FPE warning label

[brian john]

I did get back regarding the 4000 A Federal Pioneer CB (see post 26 this thread), as for these labels I have never seen them before. When we were involved in the FPE recall, we had a list of CBs and replaced them per a factory supplied list. At this time I cannot remember the sizes or types. I want to say they were in the 100-400 amp range but that is a SWAG. MY business partner had the FPE paper work, but recently told be he trashed it a few years back.

 

[Karl H]

About 15 years ago I tripped that exact type of breaker,But I believe it was
a 1000I,for a sched. shut down to tap the main buss. 1:00am I went to reset
it and nothing . It would not reset. I tried numerous times to reset it but
it simply would'nt engage. We had to remove the breaker and take it to a
place that was working 3rd shifts, a company that my boss at the time
knew the owner.They fixed it for us . I don't remember what the problem was
springs,hindges,etc.. It was after 3:00am I was tired and really did'nt care
just as long as it reset and I could go home. To this day ,anytime I dump a
main I think of that breaker. Have a back-up plan.

BTW i was 3 in 71 (and replacing 1000I main breakers...Yeah you heard me) lol:grin:

 

[chris kennedy]

I did get back regarding the 4000 A Federal Pioneer CB (see post 26 this thread), as for these labels I have never seen them before. When we were involved in the FPE recall, we had a list of CBs and replaced them per a factory supplied list. At this time I cannot remember the sizes or types. I want to say they were in the 100-400 amp range but that is a SWAG. MY business partner had the FPE paper work, but recently told be he trashed it a few years back.

Sorry sir, I missed that. Thank you.

1:00am I went to reset
it and nothing .

I'm not going to touch it. If I open everything after the main, there will be no load on POCO's fuse links.

 

[brian john]

About 15 years ago I tripped that exact type of breaker,But I believe it was
a 1000I,for a sched. shut down to tap the main buss. 1:00am I went to reset
it and nothing . It would not reset. I tried numerous times to reset it but
it simply would'nt engage. We had to remove the breaker and take it to a
place that was working 3rd shifts, a company that my boss at the time
knew the owner.They fixed it for us . I don't remember what the problem was
springs,hindges,etc.. It was after 3:00am I was tired and really did'nt care
just as long as it reset and I could go home. To this day ,anytime I dump a
main I think of that breaker. Have a back-up plan.

BTW i was 3 in 71 (and replacing 1000I main breakers...Yeah you heard me) lol:grin:

The number one issue with these CB is as noted the BFI's and number two is lack of maintenance lubrication. Next time call me I do the work in place. But the commute will kill us.

 

[LarryFine]

I 'member when I was an itty bitty lecturshun, Mike was up on a ladder and put his Kleins into a box. Sparks started flyin. I though he was a-weldin' up there. Shore nuff, he was. His Kliens were welded to the box. The wire hi grabbed with 'em was gone. FPE breaker never tripped.

Well, that's because the wire evaporated first. Mother Nature has a way of finding the weakest link in a circuit.

What we're supposed to do is make sure is make sure we know where that weak point is . . . and isn't. :wink:

 

[mxslick]

I'm beyond mad...

I'm beyond mad...

That is nuts.

I vote that as the understatement of the year.

What incredible gall for a company to "fix" a very life-threatening situation by handing out warning stickers.....

All the more reason to love FPE......what a bunch of morons.

 

[brian john]

I vote that as the understatement of the year.

What incredible gall for a company to "fix" a very life-threatening situation by handing out warning stickers.....

All the more reason to love FPE......what a bunch of morons.

Do not know for sure but while we were doing the recall there was a CB shortage, could be this was a stop gap measure?

 

[mxslick]

Excuses are like......

Excuses are like......

Do not know for sure but while we were doing the recall there was a CB shortage, could be this was a stop gap measure?

Perhaps, but it still doesn't excuse the overall poor track record of that company. And as absurd as it sounds, if FPE had any sense of integrity, they would have either devoted ALL of their production resources to getting those breakers exchanged quickly, even at the expense of their other product lines...or...refunded the cost of those breakers to defray the cost of replacing them and the switchgear with another brand that didn't have the propensity to leak current (see first lines of the sticker), explode, catch on fire or fail to trip.

The issues with their residential breakers were bad enough, but commercial switchgear handles a lot more current (and voltage) and has a lot more short-circuit current available, so any failures will be violent and possibly deadly.

And more to the point, how is the OP to know if ANY of the breakers have been replaced/fixed? So now this guy has the dangerous task of attempting to service this potential deathtrap.

I would advise the customer of the latent hazard, price out a replacement switchgear, and take great pleasure in junking that FPE crap using a bulldozer and 20lb sledgehammer.

FPE makes my blood boil...I'm gonna go grab a cup of tea to calm down.

 

[brian john]

At this point FPE was struggling to stay a float. Not defending them just laying out what was going on.

We were installing other manufactures CBs that had been approved for the use and these were in shortage.

 

[iwire]

FPE makes my blood boil...I'm gonna go grab a cup of tea to calm down.

You should calm down, if FPE makes your blood boil I hope you don't watch the TV news .... you'll explode. :grin:

 

[billsnuff]

chris, you've probably seen these but FWIW........

http://www.philadelphiaelectric.com/recall__federal_pacific_breaker.htm

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

I just looked around a minute, looks like lots of info.

 

[zog]

Here is the 37 year old 4000A main I have to throw. I know it has been opened and closed once before as I am the second guy that had to tap this gear.

Any heads ups?

View attachment 2185

Yes, suit up in your flash suit.

That is an EO breaker, lucky for you. You can charge the springs manually then use a pole to push the close button (Or a remote operator http://www.remoterackingsolutions.com/remote-switch-operators.htm)

This breaker should also have a remote close pistol grip handle somewhere nearby.

We are rebuilding 100 of these for a facility in Canada right now, there are some problems in the charging system (Faulty aux switch in the control scheme) that we have found on about half of them that can cause some issues.

 

[mxslick]

You should calm down, if FPE makes your blood boil I hope you don't watch the TV news .... you'll explode. :grin:

Only when I hear of fires started by faulty electrical equipment.

zog has the best heads-up: Get into a flash suit before working on any of that junk...and actuate it with a long pole...

We were installing other manufactures CBs that had been approved for the use and these were in shortage.

Now that's a good, practical solution, IF the bus bars are in good condition.

Chris:

Are any of the 100-225 amp breakers made by someone other than FPE? Then there is a chance that the installation has already been gone over and defective breakers replaced. If they're all still FPE, then it's likely that they're still suspect.

Just still annoyed that anyone would use a sticker rather than fix the bloody problem, that's playing fast and loose with lives and property.

 

[zog]

The number one issue with these CB is as noted the BFI's and number two is lack of maintenance lubrication. Next time call me I do the work in place. But the commute will kill us.

You cant properly lubricate a breaker in place, and spray lube only works for a week or so then it dries and the grease that was in there is gone (Thanks to the spray lube) and then you are worse off than you were before.

Proper lubrication requires the mech to be disassembled, cleaned, and relubricated per the manufactures recommendation. We have trailers we use for doing this on site.

http://photos.gcbsinventory.com/trailers/

 

[mxslick]

Impressive mobile workshop...

Impressive mobile workshop...

zog:

Thanks for the link, that is a very impressive workspace.

Reminds me of the factory pro motocrosser's rigs.

Out of curiosity, do you have any pics of a breaker like the FPE EO undergoing an overhaul?