FPE Breakers

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jeff43222

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Minneapolis, Minnesota
I had a service call yesterday where I had to sort out the mess the HO made when he tried to play electrician. The result of his efforts was a short circuit he created. It looks like the short fried the FPE breaker that was protecting the circuit, as I was unable to reset it even after I disconnected it from the bus.

Does anyone know where to get replacement FPE breakers?
 
Yup!

The home centers and some hardwares have 3rd party manufacturer replacements for the original FPE breakers.

And they are, before tax, $30 single pole, and $60 double pole.
 
"EBAY" currently has dozens of originals available but I don't know how comfortable I would be installing used / old materials and equipment...
 
Thanks for the tips. The supply house had nothing (nor even any good leads), and I came up empty at Menards. I got the last 15A one on the shelf at the local Home Depot just now. It was the most expensive 15A single-pole breaker I've ever bought ($30). Even the old Bulldog Pushmatics are cheaper.
 
HD's in FL carry them (and Zinscos), HD's in upstate NY don't. Go figure ;->

A new Wadsworth will lighten your wallet about as much as a new FPE too. A bag of ten cleaned me out for $300 a few years ago. But there's no intrinsic bogosity about the Wadsworths, so the urge to tank'em isn't as high ;->
 
FPE Breakers - Good Supplier

FPE Breakers - Good Supplier

I have dealt with a place called Allbreakers, online. They sell reconditioned, remanufactured FPE breakers. Their prices are reasonable, I recall about $16 for single pole. They claim to test the breakers and they offer a 1 yr. warranty on all reconditioned stuff. I like the added liability protection of someone else having verified that it is functioning.

I will say that their quality control is a little shoddy. I think they test the old ones, and if they work, they put them in the bin to ship out without much visiual inspection. I have noted a number of unsatisfactory conditions (broken plastic shoe (the part that slides into the tab on the panel), rusted terminal, and bulging plastic case). They were very appologetic when I pointed out these deficiencies and sent out new ones right away.

They sell both FPE and AMERICAN. The FPE ones, appear to be old breakers that have just been tested. The AMERICAN ones appear to be a new plastic shell and handle around old guts. Unfortunately, the website doesn't let you specify "AMERICAN" only. The AMERICAN ones are more visually appealing to customers and the plastic shells are machined more precisely to fit in the panel more snuggly.

Good luck with those old FPE panels.

-DS
 
I salvage all FPE breakers I can when swapping out an old FPE panel with a new panel. On trouble calls I will substitute one of my salvaged breakers for a defective one, but only I know that I did it. I wouldn't let the owner know about the swap, and would try to get them to upgrade the panel usually. Nowadays I don't T+M anyway, but back when I did, I didn't include the breaker in the invoice. I figured that it might haunt me one day, so I would just mark up something else on the list more to make up for it. Shhhhhhhhh.
 
I would be careful installing used FPE's. It's my understanding, that they have an aversion to tripping at the prescribed amperage. :eek:

We have a supply chain here that carries "American" in all sizes and big blue & big orange have a fair supply.

Most of the time when that I find a FPE panel, it's in a bedroom closet or it's been double or triple added under an old 60 amp service. That's why I usually advise folks to upgrade the whole service.
 
I have found that the FPE breakers are very expensive and hard to come by. If at all possible, I try to get the HO to replace the Freakin Pathetic Equipment with a more reliable product. Not saying anything bad about FPE but we call them "no blows" for a reason. I don't recommend using any used FPE equipment or breakers due to the fact that there is no way to tell if the breaker is good or not, your chances with a new product are better than with a used product.
 
77401 said:
So exactly, how would you tell if a Square D breaker is good or not?
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If you installed the Square D breaker and got paid for it, that is good. If you did not get paid, that breaker was not good ! We use Square D alot simply because I am really good friends with the local Square D rep. He has done a few personal favors for me such as speaking engagements for charities and such. I know they are more expensive but we still sell em.
 
it seems as though every electrician has his "favorite" when it comes to breaker manufacturers. and the leader changes from area to area. some areas sell more g.e. than others. i believe square d is and has been the leader for many years in my area. about thirty years ago FPE had a very serious problem with thier breakers --- none of these problems were branch circuit breakers. our company was actually hired by FPE to recall these breakers which were mainly I line - 480 volt - three pole breakers. the problem was they were actually exploding--phase to phase. at that time FPE was sold or taken over by another company and reputation went down the drain!! supply houses picked up other lines and discontinued FPE. there are many thousands of FPE branch circuit breakers operating today. i believe that if there were documented problems that placed the public at risk -- they would also be recalled. i have seen other brands-- including square d that fail to trip -- or fail to preform properly. being in the infrared scanning business since 1989 i have a first hand look at comparisons of problems between manufacturers. and when beginning a major office building originally wired with FPE equipment --- i expected to see alot of problems... i was suprised that there were very few problems!!! we have learnt from expieriance that improper installation habits cause many more electrical failures than manufacturer's defects. an example is maybe "a heavy duty 100 amp - 480 volt elevator disconnect switch" made by square d that is "overtorqued" during the installation. so "overtorqued" that the blades are bent and have lost the necessary surface contact area to conduct the switch's rated current. eventually this switch will fail..... usually, when we run into this problem we can follow this "overtorquer" through the job. i could not recommend to a customer that had operational FPE breakers to change them becuase they were defective.............................
 
I purchase mine from a local comapny thet reconditions the FPE & ZINSCO etc Breakers and gurantees them for 1 year.2 pole FPE costs $25.00. I have never had a probelms with these recondtioned breakers. NOTE: I only use recondtioned breakers on the obsolite breakers. the breakers look like new with new screws on the terminals and the case loooks new (well almost new but the breakers are in excellent shape.
 
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77401 said:
So exactly, how would you tell if a Square D breaker is good or not?
Click to expand...
I don't use USED FPE breakers or equipment. I guess I didn't mention that. Wait a minute I did. In my opinion when you install a used piece of equipment, you are speculating that that piece of equipment is okay and you are putting this in someones home or business. Installation of electrical equipment should have safety as the primary factor.That is my option. Hey, new equipment fails too, but my chances are a lot better with a brand new piece equipment than trying to make something work with something I found laying around the shop that was taken out of a job twenty years ago. Is anyone here willing to risk their company on a used breaker? I'm not.
 
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