On Mar 21, 1:37*pm, bud-- wrote:
On 3/21/2012 7:22 AM, wrote:





Watching Holmes do his thing on TV, I've noticed that most
of the electric service panels are installed horizontally instead
of vertically. *Must be some Canada thing? *What's up with
that? *It looks nuts to me.

And on a recent episode where he had to fix a bay window,
he wound up tearing out what appeared to me to be a
perfectly fine electric panel. *It was installed vertically. *He
bitched about some of the wires that went to the breakers
entering the panel from the top and said that was not allowed,
that only the mains could enter from the top.
Mine enter from the top and I've seen new construction here in NJ
where they enter that way. *What's up with that? *Seems
perfectly safe to me and also, if it's not allowed, why would
the panel manufacturer provide knockouts in the top?

And what's that Canadian fetish for putting the freaking panel
sideways, which they did with the new panel?

* What I have pieced together from comments on the show is that the top,
with the hot service wires, has to remain enclosed when the trim is off
and that other wires can not go through that area.

I thought I saw at least one instance of that too, where
there was a secondary metal enclosure of some kind
that isolated the connection to the main breaker even
when the main cover panel was off. That seems
like it might be a good idea. That way if you open
the main, you can work on the rest of the panel without
the danger of hitting the incoming service wires where
they connect to the main breaker. Is it that
way on some panels used here in the USA too, where
they have some secondary cover to close off the main?

But I don't see why you could not design a panel that
had the above type of cover for the main and still allow
for wires to enter from the top on either side of it. Cover
the center portion where the main is connected, but then
have knockouts on the left and right at the top where the
wires could come down either side to the breakers.


If the panel is
vertical the wires come in the lower sides. If the panel is horizontal
the wires travel a shorter distance to get to the same area.

Yes, I got that impression too. Not sure how much it really helps
though as while it's now a straight shot to the upper breakers, it's
still
a long run inside the panel or around the panel to get to the
breakers
that are on the bottom row.



It seems rather odd to have the panels horizontal since it is not
allowed in the US. Breakers must be off in the down position.

Seems odd to me too. First time I saw it I thought it was because
of the particular location. But clearly this is a preference on the
Holmes
show, if not for Canada or parts of Canada in general.




I have not understood why they replaced some panels. Or why some other
work was done. Given some of the major disasters Holmes finds I
sometimes wonder if quality of construction can be much lower in Canada.
Some interesting shows though.

On the one I described, Holmes was there to finish putting in a large
bay window. Somehow in the process he replaced what looked to me
like a perfectly fine electric panel, because some of the wires were
coming in
from the top. He also wound up with a plumber running inspection cams
down drain pipes. Go figure.