I changed out all the outlets in a home with a Federal Pacific panel.
Typically, I did them live, but every once in a while there was a
troublesome one where I felt much better with the power off. Many of the
Federal Pacific breakers could not easily be tripped with a screwdriver
grounding out the circuit. I added a lot of GFI's, as I was not ready to
change out the panel yet.
jack
-----Original Message-----
From: shop-talk-bounces+jibjib=att.net@autox.team.net
[mailto:shop-talk-bounces+jibjib=att.net@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Marc
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2008 7:17 PM
To: Randall
Cc: Shop-Talk
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Electrical fire waiting to happen
My circa 1961 home had Federal Pacific panels when I bought it about 8 years
ago. The very first thing I had done was have both my panels swapped out. My
house has both 220 service and a separate 3 phase service that runs the
condensing unit....
In the first week I was in the house, before the panels had been changed
out, the electric water heater stopped working. The plumber from the home
warranty company pushed the reset button on the water heater, which promptly
exploded and blew a hole in the tank! Water spurting out, electricity arcing
like a Jacobs ladder, and the federal pacific breaker never tripped...
Yeah, DEFINITELY change out that panel. Cutler Hammer or Square D.
Marc
Randall wrote:
> FYI,
>
> I recently bought a 220v air compressor and was looking today at
> wiring it up. My house has a 125 amp sub-panel with some spare
> breaker slots, so should be no problem, right ?
>
> Well, turns out that sub-panel and it's breakers were made by Federal
> Pacific. I'd never heard of them, but when I called a contractor
> friend, he immediately said "Aren't those the ones that catch fire ?" !
>
> Turns out he's right. Apparently "back when", Federal Pacific
> falsified their data to receive UL approval, and their circuit
> breakers (and panel) are simply a bad design that should never have
> been sold. A high percentage of the breakers can fail to open under
> various fault conditions; and even jam permanently closed so they will not
open under any fault conditions !
>
> It's a long, strange story; still being played out in the courts.
> Lots and lots of details at http://www.inspect-ny.com/fpe/fpe.html
>
> You might want to check what kind of circuit breakers your home has ...
> I'm off to look at new sub-panels.
>
> Randall
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