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Is this right? Electrical Panel?

Here in the Philippines with 220v hot and neutral they use a split panel and main breaker with the hot on one side and neutral on the other. the same with all the house breakers, is that ok with the two bus bars just a half inch from each other?

Update:

This country does a lot of things that aren't right. Just wondering why they don't have neutral and ground bars in their service panels, only circuit breakers? We do get daily brownouts from any number of reasons. so something is not right.

Update 2:

This country does a lot of things that aren't right. Just wondering why they don't have neutral and ground bars in their service panels, only circuit breakers? We do get daily brownouts from any number of reasons. so something is not right.

1 Answer

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  • 9 years ago
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    Your whole country is doing it this way and you're asking if that's all right? I don't understand....

    In terms of how much voltage it would take to start an arc from one bus to the other, it's in the thousands. If you're asking something else, describe what you want more thoroughly.

    Added: Here (US) power coming to the house is neutral plus two 110 V lines in opposite phase; so either hot to neutral gives 110 V and both hots gives 220V. The older domestic panel used a pair of cartridge fuses in a pull-out assembly for the main and for two 220 appliances (stove and clothes dryer). It used Edison-base screw-in fuses for the individual load circuits, two vertical rows (originally probably only four circuits) and had a neutral bus on each side.

    The more modern panels have a main circuit breaker bolted into the upper part of the panel, then two vertical rows of individual breakers. There's a twinned central mounting rail and interleaved phase connections extending outward. The individual breakers are designed so they hook into the central rail and then snap down over the hot connection; and because they are interleaved any two adjacent breakers will be on opposite phases. So now for a 220 V circuit you simply get a twin breaker with the handles wired together and plug it in anywhere on the rail. The box as supplied has all the individual positions covered but they're stamped out so that you can simply twist them with pliers to open up a position. The one in my house has a 100-amp main breaker and space for ?20? breakers. It has a neutral bus on each side and a safety ground bus along the bottom, IIRC. The individual breakers are behind a door and the main is exposed. The entire front cover is secured by a screw at each corner; removing it gives full access to everything. The sides of the box have many knockouts of different sizes to accommodate the various circuits and different types of wire.

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