# Old slate panel



## kbsparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Did you strip out those copper buss bars for recycling? That task could have been done during a lunch hour ....:whistling2:


----------



## Andy in ATL (Aug 17, 2007)

Big red- you got some cool pics. Don't quit posting them.


----------



## Speedy Petey (Jan 10, 2007)

VERY cool! 
I've seen stuff like that, but never THAT big.


----------



## bigredc222 (Oct 23, 2007)

kbsparky said:


> Did you strip out those copper buss bars for recycling? That task could have been done during a lunch hour ....:whistling2:


 Lunch time hell. It was in the way. The room was very small. I had to get it out. It would have taken 4 to 6 guys to move maybe half of it. It killed me, but I just let the guts crash to the floor. I stripped it with a hammer and chisle. I was working with a guy that has to pay his ex $2000 a month alamony, so I gave him the buss and I took the wire. I mounted the new disc. in the old can. It was heavy gauge steel. Think of what it would take to mount a pool table to the wall. It wouldn't surprized if that slate weighed 800-1000 lbs.


----------



## bigredc222 (Oct 23, 2007)

Andy in ATL said:


> Big red- you got some cool pics. Don't quit posting them.


 Thank's It's neat having other people that like this old stuff.:thumbsup:


----------



## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

bigredc222 said:


> Thank's It's neat having other people that like this old stuff.:thumbsup:


You thought you were the only member of the dinosaurs collectors club??


----------



## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

I might have mentioned before that I grew up substantially in an old downtown hotel building that was constructed in the late 1800's. Its service equipment could have been the twin to the one in the picture. I never realized all those years how special that was. Still wishing I'd have taken pictures of that. Thanks, Big Red, for the trip down memory lane. Good stuff...


----------



## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

MDShunk said:


> I might have mentioned before that I grew up substantially in an old downtown hotel building that was constructed in the late 1800's. Its service equipment could have been the twin to the one in the picture. I never realized all those years how special that was. Still wishing I'd have taken pictures of that. Thanks, Big Red, for the trip down memory lane. Good stuff...


 
How many items have you had in your hand and decided to trash over the years that you wish you had now?


----------



## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

randomkiller said:


> How many items have you had in your hand and decided to trash over the years that you wish you had now?


Right. In times gone by, I never realized how special some of this stuff was. Speedy's wooden panelbox converted to a key box is one such situation. I can clearly remember removing at least one with a claw hammer and much force, reducing it to a small pile of so much kindling.


----------



## bigredc222 (Oct 23, 2007)

Dito. I started saving stuff about 10 years ago. I can't even remember how much stuff I must have tossed before that.


----------



## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

MDShunk said:


> Right. In times gone by, I never realized how special some of this stuff was. Speedy's wooden panelbox converted to a key box is one such situation. I can clearly remember removing at least one with a claw hammer and much force, reducing it to a small pile of so much kindling.


Exactly what came to mind, I worked on a building years ago that looked like the "Honeymooners" apartment in Brooklynn that had one of those panels in every unit (but they had @ 100 years of paint on each one). Who knew?


----------



## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

You should see some of the original 800-1200 amp dual MD services in NYC public schools that still heat with coal boilers!


----------



## Idaho Abe (Nov 28, 2007)

*OLD Meter*

I inspected a house awhile ago. and the old meter on the porch was very small and spun around like an odometer for a car. Lineman took it with him.


----------



## Chris Kennedy (Nov 19, 2007)

bigredc222 said:


>


I'm old but have never seen this. Whats up with the 4 buses?


----------



## bigredc222 (Oct 23, 2007)

It's 2 phase. Don't ask why they call 4 hot's 2 phase. It's like 2 single phase 240 volt services. 
parallel. They still use it in old buildings in Phila. We replaced this with a new service, and had to keep the 2 phase. The Poco hadn't changed over that street yet. They used to have 2 phase motors that would use all 4 hot's. That's about all that would use all 4 of them, big cranes, and industrial stuff. Otherwise you just treat it like a singe phase service. You can't mix up the set's. A and B are a pair and C and D are a pair. If you try to run use something that's 208-240 and don't keep the pairs right, you get wacky reading's, and fuses blow. We bought a transformer that take the 2 phase and changed it to 3 phase. It's hard to see but there are 4 pole knife switches all over that panel. The copper bus has little saddles jumping over the buss.


----------



## JohnJ0906 (Jan 22, 2007)

2-phase 5-wire, isn't it? I know it is still mentioned a few places in the NEC. I think someone posted a xfmr diagram for this once.


----------



## bigredc222 (Oct 23, 2007)

Yes 5 wire. I guess when I said 2 singe phase services it could sound like 2 neutrals. I thought it was like 3 phase and would work no matter what order you hook up the wires. When we fed the Xformer. It got hooked up A C B D. We turned it on. The transformer started vibrating. We thought maybe the shipping screws didn't get loosened, or it was just noisy. The pipe where vibrating also. I was working in the basement 2 other guys where on the other end. I don't remember what the voltage was. We turned it off checked the screws. It turned out one of the fuses blew. After a lot of scatching our heads. We figured it out, hooked it up A B C D, replaced the fuse, and it was good.


----------



## John (Jan 22, 2007)

JohnJ0906 said:


> 2-phase 5-wire, isn't it? I know it is still mentioned a few places in the NEC. I think someone posted a xfmr diagram for this once.


Here you go and it's called a Scott-T transformer connection. The Phases are 90 degrees apart, so you will get some weird voltages if it is not connected right.

View attachment 310



Reqired reading section:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott-T_transformer


----------



## RICK BOYD (Mar 10, 2008)

bigredc222 said:


> This is a 400 amp 2 phase panel. I demo'ed it in an old theater in Phila. It's about 5' high X 10' wide. It had 1" thick slate about 2'x4' sections. Unbelievably heavy. It has copper buss about 1" wide X 1/8"feeding the knife switches. It was definitely the coolest elec. thing I've ever seen. I wanted to save it but it was to heavy.


We have a pannel board you would like in st. joe mo. it is 8'x8' solid slate
2" thick has several 900 amp 3 phase knife switches, recording volt meters and other interesting features. I will try to get photos. 
It is in Robidoux Resident dinner theater
origionally ran the ovens for the first saltene cracker bakery in the US,which sold to Nabisco in the 1800's


----------

