patchnng stucco next week.
 
That is a slick looking setup you have there. do those gutters come with a flange? I'm going to check with power company to see if they will allow a gutter or j-box before the meter panel. Something tells me I'm going to be cutting studs and patchnng stucco next week.

no, it's just a nema raintight gutter... they have screws drilled for utility seals,
and no KO's...what i used was a couple 2" grc couplings with close nipples
to space it... the nipple on the side i don't want open, i dropped a push penny
in it to blank it off.... then i took the existing riser that had a hub rusted solidly
on it, and pulled a 2" hole for the hub to hook to, and bolted it up.... the existing
riser could be scooched up, and reused

the one on the bottom, i had a bunch of wires come up short, so rather than
fill up the panel with splices, i put them all in a gutter on the bottom.

it's a bit overkill, but you can prefab it, and it speeds up the changover....
that way, you can prefab the stainless flange to fit perfectly and buff it out....
i've got a stainless kitchen fabricator near me who makes em up in an hour
for $100 out of scrap.
 
You can open more stucco, cut the existing conduit lower and use PVC to offset to the new KO of the new panel.
Some poco do not allow a junction box unless it is sealable. check with your poco.
 
I did one not to long ago. I had a 3.75" offset made in EMT. Went from the underground rigid to a threaded coupling to a compression connector to my 2" EMT.

I had to cut the existing 2" rigid down so I slid a piece of 1 1/2" rigid in the 2" rigid and then saw sawed to the length I wanted. The 1 1/2 " rigid protected my wires within the pipe.

I have a picture but can't figure out how to attach via my iPhone
 
So here is what I ended up doing. 1.5" ridgid connector was already on the end of pipe so I went coupling, offset connector, coupling, offset connector. Had to punch a hole in the panel as close as I could on the poco side of the panel. I meant to take more pictures but forgot to. The old zinsco panel was 30" tall and the new square D panel is like 25" tall so the extra few inches were needed for all the wires that come into top of the panel. Thanks to the guys who put this in 30 years ago for putting a little loop on the poco wires.
The ridgid conduit is not a complete raceway. It is just a sleave that goes underground a few feet to protect the direct burial copper feeder.


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