New outdoor main breaker box.

[Kenneth S]

My parents old house has the dreaded FPE "Stab-Lok" breaker box mounted underneath the meter box. The box was screwed into the outside of the house (brick) the breaker box had a hole sawed hole on the back. There is a hole in the brick behind it, and the wires goes through that hole to a another FPE breaker panel in the garage. There is also a conduit going from the bottom of the main breaker box going to the A/C compressor.

I was thinking about having the main breaker box replaced first, but due to where the wiring is going out the back side of the box it looks like a pain to put a new box where the old one is (plus the odds that the wires would come out in the right place of the new box). The meter, and breaker box has knockouts at the bottom of both sides of them. I was thinking about having the new breaker box mounted next to the old meter, main breaker box, then have the new breaker box would be in place so all that left is the wiring, and gutting the old breaker box.

 

[CNGsaves]

TOO Little Info . . . . . PIC's will tell a thousand words so post several pics.

What COUNTRY are you in ?? Electrical codes vary by location.

UPDATE GJ Profile with a Location.

With more information, you'll get best advice from GJ Sparky's. Good luck.

 

[Rookie2]

Unless there is a real good reason to hang a panel outside It could be a simple installation inside. Get a quote from a local electrician .

 

[sberry]

A pic would help but the new service is often relocated to a more advantageous spot, nothing about it has to resemble the old, can even go from overhead to underground, etc. I have done several that the new sat beside the old, was inspected and the service changed in a single pull by the poco. Power off to the house less than 10 minutes.
As soon as an inspector passes a service upgrade the change over begins and is as ready as it is practical until the poco gets there, I will have a jumper to the new with the main off, can move many of the circuits to the new panel.

 

[sberry]

Once the new panel is heated the main disconnected from the old and the jumper can feed old from new.
I did one a while back where I got inspectio, then fed old to new and as soon as it was changed turned it to a sub from new.

 

[sberry]

My next rewire will be a deliberate event. I can so it side beside the old and re wire a pull at a time after. I am going in underground and in the basement. I am still designing it.

 

[Kenneth S]

Here is the picture of the mess. The boxes above, and below the meter, main breaker box is all for cable tv. The electrical, phone, and cable tv are all overhead. I know I could have a new meter box put up, and have the service moved. But there is a lot of stuff to have moved, and it would a real pain to get it all moved. The house in San Antonio, TX. (I get a headache just looking at all that)
View media item 58976

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Move the DEMARCS.

Get a main service panel that only has 4 or 6 spaces so u can feed the sub inside and the air conditioner outside.

Hang the new main service panel next to the old. Drill a new hole through the wall and run your conduit and wire from panel to panel.

The old feed to the inside panel may need to be upgraded anyways. And u can size the feeder for the future replacement of the inside panel.

Can u take pics of the panels with the covers on and off.

 

[Kenneth S]

I really hate taking that cover off, the main breaker box has room for only two double pole breakers (a 70, and 50 amp). The 70 amp breaker is a little loose when the breaker cover is off.

Here is what I'm dealing with, the house was built, and wired in 1963. In the FPE box they cut a hole in the back of it, through the brick, and sealed it (see solid black circle), then they ran the wires to another FPE breaker box in the garage through that hole.

View media item 58995
What I'd like to do is move the main power feed into the new main breaker box that is mounted next to the old meter, and main breaker box. Then take the old breakers out of the FPE box (gut it), and take the wires that went to the old breakers to the new breakers in the new box. Leaving the gutted FPE box where it is will save some time, work, and money. I left the ground wires out of the diagram so that my simple diagram isn't too cluttered.

Phase two of the project will be putting a new breaker box next to the old one in the garage. New wire, and extra new electrical outlets will be put in, each room in the house now only has one, or two single gang electrical outlets depending on the room. There is also one 220 volt plug in the garage for the clothes dryer. Then the wiring going to the old box can be moved over to the new breaker box.

 

[InsanePyro]

Why mess with it if it works?

 

[exranger06]

Why mess with it if it works?

Because they're Federal Pacific boxes. I wouldn't want a FP on my house either.

 

[Rookie2]

There are many new rules, at least with my power company. You need to call your power company first if you are not going to call an electrician.


https://cpsenergy.com/en/developers-builders/customer-engineering.html

 

[Kenneth S]

Why mess with it if it works?

On the other side of that wall are the bedrooms. The FPE stuff is a fire hazard.

 

[Kenneth S]

There are many new rules, at least with my power company. You need to call your power company first if you are not going to call an electrician.


https://cpsenergy.com/en/developers-builders/customer-engineering.html

I'm going to run it by a electrician, cps energy is painfully slow, and its hard to get to talk to a actual person. I know a few people that worked for CPS, and they couldn't get out of there fast enough because of all the bs from management. I just wanted to post my idea here to see what experienced people here thought (even though I know electrical codes can be different depending on where you live) before I run it by a electrician. When we had that bad storm 20 something years ago when a tree took out the service I wished it would have ripped that box off the wall with it. I would have saved me from this problem now.