Siemens breakers in an Eaton panel

[Jy man]

Hey gang, I bought a house, i just Reno’d my kitchen, added a few circuits, super busy day running around finished a couple side jobs, I had a couple of Siemens breakers in my shed, grabbed them and stuck them in the panel, never thought anything about it, as they fit perfectly into the panel, I wired up the circuits, fired everything up, no issues, about an hour later, I was looking for my marking pen, couldn’t find it anywhere…thinking I didn’t leave it in the panel did I ?, back down I go open it up sure Nuff sittin inside the panel, it was then that I noticed a Brkr with an Eaton sticker, I thought that was strange, so I looked a Little further, the whole panel is Eaton Brkrs I didn’t even realize I had mixed brkrs …so my question is…is there a compatibility issue using Siemens knife blade brkrs in an Eaton panel…can’t find anything on line? 100a pn, used single pole 15 and a single pole 20 (12 gauge wire)

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Is this a Cutler Hammer BR series? The BR series will accept many different breakers and it appears Siemens made breakers for the BR series. Depending on who you ask you will get different answers. Some say it is not compliant while others say it is fine as long as they are made for the panel.

Cutler Hammer is now Eaton

 

[ptonsparky]

Hey gang, I bought a house, i just Reno’d my kitchen, added a few circuits, super busy day running around finished a couple side jobs, I had a couple of Siemens breakers in my shed, grabbed them and stuck them in the panel, never thought anything about it, as they fit perfectly into the panel, I wired up the circuits, fired everything up, no issues, about an hour later, I was looking for my marking pen, couldn’t find it anywhere…thinking I didn’t leave it in the panel did I ?, back down I go open it up sure Nuff sittin inside the panel, it was then that I noticed a Brkr with an Eaton sticker, I thought that was strange, so I looked a Little further, the whole panel is Eaton Brkrs I didn’t even realize I had mixed brkrs …so my question is…is there a compatibility issue using Siemens knife blade brkrs in an Eaton panel…can’t find anything on line? 100a pn, used single pole 15 and a single pole 20 (12 gauge wire)

You are doomed to rot in Purgatory.

BR has descended through so many companies, Pushmatic, SQD QOs, and CH breakers are about the only ones that won't 'fit'. There may be a few other discontinued brands. I wonder how many are just rebranded and made by the same mfg.

 

[norcal]

the BR line was originally Bryant, and owned by Westinghouse, they dropped the Bryant brand in favor of the Westinghouse brand, some years later Westinghouse bought the CBS TV network, & decided to sell off all their industrial lines, Eaton bought their electrical distribution & controls, folding it into their Cutler-Hammer brand who they bought in 1978, so now it's branded as Cutler-Hammer, after a run of that they drop the C-H brand & everything is Eaton now. To make things even more confusing during the Westinghouse era, they bought Challenger, keeping the panels & having the BR breakers listed for both.

 

[LarryFine]

Jy, welcome to the forum.

Look at your panel label. Go by breaker type, not manufacturer.