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#73255 12/20/06 09:05 PM
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1
R
rgh Offline OP
Junior Member
I just returned from a residential call where a bolted connection on the aluminum bus had over time, become loose and has over heated. The plating has dulled and the bolt holding the connection of two piece bus has that terrible squeek to it when it is either tightened or loosened. It is an out of production panel, and suspect I will not find replacement parts. Is there an acceptable way of cleaning, polishing and retreating the bus to put it back in service ?

#73256 12/20/06 09:09 PM
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,438
Member
you can always have a new piece fabricated... but I have to ask.... Why not just install a new service?

#73257 12/20/06 10:10 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,429
L
LK Offline
Member
"a bolted connection on the aluminum bus had over time, become loose and has over heated."

I would replace the loadcenter, not worth the the liability risk.

#73258 12/21/06 12:08 AM
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 814
B
Member
Even if you can clean it up and re tighten it, it will fail again. I am pretty sure the aluminum is coated with tin, which is now gone. I have patched them up enough to last a few days till we could change it out. But as the others have said, it needs to be changed out ASAP.

#73259 12/21/06 12:17 AM
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 745
E
Member
If you had a custom replacement made, you would be messing with the panel's UL listing by installing non-factory parts. If any metal has been heated to the point that it has been discolored, it can't be trusted anymore, electrically or physically. It must be replaced.

There are lots of companies selling used breakers and panels on the Internet; I would go there via Google to get started. The liability associated with this is way too high to risk replacement with custom-made replacement parts.

By the way, I don't know what brand the panel is that you mentioned, but there is an Eaton (Cutler-Hammer and Westinghouse) facility in Sumter, SC that handles obsolete/out of production products for these brands.

[This message has been edited by EV607797 (edited 12-20-2006).]


---Ed---

"But the guy at Home Depot said it would work."
#73260 12/23/06 07:56 AM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,391
I
Moderator
New Panel time


Bob Badger
Construction & Maintenance Electrician
Massachusetts

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