John Beckman wrote:
"BobK207" wrote in message
...
On Oct 29, 6:18 pm, "John Beckman" wrote:
Greetings,
I was looking at a 1955 bungalow with what is probably an updated
electrical
panel. However, there was no typical "main breaker" at the top, there
were
just two rows of breakers on each side. the stove and water heater had
the
typical tied breakers that would indicate that it is a 240 volt breaker.
However, at the top left side of the panel there were three 100 amp
breakers, side by side with their handles tied together. If it was just
two
tied together, I'd just say OK 100 amp service and these are the mains,
BUT
there were three of them. What gives, I'm thinking of buying the place
and
want to know what kind of elec service it has. Unfortunately I did not
remove the panel cover, and I don't know the brand. Suggestions?
Speculation

John

John-

In order to be sure....You have to pull (or have someone pull) the
cover panel so you can see how its wired.

I'm thinking that someone got a "free" 3 phase panel from work (or a
friend) and installed it in a residential application.

I'll bet that:

That only two poles of that three pole breaker are wired & that the
installer jumpered two of the three phase buses together......such
that 120V is available at every slot, but 240V is only available at
certain pairings.

If it's a fairly recent Square D panel, I'd bet that the three phase
bus arrangement can be changed out for a "normal" bus, they're pretty
modular & can be slid in & out.

After getting a look inside the panel, I wouldn't consider this a deal
breaker but you could always ask for a discount to panel for a panel
rewire.



cheers
Bob

Bob,
We have a winner. I got back out to the house today and took a closer look.
The overhead from the power pole had two insulated conductors and the bare
ground wire. I took the cover off of the breaker box and the two hots were
hooked up to the top two of the triple 100 amp breakers. The third breaker
had a jumper from the second 100 amp breaker. So it looks like I have a
three phase box rigged to give me standard residential service. Like you
said, not a deal breaker but since I'll be upgrading from propane to a heat
pump, I'll upgrade the electric service then.

Thanks all
John


Were the breakers jumpered on the line side or the load side? I hope
load. Should be fairly easy and not too inexpensive to just buy a
proper new box and swap it out (even without upgrading service.)

That does of course prompt the question - if the last guy was too cheap
to pop a buck fifty for an appropriate breaker box and/or didn't know
that his trash find was wrong, what else in there ain't right? Not
saying you can't find a nice place with something like this going on,
but just take a critical look at other "improvements."

nate

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