Load center
The residential box. Plug-on breakers, 100–225A, 120/240V single-phase, 10kAIC. Inexpensive, high-volume, commodity pricing on the used market. If it serves a house, it is a load center.
TAXONOMY
Panelboard vs. Switchboard vs. Switchgear.
Four boxes, four jobs — what each type is, how to tell them apart at a glance, and why the distinction multiplies used value.
TAXONOMY
Four boxes, four jobs — stop mixing them up.
Load center, panelboard, switchboard, switchgear: four names for metal boxes full of breakers, and the industry uses them precisely. The difference is voltage, current, construction, and where each sits in the power chain. Get the taxonomy right and every equipment listing, nameplate, and buyer conversation gets easier.
Which do you have?
Photograph the manufacturer label — it names the equipment type. Then see our panelboard and switchgear value guides.
THE FOUR
From the wall to the lineup
Panelboard
The commercial box. Bolt-on breakers, up to 1200A, 208Y/120V or 480Y/277V three-phase, up to 200kAIC with series ratings. Copper bus common. This is the workhorse of the used electrical market — interiors trade constantly.
Switchboard
The big commercial box. Freestanding (not wall-mounted), up to 6000A, large frame breakers and fusible switches, rear access. Serves whole buildings or floors. Used switchboards are project-scale equipment with serious resale.
Switchgear
The industrial fortress. Metal-clad construction with compartmentalized breakers (drawout), protective relays, metering, up to 38kV. Built to order, built to last decades, and the most valuable used electrical equipment per ton. See the switchgear value guide.
The quick test
Wall-mounted with plug-on breakers? Load center. Wall-mounted with bolt-on breakers? Panelboard. Freestanding, front-and-rear access, big frames? Switchboard. Compartmentalized drawout breakers with relays? Switchgear. When the label is gone, construction tells the story.
Why the distinction matters for value
Each step up the ladder multiplies used value: a load center is tens of dollars, a commercial panelboard hundreds, a switchboard thousands, a switchgear lineup tens of thousands. Misidentifying a switchboard as “a big panel” is how sellers leave money on the table.
THE COUSINS
Two more names you will hear
Motor control centers (MCCs) are freestanding lineups of combination motor starters — breaker plus contactor plus overload relay in each bucket, feeding the motors of a plant. They look like switchgear’s industrial cousin and trade in the same project-scale market; we buy them (see sell your MCC). Switchboards in the modern market increasingly mean the service-entrance lineup with metering — the utility’s demarcation point. Both follow the same valuation logic as the big four: nameplate first, condition second, documentation always. If a facility is closing, the MCC lineup and the service switchboard are usually the two most valuable electrical assets in the building.
QUESTIONS
Taxonomy questions, answered.
What is the difference between a panelboard and a switchboard?
Panelboards are wall-mounted, up to ~1200A, with branch breakers. Switchboards are freestanding, up to 6000A, with large-frame breakers — they serve whole buildings. Size, mounting, and construction distinguish them.
What is switchgear vs a switchboard?
Switchgear uses metal-clad, compartmentalized construction with drawout breakers and protective relays, rated up to 38kV. Switchboards are simpler freestanding assemblies. Switchgear is the more engineered — and more valuable — equipment.
Is my breaker box a load center or panelboard?
If it is in a house with plug-on breakers, it is a load center. Commercial buildings with bolt-on breakers have panelboards. The manufacturer label names it definitively.
Which is worth the most used?
Switchgear lineups, by far — then switchboards, then commercial panelboards, then residential load centers. Each step up roughly multiplies the value.
HOW IT WORKS
Three steps to an offer.
01Send photos
Photograph the equipment, nameplates, and quantities in place, then send them through the contact form.
02Material review
We review what the equipment is, its condition and quantity, and how it grades for resale versus recovery.
03Receive an offer
For qualifying material, we discuss a direct purchase offer and the next steps.