I've often wondered myself if there is any real substance to the almost universal condemnation of FPE circuit breakers circulated by electricians. Ok so they cheated on submitting when they changed components and then got caught and lost the UL listing. Did that really result in fires starting? Do the FPE breakers really fail to trip on short or overload? Is there real evidence published (not rumor?). Does Joey really have cooties just cause all the other kids in the kindergarten class always said he does? It was a very popular brand in the city I live in , I've come across many many of the panels in my work. By some trick of fate, somehow all those panels have not exploded yet. I am starting to doubt all the rousing of the peasants in order to kill Frankenstien.. If I am wrong, I am only happy to be properly straightened out about it, please reply.
Mac, how would you feel knowing that your doctor cheated on his medical exams? Do you think that's ok? :roll:
FPE tried to shortcut around a system put in place to ensure that their product (which is considered a safety-critical product BTW) meets the standards and performance it has to in order to do the job it was designed for. IMHO, that is 100% inexcusable and totally unethical. And as I linked to another thread, (see my post #7) it wasn't just Stab-locs they had quality problems with. (In that case it was larger molded case breakers and their "fix" for the problem was to send out warning labels.)
To answer your questions in order:
Yes it did result in fires, more so than other brands of breakers, even Zinsco.
Yes they do fail to trip on shorts or overloads, in a much higher failure rate than other brands (anywhere from 15-45% failure rate.)
Yes there is evidence published (with photos to prove it) all you need to do is Google FPE and you'll find several sites with that evidence, see Augie's link in Post #2 for one of the best sites on the subject.
And yes Joey DOES have cooties...I know his doctor. :grin:
Just because something is popular doesn't make it good (American Idol for example) but usually popularity just means it was the cheapest.
I have experienced several failures of FPE breakers firsthand and wouldn't trust them in my enemy's home.