Tried a torque screwdriver on a panel board and snapped a terminal right off

I was tightening down a 200 amp main breaker at a job site in Portland last Tuesday. Used my new torque screwdriver set to 50 inch-pounds like the manual said, and the plastic terminal block cracked clean in half. Turns out the old GE panel I was working on had brittle 1990s plastic that couldn't take it. Anybody else run into torque specs that ruin older gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_hayes26d ago

Heard a guy at the supply house say older panels are like ticking time bombs with torque specs...

robert_hayes25d ago

Totally get why that stuck with you. Older panels can be a real headache if they weren't torqued right from the start, and that talk about them being time bombs is honestly pretty accurate. It's unsettling knowing some of those connections might be loose just from age and heat cycling.