Electrical Panel Brands

[RobWalker]

This might be akin to a religious issue ... but I need to choose a panel for our new construction shortly and have been trying to figure out what to base the choice on other than cost.

Does anyone have any strong recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[BDHall]

This might be akin to a religious issue ... but I need to choose a panel for our new construction shortly and have been trying to figure out what to base the choice on other than cost.

Does anyone have any strong recommendations?

Thanks!

I have used Cutler Hammer loadcenters the oldest of which is somewhere around 28 years old. I have been very pleased with this brand. I will not get into arguing over which brand is best but I would mention a couple of things you might consider:

Some of the brands have a cheaper consumer line and a higher quality or classic line. You might watch for this - personally I go for the more expensive one in the Cutler Hammer line which uses the CH series breakers that have been around for years. The breakers from my oldest loadcenter will fit the ones sold today. The cheaper loadcenters use a different series of breakers.

Look for a well made copper buss.

The main breakers interrupting capacity (a safety item) should be stated on the breaker and higher is better. You should check with your electrician and be sure what is selected has a high enough rating for your particulair installation.

I am not sure about the other brands but I bought a Cutler hammer 42 circuit loadcenter not long ago with a 200 amp main breaker (25k interrupting capacity where my old one I think was 10k) and a whole house surge supressor built in. The box looks taller and has the surge suppressor mounted on a bracket in the lower portion of the box and has one douple pole breaker installed for it which drops you back to 40 available circuits. I hope to replace my primary loadcenter with this one maybe later this year. The cover is made so you can see the status lights on the surge supressor with the cover installed. You can add the surge supressors to an existing loadcenter but I liked the built-in look.

I hope this has not bored you to tears.

Brian

 

[RobWalker]

Thanks for the advice, Brian -- definitely no tears!

I'm acting as electrician on this (with some side assistance) but have never had to decide which load center to go with before. The interrupting capacity was a feature I wasn't familiar with before, I'll be sure to look it up.

 

[rfdesq]

I went with the Murray load center. That seems to be the brand the supply houses carry around me. I haven't had any problems and there is a full assortment of breakers available. As I recall, at wholesale it wasn't cheap.

 

[Digger]

I went with the Murray load center. That seems to be the brand the supply houses carry around me. I haven't had any problems and there is a full assortment of breakers available. As I recall, at wholesale it wasn't cheap.

If I remember correctly Murray is made by Siemens. I might be mistaken though. Either way they are good panels and breakers.

Remember you may want GFCI breakers for some circuits and you will need arc fault detector breakers for bedroom circuits etc.

 

[TCassio]

I am a general contractor in the Northeast. On the last house we built, I got to talking to the building inspector (C.O inspection) and he said that the Arc Fault breakers are soon to be replaced with a different technology. He didn't give me a time frame or the new technology. He said the Electrical code reguarding theses devices will change in the near future.

 

[BDHall]

I am a general contractor in the Northeast. On the last house we built, I got to talking to the building inspector (C.O inspection) and he said that the Arc Fault breakers are soon to be replaced with a different technology. He didn't give me a time frame or the new technology. He said the Electrical code reguarding theses devices will change in the near future.

I am intrigued by this and would like to learn more if anyone hears any news on the subject. I have not heard anything about a new technology but I did read that there would be devices coming that would combine the Arc Fault and Ground Fault into a single device. I will be watching to see if anything new shows up for sale.

Brian