Anyone ever seen one of these?

[AZ.]

If the double breakers were so dangerous, why can you still buy them and the service panel they go in?

Why can you buy Despar switches.
Why do they sell knob and tube stuff
You know florescent lamps/bulbs they have been out of production for what 15 years?....There are billions sitting in warehouses!

Bottom line means if you built new, or and might remodel an inspector might catch it.....Its a strange nitch, just hope if you have a problem the insurance company dont catch it and find that was the problem!

 

[Claude Greiner]

Ah. I have many of these. I paid to replace my main panel, specifying Square D. Came home, what do you think the electrician installed?

Simmons or some cheap garbage

 

[navychop]

GE. Not my first choice. I told him Square D, NOT GE.

Easier to pay him off and be rid of him. Thankfully , no problems so far. I’d have paid more for Square D.

 

[slice1900]

If the double breakers were so dangerous, why can you still buy them and the service panel they go in?

They aren't dangerous. Panels were and still are designed to accept them - you can look at any panel's rating and see the number of spaces and number of circuits it is rated for. They wouldn't do that if the number of spaces was always equal to the number of circuits. If there's a wiring diagram it'll show where tandem breakers are allowed and where they aren't.

Where they get the bad rap as "cheater breakers" is because it is possible to easily modify them (by cutting off a bit of plastic housing) to fit where they don't belong, either because someone wants to crowd in more circuits than the panel is rated for, or because the spaces they are supposed to go in already have standard breakers and it is easier to modify a tandem than to move another breaker.

I should add that some local codes may not allow them, but there's nothing in NEC that prevents them.

 

[navychop]

I’d be surprised if any local code barred them.

 

[slice1900]

I’d be surprised if any local code barred them.

I'll bet Chicago doesn't allow them, they have some pretty strict codes when it comes to anything fire related.

 

[navychop]

Which begs the question about San Francisco.

 

[Techiefan]

If the double breakers were so dangerous, why can you still buy them and the service panel they go in?

They are legal but should be used only when really needed, not to double up a panels capacity. It's the amount of wires and lack of enough free space on the ground and Neutral bar in most panels since you can't double up the neutral etc.

Home Depot and Lowes sells them too but that does mean much as they also sell flex gas pipe and it's not legal in many states for the home owner to install it