I had a problem in electric service panel in a home that I own. One of the breakers kept tripping. When I checked it out, the breaker was basically fried and when I took it out it looked like the breaker pictured in the link below: just like the description of the problem in the link, in my case the other breaker that attached to the same hot lug(?) was also damaged. I replaced both breakers and moved both down to a new location where the hot terminal of the bus bar wasn't damaged. An electrician had to do the same thing with another breaker in the past, and he had to move that one too because hot lug to which that breaker was connected had melted.This time, when looking at the whole panel, it appears that the breakers are all old and there are some signs of rust or corrosion on the breaker screws etc. I am assuming they are just old and maybe there was dampness in the basement and the humidity was starting to corrode things.My initial plan is to replace all of the breakers with new ones, which I can easily do.But, my real question is whether it is possible or practical to just replace the hot bus bar at the same time since the old one has heat damage at a few places. Unless this is something fairly easy to do, I would probably have an electrician do it.Assuming that the part is available, is replacing the hot bus bar a fairly easy thing for an electrician to do? If so, the reason that I would want to have that done rather than get the whole panel replaced is that everything else in the panel appears to be fine. The main breaker had already been replaced by an electrician in the past, so rather than having to have all of the wiring removed and start over with a new panel, it seems like just replacing the hot bus bar and circuit breakers would solve the problem and save a whole lot on the cost and time involved in doing the fix.The service panel is a 100-amp Challenge brand panel with probably 30 circuits. I know Challenger is no longer in business and was...

Not an answer to your exact question, but given all the above, I wouldgive serious consideration to simply replacing the whole panel andbeing done with it, unless there is some reason why the enclosurewould be difficult to R&R. You could likely do it yourself if you arereasonably handy; you may have to pull a permit for the work, andschedule an outage with the power company. They'll just come and pullthe meter so you can work on it safely and then put the meter back inafter you pass your inspection. New 100A panel should be less than$200 at supply house unless I am way out of touch.I believe current opinion is that Square-D "QO" is the top of the lineresidential panel, but if you are on a real limited budget you couldjust use a new C-H panel and use the existing breakers from your oldpanel that are still in good condition. (I wouldn't really recommendthat however based on the problems that you describe.)good lucknate

posted for all of us... + 1000 You beat me to it again.

Hot bus bar replacement?

Dec 01, 2010 22 Replies

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gfretwell 9 years ago

Much safer is just to call the power company, tell them you are doing maintenance on your panel and the seal was broken. Cut the seal and pull the meter. They will come out and replace the seal. Electricians and inspectors do this all the time.

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TekkieÃÂ® 9 years ago

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com posted for all of us...

1000 You beat me to it again.

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Diesel 9 years ago

street juice? You think it's lower once it's inside the panel or something? You actually advise people to work a panel where it has two hots (that are live) coming into it without experience, reliable knowledge of electricity? It's MUCH safer to call power company and have them pull the meter for you. That turns those incoming LIVE lines going into your main breaker, OFF for you. So that you don't accidently do something stupid and contact one (or both), or cause one (or both) to short out to neutral and/or ground. That would be bad for you, and, the transformer won't appreciate you either.

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