Life Extension, Retrofit, & Retrofill Services

CBS’ life-extension programs will extend the useful life of your obsolete switchgear, motor controls, and circuit breakers. This includes raising interrupting capacity, increasing equipment reliability, matching your existing switchgear lineup, providing solid-state trip units, and offering retrofit and retrofill solutions. We can help you get even more value out of your switchgear investments.

Most metal-clad switchgear was designed and built to last 20 years, and today, 30 to 40 years later, continues to distribute electrical power. So how does CBS make 40-year-old switchgear or circuit breaker perform like the latest model equipment?

By upgrading the insulation and contact-making or breaking circuit breaker architecture, Circuit Breaker Sales can add useful life to aging power systems. Retrofitting the electrical equipment with new solid-state controls, protective relays, and modern instrumentation can improve equipment performance and ensure that your switchgear can be supported for many more years to come.

Low Voltage Circuit Breaker Remanufacturing

Life extension: Life extension is an economical way to keep aging electrical equipment in service well beyond the equipment’s original expected life.

Retrofit: Retrofit is the process of using an obsolete or underrated piece of equipment and adding modern or uprated components so as to upgrade the original equipment and extend its useful life. For example, your low-voltage motor control buckets can be retrofitted with new components and modern solid-state overload protective devices.

Retrofill: Retrofill is stripping out old, obsolete or underrated equipment and installing completely new, modern equipment. Frequently this is a draw-out assembly structure that includes a new circuit breaker or contactor.  For example, if you have an old, obsolete low-voltage power circuit breaker, in many cases we can retrofill it with a new cradle assembly and a modern insulated case circuit breaker which has a higher interrupting capacity and modern solid-state electronics.

Using retrofit and retrofill solutions, Circuit Breaker Sales can bring your electrical equipment into the modern age and guarantee the safe operation and uptime of your power distribution equipment. Learn more by using the following links to the Retrofit and Retrofill overview pages.

Before and After Life Extension of Oil Circuit Breaker Converted to Vacuum Circuit Breaker

Upgrade your low-voltage circuit breakers by retrofitting them with a solid-state trip unit.

  • Upgrade low-voltage circuit breakers with vacuum interrupters to increase life in motor-starting applications.
  • In many situations, we can install a retrofit kit that will replace your obsolete low-voltage power circuit breaker with a modern insulated case circuit breaker, which has a higher interrupting capacity and modern solid-state electronics.
  • Medium-voltage motor control can be upgraded with a new GE Multilin motor relay.
  • Low-voltage motor control buckets can be replaced with our UL-listed replacement products.
  • Large low-voltage motor control can be retrofitted with vacuum interrupters to extend their life.
  • Replace your obsolete medium-voltage breaker and drawout cell assembly by installing our retrofill modules that will provide you with a new breaker and cell.
  • Upgrade or replace your discontinued medium-voltage circuit breakers with vacuum roll-in replacements.
  • Retrofit your obsolete medium-voltage air circuit breaker with a vacuum circuit breaker that has the same truck assembly.
  • Install replacement cast-resin power transformers.
  • We can provide a matching switchgear lineup to add feeders to an obsolete substation.
  • ….And much, much more. Contact us to see if we have a retrofit solution for your needs

Here’s an actual example:  Replacing an old, obsolete technology ITE SB3 circuit breaker with a GE SHF PowerBreak II insulated case circuit breaker modified to retrofill the original breaker cubicle.
GE SHF PowerBreak-II circuit breaker retrofill for ITE SB3 circuit breakerITE SB3 circuit breaker (far left) removed and replaced by GE SHF PowerBreak-II insulated case circuit breaker modified to retrofill original cubicle (far right)