Federal Pacific Electric Co. Circuit Breakers

Blurb...

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Federal Pacific Electric PanelsPotentially Could Fail to Provide Proper Safety and Protection for Homes

Federal Pacific Electric Company (FPE) was one of the most common manufacturers of circuit breaker panels in North America from the 1950s to the 1980s. Millions of their panels were installed in homes across the country. Yet, as the years passed, electricians and home inspectors often found Federal Pacific Electric panels failed to provide proper protection to homeowners and their families. Experts now say that FPE panels can appear to work fine for years, but after one overcurrent or short circuit, they can overheat and become fire hazards.

In a class action lawsuit, a New Jersey State Court ruled that the Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) Company "violated the Consumer Fraud Act because FPE knowingly and purposefully distributed circuit breakers which were not tested to meet UL standards…" (To see the Class Action Settlement Notice issued for New Jersey Residents, click here.) An expert who investigated the potential hazards of Federal Pacific Electric panels stated under UL 489 test conditions, that FPE panels fail to trip at a much higher rate than standard panels.

When a breaker fails to trip, an extreme amount of power from the outside electrical supply surges into a home's panel and circuits. Once that happens, it cannot be stopped or shut off manually. Electricity will burn until it runs out of fuel or the wires melt. The panel could overheat and catch fire, causing serious harm to a home and its occupants. Many Federal Pacific Electric panels and breakers can operate properly for years. But if and when they do malfunction, a disaster could occur."

http://www.ismypanelsafe.com/fpe.aspx

Source for refurbished FPE breakers...

http://www.baybreakers.com/catalog/Federal-Pacific-FPE.html

One can purchase a 17th-Edition-compliant split-load distribution box for less than £100GBP these days. Replacing the distribution box potentially falls under Part-P of the Building Regulations, so, get it tested and certified post-installation.

East coast of central Florida has lots of FPE breakers. My local ACE has breakers that are 100% compatible (except for the dangerous part). I don't recall who makes them but if I recall correctly the company bought the FPE rights and can be traced. The next time I am in ACE I'll try to remember to look. If I remember then I'll add a post to this thread. But, with a little more searching you will probably find them first.

I think SolarEagle indicated that yes, there are safety issues beyond GFI. My research indicated that when exposed to a small overcurrent they can weld shut and become a significant fire hazard.

Very sensible, understandable, and well written article.

Home Depot's web site lists FPE breakers but since they haven't been in business for many years I'm sure someone else is making them.

The link http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_circuit_breaker_will_interchange_with_federal_pacific is a little bit helpful.

I don't recall for sure but I think that Ace sells Connecticut Electric breakers that work well in the FPE Stab Lok panels.

Hire someone to come and up-grade to new style UL approved box. I would not take the chance, too many good people and homes have been lost to these units.

I changed one last year that had let the smoke out of one breaker and as luck would have did not start a fire. But it sure toasted the box. Hence they called me to look at it. House also had good old aluminum wire from the 70's. I found several areas of concern here as well. Pulled all new number 12 copper circuits as well. Now meets current code and is safe.

25 years ago I was doing a lot of electrical work and needed a FPE circuit breaker to help a friend out who had a bad one. At that time a replacement one, one that had sat on a shelf at an electrical supplier's warehouse, was going for $40. Google "Federal Pacific circuit breakers supplier" and there are still some outfits which have them, but of questionable quality. The cost of a GFI, if you could find one, will be much higher

My solution at the time and several times after that was that it was about the same cost to buy a "breaker box kit" which includes the panel and several breakers. This cost plus the cost of any future additional breakers makes this the cheaper solution.

I was once involved with the sale of a house with a FPE panel in it. The buyer made its replacement with a GE or Sq. D a contingency of the sale. I used the old box minus the "guts" with a piece of steel for a cover as a junction box and mounted a Sq D panel next to it with nipples between the two boxes. Was done in 2 hours for box with 12 breakers.

Replace the whole setup and get rid of potential headaches now and in the future. Its also cheaper in the long run.

Good Luck, Old Salt

There were at one time, companies that would rebuild FPE breakers, but I didn't recommend it then and now that the system is even older, I dedfinitely don't recommend it. I've seen and replace FPE equipment where a 15 Amp breaker was carrying loads of 25 amps or more without dropping out. THEY'RE DANGEROUS!! Change it out ASAP.

