Walked past a panel from 1988 yesterday in a basement near Cleveland

2 comments

2 Comments

Oh man, that brings back memories. I found an old Eaton Cutler-Hammer panel from 1985 in a warehouse in Akron last year. It was still humming along, powering some ancient conveyor system that nobody wanted to touch. The breakers were those big thermal magnetic ones with the red handles, felt like they weighed ten pounds each. I stood there for a good five minutes just admiring how bulletproof that stuff was compared to the modern plastic junk.

val_taylor18d ago

Stood there myself a few years back, staring at a 1970s Square D panel in an old printing press room. Those industrial breakers are something else, they've got this heft that tells you they mean business. I remember one was marked "Westinghouse" and it had this baked-on enamel finish that'd probably outlast my house. Modern breakers feel flimsy in comparison, like they're made of recycled yogurt cups. The old gear wasn't fancy but it wasn't trying to be, just pure function with zero planned obsolescence baked in. Your mileage may vary but I'd take that 85 panel over a new one any day of the week.