ECN Electrical Forum
Discussion Forums for Electricians, Inspectors and Related Professionals

Wow, I cut my teeth in the biz dealing with those setups in Bergen County (Northern), NJ. I can't tell you how many of those jobs I encountered. I got to know the Square-D "QO-612" panels pretty well in fuse panel replacements. It is hard to believe that such installations still exist after my 30+ years and are sustaining today's electrical requirements. I'm sure that there are literally thousands of them out there between Baltimore and Boston at a minimum.

I remember encountering single-pole, 50 amp feeders to apartments in NYC. When was the last time that you encountered a 50 amp single-pole breaker? Oh boy, how times have changed.

yeah, this apt house has five electric ranges running off branch circuits that start on two-35A single pole breakers in this old girl

i haven't even asked if there are replacement breakers available yet....

~S~

I would be more concerned about the FPE panel on the right more so than the others.

What a tangle of NM cabling in that mess..looks like lots of add-ons over the years.

As a guess I would date this around mid-to late 60's.

Slightly off-topic,
How many times have you been in an area like this, where you need to do some work in a panel and the area is so poorly lit (or the one light that is installed is poistioned in such a rediculous place, it leaves the equipment in a shadow) that you either have to wear a head torch or resort to the old torch in the mouth trick?
One thing that I am really against as an inspector is poorly lit electrical rooms.
It's just slackness on the part of the electrician.

In addition to Trumpy's issue, how many times do I hear that there is no emergency lighting in the Electric Rooms because they're trying to save a few bucks on the building?

I firmly believe that there are some things that you should avoid doing with a light hanging from your mouth...and restoring the main power is definitely one of them.

Ghost,
That is a VERY good point, mate, I'd never thought about it like that before.

Persuant to lack of lighting, you would LOVE our MDP. It's a 2000A (mains rating), 208Y/120 I-Line switchboard. Located in the seating area of our auditorium, the nearest light is behind it... and those are recessed can lights. There are lights in front of it, but the architecture prevents them from being useful (plus they are 25-30 feet above you). Better bring the portable lighting! Oh, and there is NOTHING preventing a patron from, say, turning off our 600A chiller; oh and it's directly adjancent to our fire exit. Grr to bad safety design...
\end tangental rant

It is IN the auditorium, in the house section? I can see all kinds of wrongs with that... Was this a renovation, or a purpose-built space?

that, and 3' is not a lot to ask either imho....~S~