breaker box and breaker brand

daxinarian

How important is it that the box and breakers are the same brand?

I was looking at my box the other day and read a warning saying something like: "Using any other brand circuit breakers voids the warrenty and may void UL listing..."
Just after that I noticed that I had more than one brand of breakers in this box. Is this warning for real or is it just a marketing ploy to force people to buy "their" breakers? Is their any danger (all the breakers seem to work just fine), would this fail an inspection?

Thanks
Dax

gregzoll

Pictures make up for a Thousand words.

wjlundyjr

I have the same curiosity.

I have a Square D box, but when my Central AC was installed, the HVAC tech slapped in a different brand of breaker. By apearance it looks fine.

BTW it passed the HVAC inspection. But I still think its technicaly a fill violation.

Termite

The breaker needs to be listed for use in the panel it is installed in. That doesn't mean that an off-brand breaker can't be used in someone else's panel, but it needs to be listed/labeled for use in that panel.

daxinarian

is it physically possible for an off-brand breaker that isn't listed/labeled to fit correctly and make the proper connections? Or are circuit breaker mfgs smart enough to make it so a "dangerous" installation isn't physically possible?

Stubbie

There are a lot of breakers that will "fit" various panels. The real key to this being code complaint is, as kcTermite has said, they must be listed as a "classified breaker" for the panel. This usually means they have a rejection feature (CTL) that will not allow them to be installed on a buss rail in a panel that they are not listed to be installed. For example Cutler Hammer has breakers that are ul classified for several panels as the below diagram shows...

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Termite

Most breakers are generally inexpensive ($4 to $6 more or less), unless you're dealing with AFCI's. For what it costs, I'd recommend getting the correct breakers just to be safe.