Federal Pacific Electrical Panel Problems (Steamhead))

Fred Campbell

I've probably got a few single pole breakers if any of you are interested in museum pieces.

Steamhead (in transit)

Just found this and thought I'd share it

We've all heard that these panels and breakers are dangerous since they sometimes do not trip in an overload condition. But I didn't know until now that if you manually turn one of these things off, it may not deactivate the circuit. Go here for more:

http://www.inspect-ny.com/fpe/fpepanel.htm

If you're in a customer's house and see one of these panels, do you recommend they have an electrician replace it? We do.

Be careful out there.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

rick_45

I believe they lost their uL rating and they were forced out of business ,lots of their equiptment does exist,be careful.

S Ebels

Standing joke Re, FPE breakers

If you have an FPE box and breakers you will never have to buy a welder. Just hook a piece of welding rod to a 20A FPE breaker and strike an arc. YEEHAA!!!!

Brad White_108

They show up on an awful lot

of public projects such as schools and police stations. The epitome of "Lowest Bidder".

When surveying a building as part of impending renovations, often my electrical engineer will emerge from the electrical room shaking his head slowly and silently, much as a surgeon emerges from the O-R after the patient died....

mtfallsmikey

Yes, they did lose their UL listing

I believe it was around '69-'70. And replacement breakers are still available in some areas, and I would recommend replacing the panel. Some electrical inspectors will make you do it anyway. Other nostalgic brands include Wadsworth, Bulldog (early Siemens). GE breakers not so great eiether.

Jeff Lawrence_25

I used to work

In an 80,000 square foot, 9 story office building as the maintenance engineer. I had FPE breakers throughout the building.

One time, the 1,000 amp main breaker (277/480 3 phase) tripped because the 20 amp, 277 volt breaker didn't. It took 3 of us, working nearly an hour, to find the offending ballast that shorted.

Our electrician told me that FPE had their patent pulled by the government because they wouldn't trip. Last I heard, there was a company (Challenger?) that made the breakers for replacement only, but they were't cheap and not really readily available.

amhwrite

Breakers

I recently attended an electrical safety training course and I had my eyes opened a bit regarding circuit breakers. Breakers are by no means a sure thing. They require maintenance, needing exercised at a minimum of once a year. They have a life span and should be replaced too. Although how often wasn't known, it depended on the Mfg. and use. There are a lot of "time bombs" ticking away in panel boxes. It amazed me that even when they are in top working order that the split second more needed to trip them and during that split second, the entire amount of current available goes through them until it trips, as opposed to the time it takes for a fuse to blow can mean the difference between death and just getting second degree burns, if you get hung up in a circuit. Also, that time means the difference of sensitive and expensive motors and controls being destroyed. I'm not saying to get rid of breakers, but after that class, I manually tripped all of mine and plan to next year! I have also requested fuses be installed in some equipment applications.

Constantin

You've described precisely...

... why I used class-T fuses on our boat instead of circuit breakers for the battery banks. Between the KISS aspect and the much higher interrupt rating, such fuses can be far superior to electromechanical devices when it comes to use in harsh environments. I have yet to see a circuit breaker with a high interrupt rating that I would consider to be water-proof, for example.

On the flipside, a functional circuit breaker is darn convenient to reset, whereas a class-T fuse will take some time to replace. Plus, all the fuss it takes to replace the fuse will also provide the motivation to hunt down the offending problem.

Steamhead (in transit)

You were lucky

what if the main hadn't tripped?

"Steamhead"

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Steamhead (in transit)

More on FPE's UL revocation

this article needs no further comment. It's in several parts, all of which link from this page:

http://www.inspect-ny.com/fpe/sec1982.htm

"Steamhead"

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Jeff Lawrence_25

I don't want to think about that.

N/M

EBEBRATT-Ed

The last two posts have it right. Circuit breakers are convienent but switch and fuse can give a lot more protection and better interrupting capacity.

Leo

You had me nervous

I checked my garage after readng this. It has a subpanel fed from the house. It was a local market when I was a kid and before convienance stores. Guess what the panel is? But luckily it is fuses and will stay that way.

Leo