ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area dimming lights

drgnz23 My short answer was not much of a help.

I would most strongly recommend that you get an electrician in to look at this ASAP.

I am not familiar with zinco breakers, but dimming lights in combo with breakers that show signs of arcing is a situation that deserves proper attention.

Be prepared to do a panel change as the bus bars in the panel may (most likely) be damaged and will not be repairable.

Perhaps zinco is actually Zinsco?

You know I feel left, out as all the members here seem to know about and have worked with Zinsco breakers.

I do not think I have ever seen them or had heard the name before coming to the forums.

Bob

I've never seen a Zinsco breaker before; what's wrong with them?

Bob: You've never seen Zinsco? Well, my friend, you've missed out on the best!!!

They're almost as good as pushmatic, my personal favorite!

Bulldog Pushmatic panels very confusing in the three phase verity, the panels anyway, no 3 phase pushmatic breakers that I have seen.

I do service calls to a large store that has a Pushmatic switch board.

It has 8 or 10 pushmatic panels mounted horizontally in a common enclosure.

Glad there is plenty of spares still, I need them for replacements.

hi bob : you say pushmatic breakers ?? yeah i see it plenty in my area but to get 100 amps pushmatic mainbreaker cost more than new 100a load centere cost will be and yeah i did see one with three phase pushmatic box oh man what a nightmare

but i see few other oddballs too but i see 3 Zinsco breaker box so far but kinda rare in my area but pushmatic are very terrble with loose connetion at busbar and termail screw over the time

merci , marc

With the screwy "two-row" bus arrangement in Zinsco plug-in panelboards—that was fine for 120/240V 3-wire systems, but for 3ø, the bus bars literally had to be "braided" to match 3ø up with the needed two rows of bus stubs. If you ever saw one, it was unforgettably weird looking. What a mess.




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 10-01-2003).]

Zinsco panels are known for having the buss burning at the breaker connection. One advantage that these panels have is it is very easy to replace the bussing if you can get a hold of an old panel. The was at least one company selling replacement busses but I haven't seen them in a while. Another trick that can be done is to trade the 2 busses with each other. This puts the bad spot in a position of the main breaker that there is no connection.

I would recommend you find someone to help with this repair that is experienced with Zinsco panels. Remember that the line lugs are still hot on the main breaker when it is off.

In my area there are probably Zinsco panels installed in homes than all other brands combined. I have a few hundred Zinsco breakers and some extra busses to use for repairs.

if you have to change out the buss bars does the meter have to be remove to work on them? is it illegal to remove the tag off the meter ring?