Federal Pacific - I didn't realize how bad they were until I was working in
the attic, far from the panel and I attempted to power down the circuit by
shorting out an outlet with a screwdriver. I could not do it. The 15A
breaker just would not pop, not matter how long I shorted the terminals.
Very scary stuff.
Jack
-----Original Message-----
From: shop-talk-bounces at autox.team.net
[mailto:shop-talk-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Randall
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 11:30 AM
To: 'Shop Talk List'
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] Replacing a breaker?
> Even though almost all brands of breakers and panels are mechanically
> interchangeable, you have to match brands and products to be NEC
> compliant.
Around here, there are at least 3 major lines that are not compatible. Two
of them can be found in stores (one is Murray, I forget the other offhand,
maybe Square-D or GE). My 1968 addition was wired with a third type,
Federal Pacific.
Turns out that Federal Pacific cheated on their type acceptance tests, and
many of their breakers are faulty. Fortunately I asked a contractor friend
of mine where to buy them, and he clued me in. I replaced the entire
subpanel.
http://www.inspectapedia.com/fpe/reliance.htm
-- Randall
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