Can a replace a 2 pole 30 amp breaker at the top with the 2 pole 50a breaker recommended by the installation manual.
Challenger electrical panel problems.
How to tell if you have one.
Most of the breakers were challenger brand breakers from the original installation but some were siemens brand breakers from a remodel about 5 years after the house was built.
I would like to install an eaton whole house surge protector.
To break it down the circuit breakers have been known to overheat cause scalding on the bus bars.
I did not have any problems with the panel or the breakers and all of them are the original ones.
However there are a few brands of breaker still in use today that might not only fail to protect.
Challenger electrical panels were known for their relatively low price point.
Wiring a circuit is a difficult process and it turns out that the circuit breakers used in the challenger electrical panels were faulty causing the circuits to short out and overheat under normal circumstances.
Also many gte sylvania or sylvania panels are simply re branded zinsco panels or contain the problem zinsco design.
Challenger electrical panel cover off the issues with challenger outlined.
Hi i have a challenger sl20 20 40 panel installed 26 years ago.
Scalding and overheating on an electrical panel is a fire waiting to happen.
So if there ever is a short or other problems the surge of power melts wires and starts fires in your home.
Circuit breakers are designed to keep you and your family safe.
These conditions alone are sufficient to damage the electrical panel rendering it unreliable and thus unsafe independent of any innate reliabilty issues with challenger panels and breakers.
You can see this in action from the picture below.
Due to this some insurance companies are now requiring challenger panels to be replaced.
Check your panel today as challenger was very popular in the 80s and 90s.
Certain types of challenger electrical panels and breakers catch fire.
Sunday march 1 2020 challenger brand electrical panels were installed in homes during the 1980s and 1990s but have since been found to have a defect that causes the bus bars to overheat under normal operating conditions.
In your notes you also report serious over fusing an additional risk of fire or shock.