Cutler Hammer

Looking at this panel, #8 calls it out as HOUSE which is a 50 amp breaker. No other disconnects from this panel to the meter. House built in 1959. Should I rely on the label and assume it is the main disconnect? It is undersized too. Call it out as undersized, should be a minimum of 100 amps? Thoughts please, thanks

That looks like a split bus panel where there is no single main CB. You can have up to 6 CB’s as service disconnects. The 50 amp is back fed from the lugs on the top and is one of the 6 service disconnects. It is not required to be 100 amps or more.

Whether or not it’s too small would be determined by a load calculation. Given that panel’s age I would say that unless the 50 amp CB was tripping often it’s been used that way for a long time and it’s probably fine. There are two double taps on the main lugs that are a violation.

Yep…split bus.

Agree…