Panel Breaker Swap

yes very easy job. watch a few videos until you can tell what youre looking at in the panel.

safety: shut the main power. wear gloves. keep yourself and any wires youre working with away from the hot lines from the power company.

I don't recommend gloves. You'll need to grip the breaker with good gripping fingers to roll the breaker out of the panel. It is easy. Before you remove the breaker, loosen the screw and remove the circuit wire. Replace the breaker. Then reinsert the wire and torque the screw.

The screw does not hold the breaker in, it just holds the wire into the breaker.

Oh and the replacement breaker needs to be either exactly the same as the old one or a breaker that is the same size and is listed as compatible with your panel. There are several brands and the breakers are not interchangeable. Bring your old one with you to the store. Home depot is fine.

It is possible that you have a really old panel that you can't buy breakers for anymore. My home had a panel like that made by Zinsco. That would be a bad deal since a panel swap is the fix. Bring the old bad breaker to the store with you.

Highbeam said:

My home had a panel like that made by Zinsco. That would be a bad deal since a panel swap is the fix.

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I understand that this does not apply to the problem at hand now, but for the sake of others here, those Zinsco breaker panels are an awful problem. I've had to deal with it also. If you have to replace one of those, you have to replace the whole panel. I think you can still buy breakers from some sources, but it's a poor fix. The problem extends to the whole panel design.

I have an older house with some ancient wiring. I've replaced a lot of my older breakers with "arc fault" ones. They will trip if any arc is detected, normal breakers won't. Much safer than standard breakers. The only problem I encountered was having them where there is a large initial load like a washing machine or a chop saw. The breaker detects the initital load and can trip.

RichW_SC said:

I have an older house with some ancient wiring. I've replaced a lot of my older breakers with "arc fault" ones. They will trip if any arc is detected, normal breakers won't. Much safer than standard breakers. The only problem I encountered was having them where there is a large initial load like a washing machine or a chop saw. The breaker detects the initital load and can trip.

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Those AFCI breakers suck. They are extremely expensive and so sensitive that they nuisance trip a lot as you've found. They are now required on several circuits in the home.

20A AFCI breakers are around $27. To me that's cheap insurance against a fire and for me nuisance trips have not been an issue. For the safety they provide I'll always use them with old wiring.

40$ for my one AFCI too. Only in my bedroom.

DAKSY said:

I WISH they were $27 around here. $40 is the going price, at least for ones that fit MY panel. I was fortunate that my building permit was under an earlier electrical code, so I only needed 3 of them. One in each bedroom. Current code calls for them throughout new homes.

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My panel swap was the same. I think my municipality follows the 2008 NEC. I know it was the code written just before afcis were required at all, which was nice.

The panel was as others mentioned in that it was hard to get breakers for. When found, they were about 85.00 for a 20 amp single pole.

DAKSY said:

I WISH they were $27 around here. $40 is the going price, at least for ones that fit MY panel. I was fortunate that my building permit was under an earlier electrical code, so I only needed 3 of them. One in each bedroom. Current code calls for them throughout new homes.

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Don't even get me started on tamper resistant outlets! Required with the most recent code too.

I recently replaced an old zinsco panel and kept the breakers. the electrician tried to take them with him, but that wasn't going to happen. my brother in law happens to have an old panel as well, so I trade the breakers for labor

Having kids, i don't mind the tamper proof outlets, but the AFCI breakers are a joke. They installed one on the circuit that goes to my upstairs lights, and it trips when I turn on a specific lamp. I was doing some work outside the other day, and every time i would turn on the sawzall with the light on, the breaker would trip..... I am thinking I am going to pull that one and replace it with a regular one....

Dobish said:

I recently replaced an old zinsco panel and kept the breakers. the electrician tried to take them with him, but that wasn't going to happen. my brother in law happens to have an old panel as well, so I trade the breakers for labor

Having kids, i don't mind the tamper proof outlets, but the AFCI breakers are a joke. They installed one on the circuit that goes to my upstairs lights, and it trips when I turn on a specific lamp. I was doing some work outside the other day, and every time i would turn on the sawzall with the light on, the breaker would trip..... I am thinking I am going to pull that one and replace it with a regular one....

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if it's the first generation arc fault replace it. those were a pain where i sit. if not replace the socket on the lamp

Highbeam said:

Don't even get me started on tamper resistant outlets! Required with the most recent code too.

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I hear ya those things are so damn stiff most the time! Neighbour even had a brand new one in his garage that neither myself nor him could get a plug into with as much force as possible. Probably defective but I personally don't like em