Thread: Unusual main breakers

I don't remember running into this before. It is an older ITE panel, now a branch panel but I beleive was originally the service panel. It has 2 40 amp 2-pole breakers side by side, each breaker feeds the bus below it. It seems that each 2-pole breaker feeds 1 leg of the bus. I guess this would be an 80 amp main breaker?
Should they have a common handle tie?

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Yes, those two breakers should be tied together with a tie-bar. Good luck finding one, but then he improvised that far and should have finished it.

I think I see the grounding bus joined to the neutral lug with a black jumper that runs under the new main breakers. That is wrong for a submarine panel.
Screw grounding that bus to the panel box - right, no screw grounding the neutral bus - right. Neutral jumper - right, Jumper from neutral lug to the grounding bus - wrong.

Thanks John.
The jumper was cut, here's a closer crop.
I am not sure the grounding bus was bonded to the panel however, if it was I didn't see it.
Nevermind, I see the bonding screw you are referring to.

An electrician needs to be brought in, IMO.

If it's a sub-panel, the grounding & bonding look OK. No need for the main, but since it's there, it is supposed to be secured mechanically to the panel. Definitely must have a handle tie, but agree you're not gonna find it, unless a complete factory unit. I do not like it and think it's funky, but this idea of using two C/Bs as additive overload protection on the same phase, evidently is, ( or at least was ), legal.