The old FPE went belly up after losing its UL listing because investigations into fires uncovered the fact that FPE was falsifying their test reports. The RIGHTS to the brand name were bought and sold by several companies after that because of the potential for retrofit of the large installed base; FPE was the low bid brand on a LOT of public housing projects in the 60s and 70s. Most of the buyers of the name rights were reputable but the name bounced around for years because most people who used it discovered that the stink would not go away with time. The rights to use the name now belong to some obscure guy in the east coast, who just takes a licensing fee from several other mfrs to produce retrofit breakers, mostly in China, Connecticut Electric being one of those. So the relationship is in name only and the market is strictly for retrofit to people who can't afford to do it right and junk the old panels. But think about it; questionable original product design, questionable quality of the panel it goes into, now made in China by people with no skin in the game and immunity from prosecution. No thank you.

Side issue: someone mentioned "rebuilding" FPE breakers. FPE made all sorts of electrical equipment, not just residential panels. The breakers that can be rebuilt are the industrial molded case breakers, NOT the residential ones, called "Stablok". If anyone sells a residential breaker, any brand, that says it is "rebuilt", you should run away, fast. Residential circuit breakers are NOT designed to be rebuilt in any way shape or form. All these people do is clean them and run a rudimentary test (sometimes).

If you look in a Grainger catalog under Electrical Distribution there is a page for Replacement Circuit Breakers for Obsolete Load Centers. About half the listings are for FPE replacements. They will sell you a new breaker, UL standard (made in China by Connecticut Electric, labeled as American FPE). With that said, I have to agree with some of the other comments about safety issues. If it was my home, I would replace the entire load center with a Square D QO load center.

Replacement Breakers are avaiable at Home Depot I have bought them

As stated before, I wouldn't walk but RUN from a 30 year old Federal Pacific box. My parents had one and after the lights went out and the breaker failed to trip I was on the phone with my electrician to go change out the service drop, meter base, and panel.

It was scary to tap on the breaker and see the lights flicker and hear the buzz of a thousand angry hornets coming from a 60 amp breaker.

The cost of a new panel is far cheaper than the cost to rebuild the home if it catches fire and burns down! Not to mention the safety of the family.

Friends,

I learned something here that I didn't know. The documentation has sufficient references to be something I would trust. However one portion is not explored: FPE stab-lok breakers were off the market for many months when they lost their U/L listing, but they eventually got it back and attempted to regain their lost market share. Their new breakers had a different colored (red or pink, if I recall correctly) U/L label to give easy comparison to the old ones. In the independent tests was there any distinguishment made between the "new" and the "old" breakers? That little piece of information may be good to have.

--John M.

There were several different color schemes and labels.

Follow this link to learn a lot more

While you are replacing the panel it is a good idea to put a thin coating of "Nolox" or other brand aluminum anti-oxidizing compound on the buss bars before installing the breakers. Most of the buss bars in panels are made of aluminum and will oxidize after time goes by. No-lox is the same compound that is required if splicing aluminum to copper wire. The aluminum forms an aluminum oxide coating which is less conductive. As the coating forms the resistance increases. With resistance comes heat.

When I moved into my last house I noticed that the lights and TV would flicker sometimes when the A/C or other heavy load would come on. Several weeks later I was installing a 240v 2 pole outlet below my panel in my garage for using a welder. As I was working with the panel cover off I noticed an intermittent humming from the panel. Further investigation revealed a strange orange color behind the main breaker which would appear when it hummed. Investigation with a dentists mirror (a non-conductive plastic one) showed that it was one contact on the main breaker arcing to the buss bar. Since this was a Sunday and I had no source for a replacement breaker I took all the necessary circuits and put them on the non-arcing buss bar. All unnecessary circuits were turned off and put on the arcing buss bar. Since there was no current on the bad bar the arcing stopped.

On the next day, a week day, I spent half the day searching for a Cutler-Hammer 200 amp 2 pole main breaker. Not a easy thing to find. When I found one I pulled the meter and pulled all the breakers to examine the entire length of each bar. There had been serious arcing at one clip on the main breaker. At the direction of my guru electrician I cleaned the arcing residue off with a file and put "No-lox" on the entire length of each bar. Problem solved. Hardest part of the job was finding the breaker in stock and shelling out $90 for it (in 1984!)

Since it is often a hardship or quite disruptive to do much work on a panel it is worth it to do the best you can do when installing it. Preventive Installation and Maintenance. This condition I had could have progressed to a fire, a lost house and possibly lives if not taken care of.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Here is one called NoALox from Ideal Industries

There's also a general purpose grease called No-Ox-Id from Sanchem.

My high school shop teacher has us put grease on practically everything electrical that was not a soldered connection, even on lightbulb bases and sockets. He said it was how they did it on the Navy Subs. That part I don't know about, but on land it really works, and while I can't prove it, it sure seems like the bulbs last longer.

Either product will make a better connection, for a longer time, on just about any copper-copper or copper-aluminum connection.