Older house built in florida in 1950's.
states it was "rewired" at some point.
Looking to add a breaker. and do some shopping
Wondering if someone can ID these breakers so i know what im looking for.
Thanks in advance.
Electrical – Identify older breaker type. Pictures
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Related Solutions
You have two options:
- use tandem breakers
- Install a sub panel
There are caveats with both routes. When using tandem breakers on a 120 volt system (i.e. with a neutral present), you want to avoid something that is called a multifeed. This is, two circuits on the same phase sharing the same neutral. When using tandem breakers, its very easy to inadvertently do this.
If you are in the US, you will see two feeders from the meter, one of them probably has some red tape on it, the other is black. These are your phases. Normally, every other breaker is on a different phase, but tandem breakers put both circuits on the same. Take care that both circuits attached to a tandem have their own neutral (white wire).
While you might be able to install a tandem breaker yourself (I highly recommend calling a qualified professional), you will surely want an electrician to install a sub panel. They aren't much different from a regular panel except:
- Ground and neutral conductors are isolated, not bonded on sub panels
- You want to watch your loads
- You'll want to be careful about where you place the breaker that feeds a sub panel, so that you don't develop a hot spot on the main panel bus. For instance, you don't want a 100 amp sub panel breaker right in the middle of a water heater and an air conditioner.
In either case, I really recommend calling an electrician.
I can see a SquareD logo on the side, and the red indicator window on the front makes it look like a Square D QO 20-Amp Single-Pole Circuit Breaker, model #QO120CP:
The overall shape of the breaker and orientation of the contacts on the back seem to match your breaker.
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Best Answer
One of the types of breakers mentioned in the panel label, Bryant GFCB, are still made. Bryant was bought by Eaton some time back, so they are now known as Eaton BR GFCI series. Most big box and stores stock them, or any electrical supply house will be able to get them for you.
Image from Home Depot - Eaton Type BR GFCB
Interestingly, as Harper notes in the comments, regular non-GFCI type BR breakers are not listed for use with this panel for some reason. I expect they would still be safe to use since the busing is identical on regular and GCFI type BR breakers, but it would not pass an inspection that way since it is not listed for that use. So the only currently manufactured breakers originally listed for use with this panel are going to be GFCI type.
It appears that Eaton also makes some cross-listed breakers that are compatible with the original Crouse-Hinds ones. See this PDF for more details