load center, breaker panel, distribution box.....

[Rico]

Recently my hot water heater died. Upon checking the secondary breaker box in a small shed next to the house, I noticed that the box was extremely rusted due to a hole in the roof that exposed it to the elements. It is a Bryant Enclosure (Box!) The main breaker panel in my house is a Crouse Hinds. So I thought I'd get a Crouse Hinds to replace the rusty bryant. I did a little research on the web. A little research turned into a lot of research as I tried to track down a box. Why can't people make up their mind on what the metal box that encloses the breakers is called. Is it a "load center" a "breaker panel" an "electrical panel" a "fuse box" a "fuse panel" a "fuse board"..... the list goes on. Arrrgh!

At any rate, I learned that Crouse Hinds is now owned by Cooper, and yet although you can find some Crouse Hind individual breakers on the web, the "load center box" itself is incognito. Now it seems that Crouse Hinds are also referred to as Murray breakers, or to cloud the already murky situation further "Murray/Crouse Hind" breakers. Now I have read a favourable review of Crouse Hind breakers. And yet I have also read a review of Murray panels that stated the panels were dangerously problematic. How does Crouse fit in to that? What on earth is going on here?

Is this subject worth persuing any more, or should I just run out and buy a Square D panel and say to heck with Crouse and Murray et al. ???

[Rewired]

This is just my opinion, but in the past I have seen and heard of a LOT of problems with Westinghouse / Cutler Hammer which is the same as a bryant / crouse hinds and a few others (Murray I think? I never see those up here... And I wouldn't install one of those in my house or anywhere else if ya paid me! I have seen too many of them where the buss-breaker connection heats up and melts, and even a few where the side of the 100A cutler hammer "BQL" bolt on style breaker have gotten so hot internally its burned the side right off the breaker!

I would go out and get yourself a Square-D "QO" type panel. Those breakers have been around forever and are very reliable. The next choice would be a Federal Pioneer, even though I have heard bad stories about them, I have never heard or seen any major problems with them as I have with other manufacturers,(hot connections, fires) I have only seen one where it was very badly damaged, but that was only because it was operating while UNDER WATER!

A.D

[HayZee518]

You wanna throw some more in your repertoire? Add this to your many descriptions - SUB-PANEL. Aha! Bet you forgot this little gem! Definition: Any panel derived adjacent to or remote from the main panel, fed from a breaker off the main panel. I.e. Main Lug panel.
You don't have to get the same duplicate panel to replace that rusted out panel. Anything will work if it has the terminations you want. GE, Westinghouse, Crouse-Hinds whatever, as long as it does the job.

[HayZee518]

A couple more ditties on the sub-panel - It almost always needs an isolated neutral with a user installed equipment ground buss. The neutral is NOT bonded to the cabinet. A seperate ground bus connects to the bare ground wire. The cable whether in a conduit or romex uses four wires. Two hot (red/black) the neutral (white) and earth ground (bare)

[kactuskid]

If this shed of yours is not attached to your house then you need a ground rod driven in at the shed to accomindate a ground for your sub panel, and as mentioned by Hazy, the ground and neutral buss bars are kept separate in a sub panel. I personally like Square D products, they're great quality and reliable. Cuttler Hammer are also very good, never have had a problem with either. Whichever type subpanel you decide to install make sure that the breakers are easily available in the case you ever need to replace them.

[HayZee518]

square "d" push matic breakers are dedicated to the square d panel. cutler hammer - older styles are for a dedicated panel. Siemens, most GE, Westinghouse, Arrow-Hart, Crouse-Hinds, will interchange with each other - you just need to know how the bus is constructed. notched cutouts take breakers with a rejection clip. Some will take half sized breakers, two 1/2 inch breakers filling a one inch slot. Twin breakers 15-15, 20-20, 15-20 all fill a one inch slot.

[Rico]

Hey, thanks for all the advice! I didn't realize that so many of the brands are interchangeable. I'll be installing a tankless water heater which seems to be the way of the future. I'll let you know how it goes.

[kactuskid]

You better have alot of room in your box and alot of power in your main if you want to install a tankless heater. Some of these units require 60 amps and more to run. Do alot of research on the net before you decide. Here's one link that'll give you some pro's and con's about them. http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/i...ftankless.shtm

[Rico]

As a follow up to this. I ended up buying two Siemens 1" 50 Amp breakers. As suggested by members of this forum, they fitted beautifully in to my Bryant breaker panel housing. For experimental purposes, I also tried them next to my exotic Crouse-Hinds breakers in my Crouse-Hinds panel. A perfect fit again! Thanks guys! Lesson learned: a 1 inch breaker is still a 1 inch breaker by any other name.

[Kidd6488]

We went through this same thing trying to figure out what brand to get to replace our old Wadsworth. We ended up getting a GE Powermark Gold from Lowe's and we are very happy with it. It came with 5 20A S.P. breakers, and was about half as much as a Square D QO box. The best thing is, it has a copper bus, which is key to not having those melting problems inherrent of those other aluminum bus boxes.

~Jonathon Reinhart