ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Panel preferences

For the various companies I've worked for I've used Square D HOM & QO, Cutler Hammer BR, Siemens QP/Murray MP-T (The same thing with a different label)& the GE THQP styles...

I've done the HOM panels maybe 10 times on jobs far away from my regular supply house, no problems (thankfully, one was 450 miles away in Burlingame). Seemed like a well built panel, and the design was nice. About the same for CH's BR panel.

My supply house carries Siemens, and I've likely hung somewhere around 200 of them in places where Zinsco's, FPE and Bulldogs used to dwell, Never a callback believe it or not

I did work for one contractor that was CRAZY about GE panels, so I used to get them sent to me while I worked for him... The thin breakers seemed flimsy and I was forever breaking that stupid little piece of plastic off the bottom where its supposed to hold it into the panel I've had them fail on me more than once internally, usually a telltale sign of extreme heat is the bubbling and cracking in the side of the breaker where it seems the contacts did not make correctly. After a few callbacks he started sending Cutler Hammer out.. Much better

Preferencewise, I like the Siemens layout, as said before, the neutral/ground bar location is good, and if you should ever need to change the main out, it's not hard to do (Replacement 200A mains are $75 at the Depot last I checked) But the CH and SqD panels have never done me wrong either...

'Siemens QP/Murray MP-T...the neutral/ground bar location is good...'

Unless it is a main panel with a bond between them, AF breakers can only be used on one side. CH has a neutral on each side all the time in thier newer designs.

Personally I am a fan of Cutler-Hammer and of course Square D. I have heard...It may just be rumor...but I have heard that Cutler-Hammer is actually made by Siemens...or vice versa. The guys I used to work with had nothing good to say about Siemens and I don't know why, probably just set in their ways. Personally what little I have used them I have had no problem with them. Do you guys have similar products for use in Canada? or are there completely different brands and codes?

check pilot, you have more patience than I do. I don't think I could ever take a customer to the supply house with me. I also tend to shy away from customers who think that they know how to do the job better than I do.

PDH, here is a link for Siemens. http://www.sea.siemens.com/reselec/product/ms.html

steve

mahlere,

Thanks for your thoughts. This was one job that I learned a few lessons from. I'll chalk it all up to my career as a aviation guy in the past. I got my journeyman certificate in the early 70's and did some work as an electrician then before I left the business after being bitten by the flying bug.

I'm finding that getting back into EC work is a bit difficult because I was used to dealing with highly professional people who would respect the opinions of others and I find that is not the case with some of the clients I deal with now. So I guess I'm and easy sucker for being used by HO's with less than stellar intelligence. The one thing I do have is time on my side, since I do not have to rely on the income from EC work so I'm able to do dumb things like take the time educate the HO so they fully understand the implications of the decisions they make.

I don't think I will go quite so far the next time this kind of situation comes up (and I know it will), but it does provide some comfort to the folks I do the work for when they can see that there is a right way and a wrong way to get a job done. I think it must be working because I've now got jobs booked into the middle of June just by word of mouth references.

Cheers,
Dave

Kurtis, we have basically the same products in Canada....except for one panel Norcal always talks about (and apparently really likes ) which is Zinsco. Siemens, Square D, GE, Cutler Hammer, Federal Pioneer (Federal Pacific in the USA?) among others are quite common here. Our codes here can be somewhat different, though.

Like Zinsco? Yeah right.....

Wait a minute
arnt GE the breakers that do'nt trip
welding 101

It all depends..... The hype is that FPE doesn't trip... I have yet do see that happen, and I am SURROUNDED by FPE... ( The ones here in Canada seem to work fine albeit S..L..O..W to trip)... I have seen GE trip when they shouldn't and westinghouse not trip.... Breakers are a mechanical device, therefore I think they are more prone to failure due to some mechanical problem, than fuses, which simply melt and break the circuit...
But thats just my opinion...


A.D