Federal pacific american breakers

[domnic]

I have a federal pacific panel i looked at if i replace all the breakers with federal pacific american breakers made by challenger will this make the panel safe? i cannot replace the panel without tearing a wall out. what is the difference in the new breakers they are ul listed?

 

[GoldDigger]

The new breakers may have a better design for their side of the stab contacts, but the bus has to be undamaged.
The innards were also a large part of the problem, and the newer ones probably have better design, materials and QA.
The old failing ones had UL stickers too, they just faked the tests....

 

[Curious nerd]

The guy who's tested them and published the results is Jesse Aronstein, and it might be worth dropping him a line to see if he has lab data on the new breakers.

 

[Curious nerd]

There are pictures of the innards, some history, and lots and lots of opinions at http://www.electriciantalk.com/f29/no-no-panels-71265/index4/

 

[iwire]

The real question is what is the customer willing to pay for.

Bottom line is it is up to the customer and no one else.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

The question is whether the authority having jurisdiction will accept the challenger breakers or not. I know that Cutler Hammer will custom make a new interior for any panel but I bet it is costly.

If the new panel is larger than the old one then you should be able to change the panel without affecting the walls. We have done this many times.