My parents have a Goulds 200 amp panel, and I need a 15 amp breaker for it. I'v never heard of this brand before. Do I need a Goulds specific breaker for this panel or will any others fit?
Thank you.
I'll do some more checking, but I know I've seen lots of Goulds breakers and IIRC, they were mixed in with Challengers and other ITE-type breakers. You should be able to use Murray or Seimens breakers from Home Depot, but I'll try to verify that. Barring that, just take your Goulds breaker there and put it side by side to one and look at the bottoms.
BUT, as a caveat, here is Seimens' official stand on this:
A number of manufacturers produce circuit breakers that are physically interchangeable. These are sometimes referred to as interchangeable circuit breakers and users, at times, have interpreted the fact that these circuit breakers are physically interchangeable, to be an indication that it is acceptable to use these Listed circuit breakers interchangeably in a panelboard. This is incorrect. The physical interchangeability is not an indication that they are electrically interchangeable. This must be verified by test. Unless the circuit breaker is marked on the panelboard as being acceptable or it is Classified as being acceptable, the circuit breakers have not been tested in the panelboards and should not be used.
These physically interchangeable circuit breakers exist for a number of reasons but primarily for the interchangeability that may exist if they are tested. There are many manufacturers of panelboards and other products that do not manufacture circuit breakers. The verification of the acceptability of a Listed circuit breaker is done by the panelboard manufacturer and it is to their advantage to have a panel design that can be tested for use with circuit breakers from more than one manufacturer. Likewise it may be to the circuit breaker manufacturer’s advantage to have an interchangeable circuit breaker to participate in this OEM market.
Circuit breaker manufacturers produce circuit breakers for use in a variety of products and any panelboard manufacturer may use any circuit breaker in his panelboard as long as he tests the combination(s) to UL 67.
In short;
unless it is listed (UL) for use in the panel, it is not legal to use a breaker in any given panel.
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Square D is one manufacturer that does not list its breakers for use in any other panel.
Seimans (I believe) does test their breakers for use in other manufacturers panels BUT unless they are listed as accaptable, they are not to be used as such.
Gould Inc. owned the ITE brand from 1976 untill they sold it to Siemens - Allis in 1984,over the years they were marked with a number of brand names.
I-T-E Circuit Breaker Company
I-T-E Imperial Corp.
Gould / I-T-E
Siemans-Allis I-T-E Electrical Products
Siemens I-T-E Electrical Products
Siemens
They had 2 lines of residental / light commercial panels.
EQ Loadcenters Pushmatic Pushmatics had a # of different names such as Bulldog Electric and Electricenter, Siemens discontinued the Pushmatic line only offering replacement pushmatic circuit breakers.
BTW, Goulds makes water pumps, a totally differant company.
Do not use a circuit breaker that fits your panel unless it is UL Classified to fit your panel, the breaker should have a list of specific panel catalog #s its been tested to fit.
The inspection sticker says its been there sine 83, so most likley it's not a pushmatic. I hope.. Lowes didn't have any Gould's breakers? Do I have to order them online?
Mac072 summed it up very well. You must look at the panel, and it should have a label saying something like use type QO breakers or use tpe CH etc. etc. Whatever type or types are listed, then you go find a breaker which is listed as that type. It may very well be that the Murray he mentioned will be a compatible type, but that's what you have to look for.
actually any given panel manufacturer will not list compatible breakers from other manufacturers. You would need to consult the breaker manufacturers information to see if it is UL listed to be used in the panel you have.
It is either Cutler-Hammer or Seimans that does go to the effort of having appropriate breakers tested and listed to fit other manuf. panels. They even make breakers that are listed for Square D panel.
I don;t remember which it is for sure. One of the supply houses I deal with has a chart that lists all the breakers they make that are able to be used in another manuf. panel.
You can purchase Gould breakers on ebay. These are used breakers that have been pulled after a panel changeout. I have purchased Zinsco breakers on ebay for my panel with no problems.
it says use only Gould's ITE, QP, QPF, QPH, QPHF, and HCP breakers only.
Would any of these avalibe at the local supply house??
what says that? the panel? if so, read one of my previous posts that deal with that.
but anyway, it seems Seimans has purchased ITE and from what little I saw, offers breakers that are intended to be used in an ITE panel.
here is a link to a site that sells breakers for you.
I do not know if any of the big box stores carry the correct breakers. You might call and ask. Other than that??????
btw: not all Lowes, or other big box stores carry the same stock as another sstoer of the same name. No idea why but that is what it is.
If you use a Siemens breaker you will be safe as they are the successor manufacturer, I have not seen any paperwork allowing a Murray in a ITE panel even though Siemens rebranded ITE breakers as Murray when they bought the line. BTW those breakers are not that expensive new, its certainly better new then unknown stuff from Ebay.
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