Bulldog pushmatic residential panel with no main shutoff

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antari1228

New User
Location
Mich
Occupation
Consultant
I have a Bulldog panel with pushmatic breakers. With main and sub bus bars. There are the 2 hots coming in from outside into the box and connected to the bus bar. there is no main shutoff. There are 3 30amp dbl pole breakers at the top of the bus bar which are used for furnace, electric stove, etc. There is a 50amp breaker that connects the upper bus bar to the lower bus bar. the rest of the lower bus bar has 15 and 20 amp breakers.

the 50 amp breaker is failing to stay energized, there is a replacement from Connecticut electric For the same breaker. however the only way to remove the 50 amp breaker is to unscrew 2 screws on the hot bus and 2 screws on the lower bus which is hot, I have no way to shut of power to the box, other than calling an electrician.

question: using a dual insulation screw driver rated for 1000 volts and wearing a pair of class 0 rubber linesman gloves, would it be stupid to remove the 4 screws replace the breaker and screw it back in?

in the past I’ve shut the 50 amp off to the lower section to replace breakers and added a new circuit while tlhe box is hot, but never directly worked on a bus that was hot.

just need to hear from some experts as to my thinking.
thank you.

Zig
 

Dennis Alwon

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