Challenger Electrical Panel Problems

Today i ran into a challenger 200 amp main panel most likely installed in the early 90 s.

Challenger electrical panel problems.

I would like to install an eaton whole house surge protector. Circuit breakers are designed to keep you and your family safe. Challenger electrical panel cover off the issues with challenger outlined. The name zinsco anywhere on the panel is a sure sign it should be replaced.

Hi i have a challenger sl20 20 40 panel installed 26 years ago. In your notes you also report serious over fusing an additional risk of fire or shock. To break it down the circuit breakers have been known to overheat cause scalding on the bus bars. I did not have any problems with the panel or the breakers and all of them are the original ones.

Challenger electrical panels were known for their relatively low price point. Most of the breakers were challenger brand breakers from the original installation but some were siemens brand breakers from a remodel about 5 years after the house was built. Check your panel today as challenger was very popular in the 80s and 90s. However there are a few brands of breaker still in use today that might not only fail to protect.

Sunday march 1 2020 challenger brand electrical panels were installed in homes during the 1980s and 1990s but have since been found to have a defect that causes the bus bars to overheat under normal operating conditions. Due to this some insurance companies are now requiring challenger panels to be replaced. These conditions alone are sufficient to damage the electrical panel rendering it unreliable and thus unsafe independent of any innate reliabilty issues with challenger panels and breakers. Certain types of challenger electrical panels and breakers catch fire.

Scalding and overheating on an electrical panel is a fire waiting to happen. Also many gte sylvania or sylvania panels are simply re branded zinsco panels or contain the problem zinsco design. Challenger panel overheat reports are not restricted to the use of challenger breakers in fpe panels but it is no surprise and no coincidence that challenger s manufacture and sale of fpe stab lok replacement circuit breakers would by itself produce a blizzard of panel failures bus overheats and circuit breaker no trip failures since replicating a design that has known inherent failures is asking for trouble. Can a replace a 2 pole 30 amp breaker at the top with the 2 pole 50a breaker recommended by the installation manual.

How to tell if you have one.