On Dec 1, 4:48*pm, "RogerT" wrote:
I had a problem in electric service panel in a home that I own. *One of the
breakers kept tripping. * When I checked it out, the breaker was basically
fried and when I took it out it looked like the breaker pictured in the link
below:http://www.terrylove.com/forums/show...rvice-Panel-Pr...

And, just like the description of the problem in the link, in my case the
other breaker that attached to the same hot lug(?) was also damaged. *I
replaced both breakers and moved both down to a new location where the hot
terminal of the bus bar wasn't damaged. *An electrician had to do the same
thing with another breaker in the past, and he had to move that one too
because hot lug to which that breaker was connected had melted.

This time, when looking at the whole panel, it appears that the breakers are
all old and there are some signs of rust or corrosion on the breaker screws
etc. *I am assuming they are just old and maybe there was dampness in the
basement and the humidity was starting to corrode things.

My initial plan is to replace all of the breakers with new ones, which I can
easily do.

But, my real question is whether it is possible or practical to just replace
the hot bus bar at the same time since the old one has heat damage at a few
places. *Unless this is something fairly easy to do, I would probably have
an electrician do it.

Assuming that the part is available, is replacing the hot bus bar a fairly
easy thing for an electrician to do? *If so, the reason that I would want to
have that done rather than get the whole panel replaced is that everything
else in the panel appears to be fine. *The main breaker had already been
replaced by an electrician in the past, so rather than having to have all of
the wiring removed and start over with a new panel, it seems like just
replacing the hot bus bar and circuit breakers would solve the problem and
save a whole lot on the cost and time involved in doing the fix.

The service panel is a 100-amp Challenge brand panel with probably 30
circuits. *I know Challenger is no longer in business and was bought by
Cutler-Hammer (now Easton Cutler-Hammer, I think). *And, I know that
Cutler-Hammer circuit breakers are the replacement for the existing
Challenger BR breakers that I have. *But, whether a replacement hot bus bar
part is available, I don't know.

So, again, my main question is: *Assuming that the part is available, is
replacing the hot bus bar a fairly easy thing for an electrician to do?

Not an answer to your exact question, but given all the above, I would
give serious consideration to simply replacing the whole panel and
being done with it, unless there is some reason why the enclosure
would be difficult to R&R. You could likely do it yourself if you are
reasonably handy; you may have to pull a permit for the work, and
schedule an outage with the power company. They'll just come and pull
the meter so you can work on it safely and then put the meter back in
after you pass your inspection. New 100A panel should be less than
$200 at supply house unless I am way out of touch.

I believe current opinion is that Square-D "QO" is the top of the line
residential panel, but if you are on a real limited budget you could
just use a new C-H panel and use the existing breakers from your old
panel that are still in good condition. (I wouldn't really recommend
that however based on the problems that you describe.)

good luck

nate