This is a main panel, correct? If so, there should be an grounding electrode conductor in the panel. Not sure what you have with the braided wires. You cannot utilize wires in that fashion. Do you have lightning protection? The conductor for that is typpically a braided conductor. You need to have a GEC in the panel somewhere. It is typically attached to the ground bar. Do you have copper water lines (coming into the house)? If so that would be used for your grounding electrode and would be bonded to the panel. As the pevious poster suggested, look for a grounding electrode outside of the house.

The city told me that there is now an ordinance to bury the lines 200 amps and over. Our stove, hot water heater and furnace are gas. The clothes dryer is ready to be replaced and it will be gas. We don't need air conditioning in this area. If nothing else would upgrading to 100 amps be a good improvement to make for the future for other home improvements? Would the 100 amp service also add value to the house or would it just be an expensive upgrade to go over the 60 amps? The electrician says going up to 100 amps is a necessary upgrade.

This was an easy panel to inspect as it only had 2 double pole breakers in it and nothing else. The tabs seemed a bit bent on each one. After the arc flash, I powered down the main and did the inspection. I then placed the breakers in different spots and checked for continuity from line to line and line to ground to make sure I wasn't powering up a dead short of 200 amps. I am currently wiring the owner's new home and this was his old house which I was correcting a few things off an inspection report for him. He'll probably leave this but the next owners really should have it changed especially if they add circuits to it. I think maybe this used panel was pulled out of its previous installation for a good reason and that was very criminal of the company to install it again in someone else's home. Just didn't know if this was a common ITE Siemens thing.

The main dif between the QO and homeline is the Homeline has an aluminum buss and the QO has a tin plated copper bus. The breakers are almost the same mechanicly other than the Homeline has no visible trip window. I really don't know why anyone would not like the Seimens panels(all copper bus lifetime warrenty on the breakers)as they are priced right and high quality. If you are stuck on sq-d and are putting in a 400 amp service you must have an all electric home, so why skimp? Go with the QO