# Big Zinsco



## Hanford43 (Mar 5, 2017)

I'm sure we have all seen way too many Zinsco panels in our lifetimes, but this one was unlike any I have seen. Taken from a panel change I did at a house built in 1958. Biggest Zinsco I have ever come across and it was HEAVY. Case used a heavy gauge steel.


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

The original Arc Faulting breakers!


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## matt1124 (Aug 23, 2011)

Looks fine to me, why change it?


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## Cow (Jan 16, 2008)

matt1124 said:


> Looks fine to me, why change it?


Because, after sixty years in service, there is something better available.


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## ralpha494 (Oct 29, 2008)

Not a single breaker ever tripped in 60 years.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Cow said:


> Because, after sixty years in service, there is something better available.


Or pretty much anything available is better in this case!


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

Anything that's over 40 years old has reached the end of its design life.

Period.

One should never leave a panel in service until it fails. They are not incandescent lamp bulbs.

They don't fail in a safe manner... quite the opposite is the case.


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## B-Nabs (Jun 4, 2014)

I don't think I've ever seen a panel where the breakers are installed in two axes.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

B-Nabs said:


> I don't think I've ever seen a panel where the breakers are installed in two axes.


Ditto for North American panels.


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

Two Axes... You mean with two separate busbars fed by the mains above?

Zinsco had some weird panels, this one I have seen about 3 times. They had a similar all-in-one unit, with a meter and distribution on it. They are heavy SOB's.....

The guy I worked for at the time had a whole pile of crap and we were required to put all the Zinsco and FPE items in it, just in case he needed to install them one day....


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## B-Nabs (Jun 4, 2014)

Switched said:


> Two Axes... You mean with two separate busbars fed by the mains above?
> 
> Zinsco had some weird panels, this one I have seen about 3 times. They had a similar all-in-one unit, with a meter and distribution on it. They are heavy SOB's.....
> 
> The guy I worked for at the time had a whole pile of crap and we were required to put all the Zinsco and FPE items in it, just in case he needed to install them one day....


I've seen split bus panels, what I meant is I've never seen one where the top breakers are horizontal and the lower ones vertical (installed in a different axis than the others; "axes" being the plural of "axis", but also the plural of "axe", just pronounced differently, an easy source of confusion in the written word).


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Mech's language lesson of the day!

Axes is the only word in the English language that is the plural of three different singular noun forms--ax, axe, and axis.


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## B-Nabs (Jun 4, 2014)

MechanicalDVR said:


> Mech's language lesson of the day!
> 
> Axes is the only word in the English language that is the plural of three different singular noun forms--ax, axe, and axis.


What's the difference between ax and axe (apart from the presence of an 'e')? As far as I know it's just two different ways to spell the same word.


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## drewsserviceco (Aug 1, 2014)

Is " axis' " not an option? I don't have an axe to grind, per se, just curious.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

B-Nabs said:


> What's the difference between ax and axe (apart from the presence of an 'e')? As far as I know it's just two different ways to spell the same word.


It is two versions, ax is more American and axe more European.

Americans like to bastardize words.

Much like labor and labour.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

drewsserviceco said:


> Is " axis' " not an option? I don't have an axe to grind, per se, just curious.


Axis is just one plane per se. ie: north-south axis.


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## drewsserviceco (Aug 1, 2014)

Yes, but the apostrophe makes it plural, I thought if the word ended in s, you just use the apostrophe and drop the second s, or am I confusing possessive words ending in s?

There's a reason I'm an electrician...


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

drewsserviceco said:


> Yes, but the apostrophe makes it plural, I thought if the word ended in s, you just use the apostrophe and drop the second s, or am I confusing possessive words ending in s?
> 
> There's a reason I'm an electrician...


An apostrophe is more for possession than to indicate plural forms.


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## B-Nabs (Jun 4, 2014)

Yeah to my knowledge, in correct usage, an apostrophe is never used to pluralize.

1 axis, 2 axes
1 ax (or axe) 2 axes

What you may be thinking of is when denoting possession with a word that already ends in 's', the apostrophe goes after the 's' at the end of the word, without the need to add another 's'. For example, the house that belongs to your parents is your parents' house.


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## Norcal (Mar 22, 2007)

MechanicalDVR said:


> It is two versions, ax is more American and axe more European.
> 
> Americans like to bastardize words.
> 
> Much like labor and labour.



Labour is the bastardized word, English nobles decided to emulate the French, adding the "u" to harbor, color, labor.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Norcal said:


> Labour is the bastardized word, English nobles decided to emulate the French, adding the "u" to harbor, color, labor.


Well due to the fact that I was taught English by a Grandmom that was born and raised in Scotland I was taught to spell all those words with the 'our' ending. I only dropped the 'u' when told to by some of teachers in grammar school as not all of them corrected my spelling to the American version.

Australia, Canada, and the UK still use the 'our' spelling. I still use it more often than not myself, I don't feel the need to change things up that have been with me so long.


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## Norcal (Mar 22, 2007)

MechanicalDVR said:


> Well due to the fact that I was taught English by a Grandmom that was born and raised in Scotland I was taught to spell all those words with the 'our' ending. I only dropped the 'u' when told to by some of teachers in grammar school as not all of them corrected my spelling to the American version.
> 
> Australia, Canada, and the UK still use the 'our' spelling. I still use it more often than not myself, I don't feel the need to change things up that have been with me so long.



When people use "centre" rather then center, I pronounce it "centree" unless it's used where that spelling is correct, my attitude when it's used in the US they spell it wrong, I'll pronounce it wrong. :devil3:

To bring this thread on track, did the OP ever post a photo of the "Big Zinsco"?


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Norcal said:


> When people use "centre" rather then center, I pronounce it "centree" unless it's used where that spelling is correct, my attitude when it's used in the US they spell it wrong, I'll pronounce it wrong. :devil3:
> 
> To bring this thread on track, did the OP ever post a photo of the "Big Zinsco"?


There is no picture that I can see.


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## fdew (Mar 26, 2009)

There was a wonderful time when spelling had not been standardized. (I discovered this when I first read the Federalist papers.) I don't care how any writing is spelled as long as I can understand what is written. 
http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2012/01/24/15-famous-thinkers-who-couldnt-spell/


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