Zinsco Electrical Panel Fire Hazard

Zinsco was a very popular electrical panel brand.

Zinsco electrical panel fire hazard.

Zinsco fire injury hazard. As society s electrical demands increased these breakers were not able to keep up. In the 1970 s the manufacturing of zinsco panels came to a stop. The company is now defunct but some homes built in the 70 s still have these unsafe panels.

Here we outline safety precautions that should be taken by building owners where zinsco and gte sylvania zinsco electrical panels are installed and we outline some indicators that a problem may be occurring with this equipment. It was a very popular product and installed throughout north america. Production was halted when design flaws were discovered. Zinsco or zinsco sylvania is the name given to a brand of electrical panel that was commonly installed up to the mid 1970 s.

This means the breaker can t ever trip even when there s a. Zinsco was a popular brand of electrical panel in the 1970 s. This zinsco electrical panel article discusses the electrical fire and shock hazards associated with zinsco electrical components circuit breakers electrical panels including certain sylvania electrical panels and breakers which are in fact of the same product design and origin. Zinsco is now defunct but many homes still have these panels.

Zinsco electric panels could leave property owners at risk for both fire and electric shock as a result of failing to operate properly as much as 25 of the time. The circuit breakers inside many zinsco panels melt to the main bus bar. There are structural issues with the breaker contact points that cause zinsco electrical panels to overheat resulting in fire. While there are very few of these breakers in operation today because of their popularity we still occasionally run across them in older homes.

In addition to the failure of these circuit breakers to protect a building and its occupants from dangerous overcurrents it is visually obvious from photographs of zinsco equipment failures that severe overheating occurs in the equipment. These electrical panels have been abandoned by the industry and it is difficult to find an electrician that will service this. Zinsco or gte sylvania panels were popular electrical panels installed in homes throughout the 1970s.