One of the more interesting aspects of our market is the history of the equipment and how it has changed over the years. While most of those changes were technological, some revolved around the people behind the scenes. One in particular that comes to mind, was a group of design engineers that had left the Westinghouse Corporation and went to Federal Pacific Equipment. While the story has certainly has been passed from mouth to mouth over the years, it does have some evidence to back it up. As told to me, it goes like this:

Back in the era of the Westinghouse DB 25 single position circuit breaker, a group of design engineers left the old bar W and went over to FPE. With their designs fresh in their heads, they used much of it to design the old FPE DMB circuit breaker product line. The similarities between the two are obvious. Westinghouse manufactured the DB 25 and the DB 50, etc. FPE’s new product line was called the DMB 25 and the DMB 50, etc. Both of these manufacturers used similar technology and materials for their parts, for example, pole base insulators and arc chutes but the similarities continued to the point that some of the parts are physically interchangeable! In particular, parts like secondary disconnects, control relays, shunt trips and a few others.

    Westinghouse vs. FPE Shunt Trip                                 Westinghouse vs. FPE Secondary

               If you happen to have this FPE switchgear in your facility and you are having a difficult time locating the parts to maintain it, give us a call at 800-647-0815 or send us an email to info@npeinc.com  and we will show you parts that are much more common to the market (and less expensive) and how they can be used to keep your equipment up and running for many more years of reliable service.

As we say at NPE- that’s what we’re here for!

The DS line of air circuit breakers has been a tried and tested product line of low voltage air circuit breakers that have been proven to be both versatile and reliable for decades. Originally, it was sold as a Westinghouse product, then the line was later sold to Square D and then Eaton Cutler Hammer.

It is widely understood that all these breakers are interchangeable regardless of label, however the same does not hold true when replacing the switchgear parts. The switchgear cabinets have been manufactured in several locations around the country which resulted in six different lines of cabinets.  Care must be taken to properly identify which style of cabinet is in question to properly identify and acquire interchangeable parts.

The History of the DS Switchgear Line

The first vintage of DS switchgear was manufactured by Westinghouse in East Pittsburgh in 1969 and continued through 1973. This vintage can be identified as having “Shop Order” (SO) numbers that start with “24Y”. The second vintage was also made in East Pittsburgh through 1984 with SO numbers that started in “27Y” and concurrently with “WPA” switchgear made in St. Louis and was designated by a “General Order” (GO) number rather than a shop order number. The East Pittsburgh gear was generally marketed to heavy industrial users and the WPA gear for commercial applications.

Two more vintages came out of the St. Louis plant, designated as vintage III and IV. Vintage III was an attempt to merge the “27Y” product line with the WPA product line and it is usually designated with a prefix of “28Y”. It was a very short production run during 1984 from May through October.

Vintage IV was made in St. Louis form October 1984 through May of 1990. This vintage continued to use the GO number system and also the “28Y” SO numbers. In 1990, production was moved to Asheville, NC and although changes had been made to the design, the “28Y” SO number system was continued.

Finding Replacement Parts for DS Switchgears

If this sounds confusing, you have a lot of company. So how does someone go about finding replacement parts to maintain their DS switchgear? There are a few options:

• If you are fortunate enough to have the original product literature (see below) it will help to some degree.
• If you know the SO number, GO number and production dates it will help narrow the focus, but even within product lines things like bus size and length will change depending on the configuration and rating of the switchgear.
• Because much of it is no longer manufactured new, you will more than likely find yourself relying on a reputable used electrical equipment dealer like NPE.

Cutler Hammer DS and DSL Low Voltage Power Circuit Breaker Renewal Parts -  Manual RP.22B.01.T.E.

Westinghouse Instructions for Low Voltage Power Circuit Breakers Types DS and DSL – Manual  IB 33.-7901G

Instructions for Type DS Metal-Enclosed Low Voltage Power Circuit Breaker Switchgear Assemblies – Manual IB 32-690-E

The fastest and most reliable way to get the right part, at the right price, at the right time will be with photos and measurements using the NPE On the Go with your smartphone. NPE "On the Go" is very easy to use – just open it up and navigate to Switchgear/Switchgear Parts, answer the product driven questions and attach photos that you’ve taken with your mobile device. This RFQ will be sent to the NPE technical staff where it will receive TOP PRIORITY! Of course, you can still contact us with your requests and questions.      

Use NPE "On the Go" Today!

800-647-0815

info@npeinc.com