Zinsco and Zinsco-Sylvania circuit breakers
of the design described here do not offer the level of overcurrent and fire protection provided by most other electrical panels and circuit breakers. This means homes with this equipment are at greater risk of fire or other electrical hazards. Where Zinsco electrical panels and Zinsco circuit breakers are in use, arcing, contact-point burn, and even circuit breaker case blow-out have been observed in the field.
A principal Zinsco circuit breaker (or Sylvania or GTE-Sylvania or Kearney electrical panel using this circuit breaker) point of failure appears to be at the point of contact where the circuit breaker contacts clip onto the electrical panel bus, combined with the use of an aluminum electrical panel bus.
In addition to advice on identifying Zinsco panels, inspecting Zinsco electrical panels, and repair/replacement advice, we provide field photographs of circuit breaker failures: overheating, burnups, failures to trip, overcurrent protection failure.