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Breaker Breaker
Jun. 16th, 2024 11:36 amYesterday morning, I went back to Lowes, returned the circuit breakers we bought the night before, and went looking for the correct type, sometimes called "Zinsco" type breakers after a prominent older (and now extinct) manufacturer of the type.
( Fixing the Breakers )
Ideally, we would replace this entire box with a brand new, larger box that would use the more modern breakers — some sources say that Zinsco-type breakers are susceptible to catastrophic failure — and that could also handle being upgraded to a 200A service rather than the 125A service that came with the house. But this is an expensive proposition. The last time we priced it, pre-pandemic, the estimated cost was on the order of $10,000, and it's unlikely to have done anything but go up since then.
While we would like to have improved service with a master box that is easier to service, we don't have the money to pay for it now. Maybe in a few years I could possibly touch some of my retirement savings to improve and modernize our service.
( Fixing the Breakers )
Ideally, we would replace this entire box with a brand new, larger box that would use the more modern breakers — some sources say that Zinsco-type breakers are susceptible to catastrophic failure — and that could also handle being upgraded to a 200A service rather than the 125A service that came with the house. But this is an expensive proposition. The last time we priced it, pre-pandemic, the estimated cost was on the order of $10,000, and it's unlikely to have done anything but go up since then.
While we would like to have improved service with a master box that is easier to service, we don't have the money to pay for it now. Maybe in a few years I could possibly touch some of my retirement savings to improve and modernize our service.
