Double Backfed Pre-1984 Panel

[hausdok]

Hi All,

Don't think I've ever seen one of these before and I'm wondering if Douglas, Jim or any of the other electrical gurus has.

It's a 200-amp panelboard in a 1978 home. There are two separate 60 amp breakers labeled Main and two separate sets of cables leaving those breakers and back-feeding parts of the panel.

The trouble was the labeling says that it's approved for service equipment as long as there aren't more than six throws but there really wasn't a schematic so I had difficulty trying to figure it out without the ability to remove the breakers and see how it's configured behind them.

Is it possible that there are three separate sets of buses in this panel.

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ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Richard Moore]

Mike...I found one reference to a "CH double split bus panel", which described it as a rare but good panel. Not the most authoritative site though (garden web).

http://ths.gardenweb.com//forums/load/w ... 05.html?11 (6th post from the top)

But it does indeed look like you might have a 12-12-12 arrangement there. If the house was vacant I would have been tempted to try the two mains and use a voltage sniffer on the lower breaker wires to see what turned off what. Of course I say that as an armchair quarterback, having had a while to think about it. In reality, I would probably be posting the same photos and kicking myself for not thinking to try that on-site. [:-banghea

(Not a Guru on anything)

[Jim Katen]

I've seen a few before. They're just split bus panels with three sections, just as you've surmised.

The schematic might be on the inner left or right wall of the box, behind the wires.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[hausdok]

The schematic might be on the inner left or right wall of the box, behind the wires.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

Yeah, I looked. There was a data tag on one side and a diagram of the neutral bus showing where to bond the panel. That was it.

First one in nearly 15 years.

Thanks Gents!

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike