FEDERAL PACIFIC OR
FPE STAB LOK
PANEL BOXES
Federal Pacific Electric (FPE)
was a popular manufacturer of panel boards and circuit breakers for
many years. They are very common in the North Texas area. For years, stories about the hazards and defects
related to this equipment have prevailed. Stories of recalls, poor
manufacturing and house fires have been reported.
There is a
lot of information on the internet about the hazards of Federal
Pacific "Stab-Lok" circuit breaker panels. There are convincing
arguments that the panel boxes are a fire hazard. For example:
Doug Hansen’s information article or
download the PDF
Dan Friedman’s information internet site
Jeff Aronstein’s information article or
download PDF
CPSC
web site or
download the PDF
The Texas
Real Estate Commission (TREC) has considered this topic and to date
has not issued an opinion. Electricians are in disagreement and you
will find varying answers. Home inspectors, home buyer's and home
seller's are stuck in the middle.
The
following has been said
about Federal Pacific Electric ‘Stab-Lok" panels:
That these
panels pose a latent threat and could be a hazard. The circuit
breakers may fail to trip in the case of an overload or short-circuit.
A circuit breaker that fails to trip could cause a fire or personal
injury.
The
problem with these panels is that some double pole 220volt circuit
breakers (and quite possibly some single pole 120volt circuit
breakers) may not work/trip.
Published
reports of some tests conducted on FPE two pole 220volt circuit
breakers indicate that under certain conditions one leg/pole may
attempt to trip the breaker. The result is a circuit that stays live,
and a circuit breaker that has been compromised and when reset will
not trip again under any excessive load.
These
panels would appear to work perfectly during normal operation,
allowing electricity to flow without any problems or symptoms.
The
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) did conduct product testing
of these breakers and found that their failure rates were significant.
The CPSC’s
advice concerning these panels is for consumers to avoid overloading
circuits as well as to turn off and have examined any devices that are
causing the circuit breakers to trip.
If you
have one of these FPE panels or intend to purchase a home that has one
of these FPE panels, you should:
- Read the links on this page
- Investigate the matter with an electrician, the city code department
and your insurance company
You may find that there is no clear consensus. After considering
all the information provided if you have doubts then there is no
doubt, replace the panel. This might not be considered a "repair"
relative to a real estate contract and it could be argued to be an
improvement. That is a topic you and the other party will need to
decide upon. The cost of replacing a standard panel box is $1500 to
$2000, conditions pending.
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