question about

[david]

My electrician replaced the circuit breaker panels in my house last October. The 100-amp breaker for the sub-panel that handles the two resistor heating elements in the attic (which we don't usually use, but we had to recently, because our boiler went out) kept breaking, because the two units are each rated at 60 amps, so that when both heaters went on, its load was exceeded. When I asked the electrician to remedy this, he said that I would have to pay for the additional work, since there had been a 100-amp breaker there, before, and he had simply followed the configuration of the previous panel when he installed the new one (the reason it had never broken before is that the previous panel was FPE). Is copying the configuration of the old panel customary practice, or is it the case that he should have double-checked what was on the business end of that circuit? (My HVAC contractor, for one, when he came to fix the boiler, said that the electrician shouldn't have assumed anything, especially since this is an older home.) I'd very much appreciate any opinions you can offer.

[handyandy]

I would think a good electrician would at least do a precursory check to prevent situations such as this one. But if he was hired to replace the panel, nothing more, then I guess he did his job. Sounds to me like he did the bare minimum to complete the job. If you have to pay, then I would probably pay someone else.

[david]

Thank you for the response. Your advice makes sense, especially because, after the initial work was done, it took three callbacks before all of the circuits in the house were actually working (at first, half were out; then, after the 1st callback, the half that had been out were working -- but the other half were now out! The electrician who was sent to remedy the first guy's screwups said that apparently he'd mistaken the ground for the hot!? Or something like that -- I don't have a solid grasp of buss bars and etc. -- but I don't walk around calling myself an electrician, either!).

[handyandy]

Mistaken the ground for the hot!? [V] Geez! [xx(] That is scary! That is why I like union electricians. Say what you will, but at least you know they are properly trained. Your first electrician is going to kill himself. I wouldn't let it be in my house!