Zinsco, Fed Pac breakers made by Unique Electric

[Stevenfyeager]

One of our supplies stores says Unique Elec makes Zinsco and Federal Pacific replacement breakers but are not UL listed. I don’t think I can use these for a Fed P panel job bec they are not UL. Anyone know about this ?

 

[nickelec]

If you could I wouldn't. Let the customer know about why should be done and why. Suggest and upgrade if needed

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[synchro]

Are they listed by ETL / Intertek ?

 

[Todd0x1]

UBI (unique breakers) are made by Connecticut Electric and they are ETL listed and classified for the panels in which theyre intended to be installed.

 

[Jraef]

I read a report of the UBI breakers having an even higher failure rate than the Zinsco they are supposed to replace, I would stay clear of them.

 

[Todd0x1]

I read a report of the UBI breakers having an even higher failure rate than the Zinsco they are supposed to replace, I would stay clear of them.

Never said they were any good....... IMHO any fpe or zinsco panel should be replaced.

 

[Jraef]

Never said they were any good....... IMHO any fpe or zinsco panel should be replaced.

That's always the safest bet. It's hard sometimes to convince people to go to that expense though. My mom had an FPE panel in the house I grew up in. Once I learned of the issues, I pushed her to let me replace it, but she never listened. Then she had the kitchen remodeled and the inspector would not allow any modifications to the FPE panel, so that forced her to upgrade. She hired another electrician...

 

[Fred B]

That's always the safest bet. It's hard sometimes to convince people to go to that expense though. My mom had an FPE panel in the house I grew up in. Once I learned of the issues, I pushed her to let me replace it, but she never listened. Then she had the kitchen remodeled and the inspector would not allow any modifications to the FPE panel, so that forced her to upgrade. She hired another electrician...

That's parents for you.

 

[norcal]

UBI breakers are Classified for use in Zinsco or FPE panels, as opposed to ratherthe original manufacturers were listed for use in their panels, the UBI breakers are made by the ChiComs, I'd rather trust a used Zinsco/Sylvania, or Federal Pacific breaker. The best course of action as already mentioned is replacement, they are good scrap metal. Some Zinsco is only available used such as 3-pole plug-in, or all bolt-on breakers, Zinsco's bus arrangement on 3 phase panels w/ plug-in breakers was quite peculiar.