Pushmatic Breaker panel - no main disconnect

[Handyman 1]

I am working on a Pushmatic breaker panel and there is no main breaker to shut power off to any of the other breakers. Is there a way to add a main breaker to panel? Or am I going to have to replace the whole panel that has a main breaker installed? I have never seen a breaker panel without a main breaker.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Best to replace the obsolete panel

ITE Pushmatic electrical panels and circuit breakers do not have any proven design flaws that can cause a fire or shock hazard, but they are obsolete. Replacement circuit breakers are hard to find and when you can, they are expensive. The design of these old electrical panels also makes it impossible to add new circuits and loads to the already limited spaces in the panel.

[trader_4]

Have you looked between the panel and the meter, including outside, to make sure there isn't one separate from the panel?

[Clare Snyder]

There WILL bw an external main disconnect SOMEWHERE.

[gfretwell]

There are fewer than 6 (total) disconnects so this is a legal panel. It is a split bus panel where each 240v load is a service disconnect and another disconnect for the "split" general lighting bus disconnect. These were quite popular, dating back before they had breaker panels and the 240v loads were on fuse "pull outs" with another pullout for a general lighting bus full of screw in fuses. If this is still working for you, you can keep it but finding breakers may be tough if one goes bad. You can certainly add a service disconnect if you like but that makes this a sub panel and it will need rewiring (split neutral/ground buses, 4 wire feeder etc) and by the time you do all of that, you might as well put in a new service panel, upgrade power etc.

[gfretwell]

There are 5 that I see, perfectly legal.

[Tekkie®]

[e-mail] posted for all of us...

I just saw in ECM Leviton is now making panels.