Opening pictures when most of you are in bed so just in case of brain fart is there any reason besides split buss to have standard 2 hot feed with 2 doubles on tandem common trip ? (200 amp if it matters)
Sorry Bob but I’m not sure that I understand your question, could you provide some further detail?
I assume you mean all four breakers are tied with a single handle?
If so, this is a pretty common setup for GE panels that are not split bus panels. There are other manufacturers of this type, but GE sticks out at the moment.
Yep that’s what I meant by tandem.
Tied together.
Looked similar.
Will post pic tonight.
Did not think to look for split buss configuration while there but have good shots.Big panel.
I like the way they removed the neutral bar on the right side of the panel to make the conduit entry where the bus should be. 
Only several neutrals ,so what the heck.
Jeff was right about it being GE with the lowest right breaker being Square D and untapped.[ATTACH][/ATTACH]
Are those tandem breakers used a lot in regular house panels? It appears that panel would be rated for 400 A.
You do not add the handle ratings on the breaker handles to establish the breaker rating.
Yeah, his math is bad, that would be 800 amp.
Anyone know why it gets done with the tie bar in the first place?
It is as if the main breaker is an after thought so they tie up later…lol
Not true I know but still why this way ?
Yep, I see them all the time (the GE breakers).
So I guess they do it this way so you can pay double for two doubles ,eh? 
I wrote it up as substandard installation have eval. Not acceptable to today’s standards.
If all those breakers were added up I would have 600v
Would this be a contender for Defect of the month Electrical.
don’t mean to hijack Bob’s thread but it is relevant.
Even if all those breakers added up to 600 amps it is meaningless. You perform a load calculation to size a service, not add the breaker ratings.
Removing that buss had no effect on the panel functionality or safety.
800 amps @ 120V but 400 amps @ 240V. That’s usually how we call service sizes in my area but we all know Chicago is a bit queer.
Speak for yourself cyber spaceman…