Allis Chalmers MCC

[CuriousElectron]

Hi Gents,

I will be adding new breakers to an existing legacy Allis Chalmers lineup and was wondering what vendor breakers are carried by Allis Chalmers? Westinghouse? AC is now out of business and so it may be difficult to procure retrofits.

Thanks for feedback.
EE

 

[waross]

I would go for a single stand-alone MCC section.
Go for competitive quotes and specify new construction.
Fill the section with anything that you may possibly use in the future.
Set it at the end of the existing MCC and cable connect it to the existing MCC bus bars.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[Zogzog]

We build direct replacement buckets for those and can use any OEM components, most often we use Eaton parts

 

[CuriousElectron]

Thank you for the responses. Would another option be to add a panel adjacent to the MCC and take advantage of the 10 ft rule and run a feeder from the MCC main bus over the new panel?

Thanks,
EE

 

[waross]

Yes, subject to a ruling of your AHJ.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[jraef]

Allis Chalmers morphed into Siemens-Allis, which is now of course just Siemens. Siemens sells retrofit buckets for Allis Chalmers Mark 2 MCC buckets with Siemens (ITE) breakers in them. If you have an older Mark 1 MCC (pre-1972), you can still get bucket frames for them from Siemens, but they don't build units for them.

https://w3.usa.siemens.com/us/inter...on/Docs/MCC Aftermarket Replacement Guide.pdf

" We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know." -- W. H. Auden

 

[waross]

As i mentioned, the cost of a new stand alone section may be 25% to 30% of the cost of OEM parts.
Been there, done that, waiting for the tee shirt. grin

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[jraef]

My rule of thumb is that even if it is current product, if you need more than two MCC "buckets" it's cheaper to buy a section with your buckets as if it is a "new" MCC, because new MCC projects are priced to be competitive, whereas replacement buckets are not.

I refer to the buckets as "coming with a handy steel shipping container that can double as a shop parts shelf after removing the buckets." I had several such shelves in my old shop after getting a contract to retrofit about 50 GE starter and feeder buckets of various sizes for a refinery. After removing the buckets, I stripped out the copper bus bars for scrap and used the empty structures as parts bins by putting in plastic dishpans that were about the same size.


" We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know." -- W. H. Auden