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Zinsco Sylvania GTE identifying Label (C) J Simmons D FriedmanReplacement Circuit Breakers for Kearney, B&C Kearney, GTE Sylvania Zinsco Panels

  • POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about buying & installing replacement circuit breakers for Kearney, GTE Sylvania Zinsco, or Zinsco Electrical Panels

Should you install a new or replacement Zinsco or GTE Sylvania Zinsco or Kearney circuit breaker in your electrical panel?

Probably not. Doing so may not make your electrical panel perform more reliably nor more safely.

This article series discusses the electrical, fire, and shock hazards associated with Zinsco, GTE Sylvania Zinsco, and Kearney electrical components, circuit breakers, electrical panels, including certain Sylvania-Zinsco electrical panels and breakers which are in fact of the same product design and origin.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Replacement Circuit Breakers for GTE Sylvania Zinsco & Kearney Electrical Panels

Replacement circuit breaker for GTE Sylvania Zinsco Kearney - we do NOT recommend using replacment breakers in these panel brands (C) InspectApedia.com

You'll notice that blue, red as well as black-toggle-switch colored GTE Sylvania Zinsco circuit breakers remain available.

Watch out: "replacement" Zinsco-type circuit breakers are still being marketed to fit in Zinsco, GTE-Sylvania Zinsco, and Kearney electrical panels as you can see from these advertising photographs found by internet seach on 20178/05/02.

We recommend complete electrical panel replacement.

Watch out: do NOT try to open up your panel nor to remove circuit breakers yourself.

There is live voltage in the panel interior - you could be shocked or killed. Never insert any tool nor your fingers into the interior of an electrical panel.

Electrical panel interior access should be by a licensed and trained electrician.

Several vendors sell "replacement" GTE Sylvania Zinsco or Kearney circuit breakers including

Replacement GTE Sylvania Zinsco Kearney circuit breakers - we recommend panel replacement not breaker replacement (C) InspectApedia.com

Many additional circut breaker models ranging from 15A to 225A, 1209VAC, 240VAC, and 120/240VAC models, in single, double, and three pole breaker designs, in these GTE-Sylvania Zinsco/Kearney breaker designs: HQGF, HRGF, R, Q, QB, QB24, QC, QFB, QFL, QFP.

There was never a Kearney, Zinsco nor GTE-Sylvania Zinsco electrical panel recall. These panels should be replaced.

Do not simply replace individual circuit breakers. In our opinion replacement circuit breakers, whether "new old stock" or made by a new independent supplier, will not change the innate design hazards of these electrical panels.

Watch out: GTE Sylvania Zinsco electrical panels and circuit breakers use a thin vertical bus bar and deep slots into the connecting circuit breaker to form a connection that corrodes, arc-burns, overheats, and is unreliable. These panels and circuit breakers are in our opinion unsafe and should be replaced.

Replacing a circuit breaker will not correct arc-burned, overheat-prone bus bar connections in the electrical panel.

Details about a typical replacement circuit breaker sold for these panels are at UBI FPE CIRCUIT BREAKER TEST RESULTS.

Also see OEM breaker performance at this ZINSCO CIRCUIT BREAKER TEST REPORT.

Therefore in our view and based on independent expert testing, replacing Zinsco, GTE Sylvania Zinsco, or Kearney circuit breakers will not make significant safety nor reliability improvements in a Kearney, Zinsco nor GTE-Sylvania Zinsco electrical panel.

Zinsco circuit breaker close-up showing bus connection (C) Daniel Friedman

Counterfeit GTE-Sylvania Zinsco & Kearney Circuit Breaker Warning

Counterfeit Zinsco or GTE Sylvania Zinsco or Kearney circuit breakers intercepted by U.S. ICE and HSI - at InspectApedia.comWatch out: separate from companies selling what they assert are new, non-counterfeit GTE Sylvania Zinsco or Kearny circuit breakers that may not perform adequately, there have been absolute fake or counterfeit circuit breakers sold on eBay and perhaps from other vendors. See

Elod Tamas Toldy, owner of Pioneer Breaker and Control Supply sentenced to federal prison for mail fraud and trafficking in counterfeit goods and services for marketing COUNTERFEIT CIRCUIT BREAKERS on eBay [PDF], under the brand names Zinsco and FPE Stab-Lok. - source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, retrieved 2018/05/02, original source https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/texas-business-owner-sentenced-counterfeit-circuit-breaker-scheme - ICE Office of Public Affairs at (202) 732-4242.

Members of the public can report suspected counterfeit operations by calling the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations HSI’s toll-free hotline at: 866-347-2423.


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Continue reading  at ZINSCO REPLACEMENT PANELS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see CIRCUIT BREAKER RESET STEPS

CIRCUIT BREAKER FAILURE RATES

IDENTIFY ZINSCO ELECTRICAL PANELS

UBI FPE CIRCUIT BREAKER TEST RESULTS

FPE REPLACEMENT BREAKERS

ZINSCO CIRCUIT BREAKER TEST REPORT

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