Odd-to-me Cutler panel

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FullySprinklered

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Had a service call concerning a clothes dryer kicking the breaker after a minute or two running. Sometimes took longer. I had moved the washer/dryer down to the unfinished garage a few months ago for a regular customer, so naturally I was concerned. The customer had actually blamed the problem on the old dryer and had since replaced it with a new one, which developed the same symptoms.

I checked all the easy, obvious stuff first and everything looked good on the surface. Customer has an older house, (maybe sixties), with a Cutler Hammer panel. There were Cutler breakers there, plus a few Bryant, and one Eaton which I had installed to feed the dryer in it's new locale. I fished around in my bucket-o-breakers and came up with another Eaton 30a double to swap out and see if the problem goes away.

I popped out the Eaton breaker and examined the breaker for smut or melted plastic or maybe hot plastic smell. Seemed ok, but the blade on the upper buss where it was connected had some pitting and discoloration. Looking closer at the adjacent breaker (clipped onto the same blades), the top connection on the double-pole was totally fried, cooked plastic, discolored metal on both sides of the connection. I let the folks know that the power was going off, and removed the breaker. The top connection fell to pieces when I pulled it out, with a sprinkle of metal and plastic debris. I've seen lightning-struck breakers welded to the buss, and I was thankful to be able to remove what was left of it.

Now the odd part. The fried breaker, clipped onto the same blades as the clothes dryer, was a 60a double. The top section of the panel has spaces for six double pole breakers. Then it ends. The fried 60a breaker feeds the busses on the lower half of the panel via two large insulated copper cables which are kinked around and clamped into lugs for the lower buss bars in the middle of the panel. All the single breakers, and space savers, are fed from this breaker.

The 60a replaced, and a new 30a for the dryer to make sure. Working fine.
 

Stuff

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That is called a split buss panel. Legal through the 1970's but now no longer allowed for new installs. They made them when main breakers were too expensive (usually over 100amps). The top section allows up to six "throws of the hand" to disconnect service. That one 60 amp was the "lighting" breaker to feed the bottom breakers.

How were the bus bar stubs? If at all pitted it is time to replace the panel.
 

FullySprinklered

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That's interesting stuff, Stuff.

The stub in question was not pristine, but it's working for the guy until the unicorn arrives with a saddlebag full of Krugerrands.
 
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