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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 169
C
Member
Was wondering if anyone had a link or two for finding info on replacement bus kits for 20 year or so old resi panels.
ITE-Siemens 200A single phase in this case. The label has washed off due to the same leakage that's causing corrosion of the busses.
My wholesalers are getting slower and less interested by the day with requests for info that doesn't move mountains of product through their small shop. I understand but----argh!!!(much cruder explicative actually used)
I need to find this info on my own, with a little help, of course.

Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 139
B
Member
Might as well change out the entire panelboard and cabinet instead of going through all the trouble to find a 20 year old replacement.


Bryan P. Holland, ECO.
Secretary - IAEI Florida Chapter
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 943
Likes: 2
N
Member
Forget replacing them SCRAP THE PANEL,you will need a donor panel for parts & do you want to be married to a used panel for a year....


Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 2
Cat Servant
Member
I was faced with this situation, only in that case it was a GE panel. I was stunned to find an absolute lack of information or assistance available from GE - or the distributor. Lot of help they were!

In the end, all I really had to do was walk through the warehouse with a tape measure. The second panel I opened had the exact correct guts ... making change-out a breeze. Now - Why was no one able to look that information up, to tell me that the interior of panel "X" was the same? Or, look up the factory part number, and simply sell me a replacement buss set?

Now, you may wonder why I didn't do a "complete panel replacement." First of all, the busses were damaged when the maintenance guy "cleaned' them with a Dremel - hot! frown They were losing breaker connections to arcing one by one.

The commercial building had the panel set in a block wall, with something like 15 pipes coming into it. The most important point, though, was that this customer provided phone / internet services for hundreds of customers, and "going down" was a BIG deal.

Simply replacing the damaged busses with new ones - from a stock panel, perfect fit to box and cover - was a half-hour deal, with many circuits back up inside of 15 minutes.

Frankly, it concerns me that these are the same folks (GE) who make jet engines and nuclear power plants.

Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,381
Likes: 7
Member
Reno:
I have to agree with you re: GE. GE Supply used to be good-great.....back 10 years ago. Now, forget it.
Matter of fact, a EC told me last week that they closed the counter down at the GE Supply/GEEXPRO in Raritan Ctr.\

Back to the subject....glad you worked it out. As to Chico's resi....the panel change may be the best solution.


John
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 943
Likes: 2
N
Member
Since any info as to the type of panel was sparse,a picture would be helpful....

Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 650
W
Member

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,438
Member
Chico... You could try some of the breaker resellers around your area... Sometimes they get older panels when they purchase used breakers for refurbishing. If you're in So Cal I know a few places you could try taking a few detailed photo's to. other than that, you could try the Eaton retrofit.. I've heard about those a few times, but I've yet to use one. You might need the panel CAT #'s from your existing can to order the retrofit though

Joined: May 2007
Posts: 169
C
Member
Reno-
I have a buddy that works at GE about an hour south of you. They like to joke about an "unofficial" motto they have.
"GE---removing quality wherever it is found." or something like that.

I do realize a service change might be the only way to go but if I could avoid chopping up the house and possibly putting the client in the dark for a night I would go that route instead. I'm not concerned about being married to the job in this case. It's getting harder and harder to get the inspectors and the poco to cooperate with you in making a disconnect-reconnect happen in one day around these parts too.

I was hoping that in this day information technology it would be possible to find numerous links to these kinds of resources but I guess not.
I guess if my wholesaler's obsolete panel guy doesn't come through I'll be walking the warehouse with my Fat Max hoping to get some of Reno's luck. If I can find the busses they would change out in 15 or 20 minutes.

I'll look at the Eaton retro-kits but if they are too expensive or complicated I'll just change the panel. If I'm going to go to too much time and expense I might as well do it right.

As far as the time spent trying to find the busses, I see that as developing a resource that could be used again in the future.

Lostazhell-- I'm in in N.cal. Chico to be exact. You guys probably thought I was the Chico from the DIY shows didn't you? laugh

Norcal-- After I go back and reread some of the posts asking how to upload images I'll put the 2 pics I took with cell phone.

Joined: May 2007
Posts: 169
C
Member
Here goes a try at photos----

[Linked Image from electricalphotos.com]


[Linked Image from electricalphotos.com]

Last edited by Trumpy; 05/15/08 02:45 PM. Reason: Fixed links
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