That time I trusted a new breaker and it fried my whole panel schedule

So last Thursday I was swapping out a 15 amp breaker in a house built in 84. Just a standard job, nothing fancy. The new one from the supply house felt a little flimsy but I figured whatever, its new. I popped it in and flipped it and heard this weird pop noise. Took me like 20 minutes to trace it back to the breaker itself not seating right on the bus bar. Ended up burning the clip on the panel and now I gotta get the whole main replaced. My boss came by and showed me how the new breakers have a slightly different tab shape than the old ones. He said never trust the new stuff without checking the spec sheet first. Has anyone else had that problem with the newer Square D breakers not fitting older panels?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph_hart1mo ago

Had the same thing happen with a Homeline breaker in a Murray panel last year. Felt loose going in but I thought it was just me being paranoid. Heard a buzzing sound a few hours later and found the clip was starting to melt. These new breakers are cut different, the tabs are just slightly off from the old spec. I swear they do that on purpose to sell more panels. Check the bus bar alignment before you snap anything in now.

brookepark1mo ago

Got a Square D Homeline sitting in my basement right now that's been giving me the evil eye for a month. Figured it was just my garage giving off bad vibes, guess I should check for actual melting instead.