federal pacific ques.

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wireman1

wireman1

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is there any information or study avaiable showing that the breakers wont trip on a short circuit . i know of cases if the home is being sold and it has a existing federal panel it must be replaced before they will insure it.
 
There are many articles on the web. Not all FPE breakers were a problem and it was only during certain years that the issue existed. FPE is still made in Canada as Federal Pioneer, I believe.

Here is something worthwhile, IMO. Click Here
 
I never liked them, but only because I didn't like the way they installed, but I've never seen personally that they have any more issues than any other panels.
 
There are a huge number of FPE panels in my area. I have seen far less buss failures on FPE that I have on all other brands including Square D QO. I have never seen any wiring or equipment damages as a result of FPE Stab Lok breakers failing to trip.


99% of the pictures of damaged equipment or wiring I have seen blamed on FPE breakers have nothing to do with the breakers. They were caused by poor workmanship, improper torque, etc.


The questionable breakers are only the 2 pole and were only manufactured during a short time period.

There are several large breaker shops in my area that sell used breakers. They test all breakers prior to sale. According to them they don't see any more failures of FPE than any other manufacture. Of course the breaker may trip fine during the test than not trip in the future but the same can happen for any breaker.

Considering Schnider Electric (parent of Square D) is still manufacturing and selling millions of thes panels they must not feel ther is much of a safty issue. They have no reason to have a huge liability for a product when then have other products that could take its place (QO and HOM) and not loose sales.
 
cowboyjwc said:
I never liked them, but only because I didn't like the way they installed, but I've never seen personally that they have any more issues than any other panels.
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More than once I wouold remove a panel cover and accidentlly remove a CB with it. If that happened it was always a critical load such as the cooffee pot for the CEO's office.
 
curt swartz said:
There are a huge number of FPE panels in my area. I have seen far less buss failures on FPE that I have on all other brands including Square D QO. I have never seen any wiring or equipment damages as a result of FPE Stab Lok breakers failing to trip.


99% of the pictures of damaged equipment or wiring I have seen blamed on FPE breakers have nothing to do with the breakers. They were caused by poor workmanship, improper torque, etc.


The questionable breakers are only the 2 pole and were only manufactured during a short time period.

There are several large breaker shops in my area that sell used breakers. They test all breakers prior to sale. According to them they don't see any more failures of FPE than any other manufacture. Of course the breaker may trip fine during the test than not trip in the future but the same can happen for any breaker.

Considering Schnider Electric (parent of Square D) is still manufacturing and selling millions of thes panels they must not feel ther is much of a safty issue. They have no reason to have a huge liability for a product when then have other products that could take its place (QO and HOM) and not loose sales.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with this and think some of the problems may be hype. If you have an fire and the residential panel is manufactured by FPE it would be national news, a panel fire from another manufacture may not make the news at all. Though I have never high current tested any residential circuit breakers, I would be willing to do so.

I did replace 1000's of the 480 VAC circuit breakers in the 80's as part of the FPE recall.

Having said all this if I bought a house with FPE, I would put a panel replacement on my priority list.
 
brian john said:
More than once I wouold remove a panel cover and accidentlly remove a CB with it. If that happened it was always a critical load such as the cooffee pot for the CEO's office.
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Had that happen too. But then if you wanted to remove one they often do not want to let go very easily. Suprisingly I don't recall ever seeing one fail at the bus connection.
 
In the early 80's when I was a new helper, we used to "rewire" as we called it old houses. Sometimes we would go through and change out switches and receptacles before we did the service. We always did this while the circuit was hot. That's the way I was taught. I was scared to death for awhile until I got used to working them hot.

Every now and then I would slip and short out a wire to the box. I started noticing the breakers didn?t often trip if it were a Federal panel but mostly did on other brands. This was long before I heard any stories about recalls and problems with the brand.
 
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