home breaker issues

[bdcardinal]

I have been having some strange issues with breakers in my house the past month or so. It all started when we had a power outage on the 4th of July that lasted about 18 hours. The power was only out to part of the house, and then eventually went out to the whole house.

I sleep with a fan on, and multiple times throughout the night I will hear the fan die, then I hear my iPhone make the connect and disconnect noise, that is on a different outlet but same room. Also in the office, which is downstairs, the battery backup is constantly switching from wall to battery power.

What was weird is the breaker would not set when the power blipped most of the time. Last night it kicked the breaker and when I went to reset it, the breaker was fairly warm and made a buzzing sound. In looking at replacement breakers, it appears the house was built with a Zinsco (sp?) type r-38 breaker which is made of unobtainium. If I keep having issues, I am thinking the best course of action is getting an electrician to come in and replace the sub-panel and maybe the main panel. For reference the house was built in the 1967-1968 range and my family are the original owners. Here are pics of the sub-panel in question and the breaker labels. The one giving me fits is the bottom red 20amp breaker.

 

[InhalingBullets]

There is a replacement breaker for it on Amazon, so they probably are available elsewhere. its $39 on Amazon.

 

[Al]

Open the main, vacuum off everything, retighten the screws on the breaker and tighten the white wire screws and grounds. Replace the questionable breaker.

 

[The_Jeff]

Zinsco have a rep as fire-starters. I'd just get the new subpanel box that takes cheap $4 siemens breakers from any home store. At some point in the future your insurance company might decide they hate zinsco and want 'em out.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Zinsco have a rep as fire-starters. I'd just get the new subpanel box that takes cheap $4 siemens breakers from any home store. At some point in the future your insurance company might decide they hate zinsco and want 'em out.


I had read that. It looks like there is a retrofit panel made that lets me re-use the wiring but use newer style breakers. The wiring in this house is interesting to say the least, at some point the drywall will have to come down and we will need new wiring and plumbing.

 

[Wolf359]

I haven't run into that particular brand, but if it's warm, probably a loose wire. Take the breaker out and tighten it along with the ground wires. Breakers do go bad over time too and a 40+ year old panel is considered fully depreciated in the parlance of home inspectors.

 

[JHZR2]

Yuck, that's gross. Do yourself a favor and replace with Square D QO or Eaton Cutler Hammer box and breakers.

 

[zzyzzx]

It's a subpanel, you can replace that yourself. If not ask around.

 

[MNgopher]

Sounds like a good reason to replace the panel. Too many potential problems with that type of panel to give me the warm fuzzies.

 

[BubbaFL]

Those Zinsco breakers are bad news.

Get rid of them before they start a fire and burn your house down.

If it's a small sub-panel, it may be cheaper to replace the entire thing with a safe modern breaker than to replace one or two failing Zinsco breakers.

 

[mattwithcats]

A lot of the wiring from the mid / late 1960's had lots of aluminum in them.

Main buss bar is, I believe.

Get an electrician to pull the entire box,
Replace with square d...

 

[spackard]

Can I ask - the sticker says it's a "2 pole unit", I see an out of focus red and a black wire from the bottom and next-to-bottom red breakers, yet you don't have a bar connecting the two arms?

(BTW, same with the one, er, two above them.)

 

[SHOZ]

I see one Sq D breaker in there, the one with 20 on it. If they fit the those are easy to get and very good quality.

If the metal clip and the securing plastic hook are the same form all is good.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: MNgopher
Sounds like a good reason to replace the panel. Too many potential problems with that type of panel to give me the warm fuzzies.


Agreed. At that age and condition, consider yourself lucky that your warning was just some odd issues and not a fire. Since you have a nice, shiny new Mustang with all the bells and whistles, it shouldn't be a problem for you to afford to properly maintain something as important as your home electrical system.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: SHOZ
I see one Sq D breaker in there, the one with 20 on it. If they fit the those are easy to get and very good quality.

If the metal clip and the securing plastic hook are the same form all is good.


Lots of people do it, but UL only tests the panel with the breaker that the manufacturer certifies or the breaker says what panel it will work in. Even if it fits, you're not supposed to use breaker that aren't approved for the panel. Just wouldn't want to give the insurance companies any reason to deny a claim if there's a fire later.

 

[Al]

Originally Posted By: SHOZ
I see one Sq D breaker in there, the one with 20 on it. If they fit the those are easy to get and very good quality.

Its not a Square D. They won't fit in a zinsco box.

 

[bdcardinal]

So my mom just called, her bedroom is the one with the sub panel, and she just got home from Home Depot with replacement breakers. She took pics of them, found them on their webpage and bought a couple. When I get home from work I will check them out and see how it all looks. I still want to put a new sub-panel in, I have wired up harnesses for cars and replaced halogen ballasts, so as long as I follow the same basic safety requirements I should be able to put a panel in myself. I think the breaker was damaged from the weird power outage we had.

 

[JustinH]

Why on the planet wouldn't you consult an electrician?

Yeah you can probably do it, but I'm sure you need permits in California, and most places around the US.

The permit and inspection process is put in place to save your life, from you burning the house down.

You may get yourself into a deeper $$$ problem if you have it inspected and they say that a bunch of other stuff needs to be replaced at the same time. That is the only downside of doing it the correct and legal way.

My dad had to have his breaker box replaced, and the town ordinance said he had to have direct wired smoke alarms installed at the same time instead of battery operated ones.

Makes sense yes but it cost him more money.

 

[bdcardinal]

We're gonna be calling an electrician to handle this. Luckily there is a decent amount money setup for such things from my grandparents passing. Whoever did the wiring on this house back in 67-68 needs to be shot in public.