Federal Pacific Electric Stab-Lok Breaker Panel Issues

[DonPowers]

Here's an interesting tidbit on Federal Pacific Electric Stab-Lok breaker panels.

http://blog.hsb.com/2016/03/17/bad-circuit-breaker/

 

[ishiboo]

Holy ****.

Next I'll find out Sears is in financial trouble!

 

[matt151617]

I had one of these when I bought my house. That was one of the first projects I did. Besides being unsafe, the breakers are super expensive for these panels; I paid $60 for a 30 amp double pole breaker. Hiring an electrician cost me $1200 for everything, and he handled permits/power company. I probably could have done it myself for $400.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Thanks for posting this Don,
Not in my house, but I will be on the look out for that brand when at my family's house.

 

[DonPowers]

Thanks for posting this Don,
Not in my house, but I will be on the look out for that brand when at my family's house.

Not a problem RC, an electrician friend sent me the link, no telling how many are still in service.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

These fire-boxes have been discussed on here numerous times but its always good to bring the subject up from time to time as theres still FPE panels in use, unfortunately!

 

[oilslick]

I bought a house to fix up and sell, had one of these federal pacific breaker boxes 200amps!!! I knew it was a turd upon first sight but then read about it on here and was reassured that it needed to go. New square D is in!

 

[Razorsedge]

I had a 200 amp one in a house I recently bought. Home inspector noted it and said it should be replaced. I did a little internet research which made me very paranoid. The new Square D panel has been in for about a month now and I feel much better about it.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I had a small FPE Stab-Lok subpanel in my garage when I bought my house. They've had issues with breakers not tripping during an overload, and breakers still allowing power through even when switched off, which did happen to me once before I got it replaced.

There are some FPE breakers that had authentic UL listings, I believe they have a white dot next to the number on the breaker. Most of the earlier breakers (the ones that had problems) had falsified UL listings.

 

[Falcon67]

Not a problem RC, an electrician friend sent me the link, no telling how many are still in service.

From what I've seen around these parts, a bunch. Used to be the go-to box I guess. I've seen many smaller 2~4 gang units on old houses with "Texas Electric" and the Reddy Kilowatt stickers on them. Our old house had one added for a dryer, apparently they had the local PoCo do the work.

 

[alfredeneuman]

FPE Stab-loks never had falsified listings.

The company that bought them out (Reliance) was doing some auditing and discovered some discrepancies.
Any change in the design even if purely cosmetic, in the substituting of materials, or even the supplier that supplied the same materials would precipitate another testing/labeling of the entire Stab-Lok line, and cost 10s of thousands of dollars.
FPE just failed to mention these substitutions in order to save money, and Reliance in essence "snitched" and reported themselves.

The breakers were unavailable for a period of 6-9 months. When they became available the only difference in the appearance was that label itself was magenta colored, as opposed to yellow as before.

I installed a number of Stab-lok panels in the '70s before we knew anything was wrong with them. It came as quite a shock to me that they were fire starters

 

[1991Syclone]

A large number of insurance companies will not provide insurance to homes with these panels. The house I just sold had one and we credited some money back to the buyer to have it replaced when they signed the papers.

 

[Showkey]

^^^^^^^^^ how do they know ? Nobody as ever asked me the brand of panel in the house has and never have had an insurance inspection. They have asked if the house has fuses or circuit breakers. MIL house has fuses......she has been denied an insurance quote until the house was upgraded.

 

[1991Syclone]

^^^^^^^^^ how do they know ? Nobody as ever asked me the brand of panel in the house has and never have had an insurance inspection. They have asked if the house has fuses or circuit breakers. MIL house has fuses......she has been denied an insurance quote sell real times until the house was upgraded.

The buyers had a home/insurance inspection prior to purchasing. It was noticed that the FP panel is unsafe, so to ensure the sale, we agreed to credit back some money.

As for how the insurance company would know, if you've ever had a home inspection to ensure you receive proper credits on your insurance, that's how they find out. Sometimes your insurance company will send someone out to take photos of the home for insurance purposes and they can determine it that way.

Here in Florida, there are a number of credits you can receive depending on the type of home construction (particularly those build prior to the upgraded building codes). Roof design, roof to wall attachment, hurricane shutters, etc all contribute to lowering your premiums. The insurance company doesn't give them to you automatically unless you can prove you qualify for it.

It all depends on the inspection report and the company. When I owned the house, I had no issues getting insurance.