I am having my panel replaced with a panel that has more real estate as well as having my Knob and Tube replaced.
Currently I have an older 24 Circuit/Spot Square D QO box. I would like to reuse some of the newer breakers in this box in the new box.
I would like to go with Square D again as from what I have read their reputation is very good and I like the plug on neutral.
I have read the QO boxes are more the Cadillac of boxes and the Homelines are not as good.
The issue I see though is, the Homeline boxes have the screw terminal for the neutral bus along the height of the box next to the breakers. This seems like a great feature for wire management and trace-ability.
The other advantage I see with this neutral bus is that circuit can easily be switched to CAFI as the neutral is already there and can just be moved to the breaker without having to splice the shortened neutral at the top neutral bus and extend it down.
The one feature I have seen in the QO line is the Qwik Grip. Again this seems like an amazing feature for adding circuits and manageability.
My question is:
Are there any QO boxes out there that have the neutral screws along the breakers like the Homeline?
From any experience, is having the neutral bus run along the breakers an advantage as I mentioned above?
Can anyone point me to a QO box with Qwik Grip and neutral bus along the breakers?
Best Answer
As it turns out, you can get what you want, but it's an extra piece
The QO and Homeline loadcenters use different designs for their plug-on neutrals. The QO design has the screw terminals up against the mains while the neutral busbar extending down the breakers is plug-on only, while the Homeline plug-on neutral bars provide screw holes along their length. Furthermore, the QO's bigger brother (the NQ) doesn't have any support for plug-on neutrals at all (this limits you to 60 slots, vs the 84 available in NQ).
However, someone at Square-D was thoughtful, because they make what are called neutral extension kits for the QO loadcenter line. You'll need to order these from a supply house that stocks Square-D stuff (part numbers are QONK1 through QONK4 depending on how long you want the extension bars to be), but if you can get one of these kits in, this will give you something close to what you want, with extra neutral bars running alongside the breakers in the gutter.