Overheard a kid tell his dad that old breaker boxes look "cool"

I was at a supply house in Phoenix last Tuesday grabbing some 12/2 Romex and this teenager walks past a row of old Pushmatic panels and says they look cooler than the new gray stuff. His dad just shrugged. It got me thinking about how we treat vintage electrical gear like it's a problem but some homeowners actually want to keep that old exposed look. Has anyone else run into customers asking to keep a vintage panel just for the aesthetic?

2 comments

2 Comments

morgan_jenkins9028d ago

Wait, is this kid trying to start a new trend where we all want our houses to look like a 1970s fallout shelter? I've been an electrician for 12 years and I'll take that boring gray plastic any day over trying to find replacement breakers for a Pushmatic. Honestly, the only thing "cool" about those old panels is how fast they can make you sweat when you're trying to work on them. I guess if someone wants to keep that vintage look they can frame the dead front and hang it on their wall or something, just keep it away from my meter socket!

mila_jones3928d ago

Oh come ON, it's really not THAT deep. The kid posted a cool vintage panel, not a manifesto on electrical code reform. If you're an electrician sweating over a Pushmatic breaker, maybe bring a spare instead of writing a whole novel about how dangerous aesthetics are. I get that it's annoying to work on, but people post art deco lamps and nobody screams about rewiring them. Calm down and let the guy enjoy his retro breaker box without acting like it's a personal attack on your career.