I've had a GFIC breaker fail (a ground fault doesn't trip it). It's an old GTE/Sylvania (AKA Zinsco?) that apparnetly is obsolete.
I've chased it down to a few electrical surplus dealers here in town. I located 3 parts, two of witch tested bad. makes me wonder how long the third will last if I buy it....
My question is, should I buy a 20+ year old breaker to replace the one I have, or replace the whole panel with something that can be maintained (Square D etc)? One of the dealers I spoke with mentioned this old style being suceptable to causing fires.
As someone who spent many years in the trenches designing/applying/selling electrical distribution equipment let me offer the following:
My employer considered the equipment you describe as something coming from the bottom feeder sector of the competition and refused to compete against them if they were specified on a job.
BTW, didn't lose a lot of jobs to them if a first line electrical contractor was involved.
If you want to try to maintain 20+ year old equipment as described above, you probably deserve whatever happens.
IMHO, a load center and some plug in c'bkrs are just not that expensive, especially when you factor in the risk factors.
At a minimum, you get an up to date installation in compliance with current code.
Depends upon your budget and knowledge/comfort factor adding a new panel. It is a rather simple procedure, but not something your would want to tackle with limited experience.
The alternative seem to be to use a non GFCI breaker, and a new GFCI receptacle as the first in the run.
Certainly an effective, and much cheaper alternative.
Licensed electrician with 30 years experience speaking here. Donning my electrician's rubber gloves and official Usenet flame suit I offer the following for your consideration.
We have hundreds, probably thousands of these Zinsco/Sylvania panels in Greater St. Louis area, with relatively few significant problems. I do not know of a single incident where an electrical fire was directly attributed to a problem with this panel. My knowledge of "electrical" fires over the past 30 years has revealed that the vast majority of "electrical" fires are in actuality, STUPIDITY fires. Installing 30amp breakers and fuses on 15 amp wire, connecting aluminum wire to copper-only devices, and -(the # 1 reason for residential "electrical" fires)- improper use of extension cords are three big-time causes of STUPIDITY fires. Probably the most serious issue is with the 125 amp split buss panels is at the point where the subfeed conductors are connected to the secondary buss. There have been a significant number of problems at that point. The panel's reputation is far worse than my experiences have shown the actual failure rate to be.
There are folks who will bad mouth these panels for various reasons, and I agree with some of the complaints. This panel and the breakers were not of the highest quality, but certainly comparable to several other manufacturers of the era. The real issue today is that the manufacturer (Sylvania) dumped the panel (for their Challenger brand) and we are now on the third or fourth after-market manufacturer who has the "rights" to manufacturer breakers to fit this panel. Obviously with the declining user base, availability is down and prices are up! To my knowledge, there never has been an aftermarket version of the GFI breakers.
I definitely would not spend money on replacing a GFI breaker of that era, especially with a used one. You can replace the "bad" GFI breaker with a single-pole breaker of the same amperage rating as the GFI. Then either find the first receptacle on that circuit and install a GFI receptacle in that space, or make a new first receptacle by installing the new GFI receptacle at the main panel and connect the load from the original GFI breaker to the load side of the new GFI receptacle.
If all this sounds too complex for your comfort level, you may email me off list and I'll be glad to try to help you.
Gary Kasten gwkasten@google'semail.com (It shouldn't be too hard to figure out that google'semail.com is gmail.com)
I have a 24 year old Sylvania and breakers for it are at Home Depot. Maybe we don't have the same thing. In any event, I would try to avoid GFCI breakers and use a GFCI outlet instead.
My experience with GFCI breakers of that era was not positive.
My previous house (1970 vintage) had the carport enclosed in 1980 and an outlet added to the outside of that space in 1980. The outside outlet was fed from a GFCI breaker - which tripped every time there was a thunderstorm in the area. The breaker failed (permanent trip) a few years later and I replaced it with another GFCI breaker - which also tripped with every passing thunderstorm.
Wiring was to the then-current NEC and was passed by the city inspector. I later replaced the GFCI breaker with a standard breaker and the outlet with a GFCI outlet - and no more problems.
About 20 years ago, I was renting a house with a fuse box. One of the circuits was flaky. I forget exactly what was up, probably that it was blowing the fuse frequently. I called the landlord who set up a call with an electrician.
So the next day, I get an interesting call from my wife. The electrician showed up, opened up the fuse box, and found that it was on fire. We had a new breaker box by the time I got home.
If the funds are there, I'd certainly rather replace the box, especially if the circuit parts you need are no longer made.
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