Posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 15:07:00 :
In Reply to: Re: You're just.... posted by Jerry in Idaho on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 14:35:35 :
If I remember right, they lost their UL listing in the mid-80s due to many failures like that. That's also when they stopped carrying the "Westinghouse" brand. They still sell them for replacement purposes but they're very expensive. Out of 5 panels in my building, 2 are Zinsco. I'll replace them if I ever get to the point of installing a whole new electrical service to the building, but for now I just hope they hold up. Fortunately the tenant that has all their circuits maxed out (a coffee shop) has a CH box.
Personally, whenever I work on any circuit, I check the actual part I'm working on with a little old-fashioned neon light bulb tester to make sure it's really dead. You never know whether you really flipped the right breaker, or the circuit is getting backfed from some previous owner's G-job, or who knows what else. A neon bulb is better than an incandescent light bulb with wire leads because the neon bulb will light (dimly) if you touch one lead to a hot wire and hold the other lead in your hand, whereas an incandescent bulb will only light up if you you touch one lead to the hot and the other to a good solid ground or neutral. If the circuit you're about to working has its neutral hot or disconnected for some reason, you'd think it was off when it was really still live. They call me "sparky" for a reason, but it's been quite a few years now since I've melted any tools or watch-bands on "dead" circuits.