On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 20:56:21 GMT, "Jerry Foster"
wrote:
"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 14:37:24 GMT, "Jerry Foster"
wrote:
SOME boxes in older homes use "Pushmatic" breakers. These are held in
with a screw. And the screw is, as I recall, hot. So, regardless of
the type of breaker, turn off the main before you try removing it.
True, though bolt-on breakers other than ITE Pushmatic are usually
found in industrial panels. It's legal if they have 'walked home from
the plant' and been installed in houses, but finding replacement
breakers is a supply-house-only pain in the ass. You usually find a B
in the part number as a good clue.
Back in the '50s, Pardee Homes built tract houses that used Pushmatics in
the original construction. And they didn't have a main cutoff! The only
way to killthe panel power was to pull the meter head. (I used to own
such a house in San Diego...) And a friend in San Jose had a house with
Pushmatics, but that looked like a re-wire job from probably 40 years ago.
I assume they are fairly common in these areas because the local hardware.
stores carry replacement breakers.
There were several varieties of no-Main panels built, including the
Zinsco "Crowfoot" panel, so named for the odd main busses that looked
like two crows feet branching from the meter socket to the three
breakers on that side. And they need the Q breakers with a screw
input tab on the LINE side, no new ones are being made.
The trick is that by NEC Codes you are limited to six fuses or
breaker poles without a main disconnect in the panel. And the
Crowfoot design got you only one true 240V common-trip breaker in the
middle. The only legal way to add extra circuits is a sub-panel.
These panels are great for billboards or guard houses, but six poles
will be full in no time flat in anything bigger than Ted "UnaBomber"
Kaczynski's one-room tarpaper shack in the woods....
But try telling that to someone who stuck another breaker in the
blank spot at each end of the panel and rigged wire jumpers to the
LINE side crowfeet to heat them up.
-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
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