Replies

1. 
   inspecTOR | Jul 05, 2006 08:32am | #1

   Federal Pacific Stab-lok panels (and circuit breakers) have a long history of failure.  Save your house and your family by replacing the electrical panel.  General Electric, Square D and Challenger brands are good products, easy to work on and circuit breakers are readily available. 

2. 
   DanH | Jul 05, 2006 04:38pm | #2

   Most breakers you remove by prying out from the center. There usually is a little notch in the end of one breaker that allows you to pry it out with a screwdriver levered on the opposite breaker.

   Don't know about these specific breakers, though.

   If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
3. 
   maddog3 | Jul 05, 2006 06:02pm | #3

   if the breakers are in good shape they can be difficult to remove, but they do swing away from the center....if you have any doubts, shut the whole panel off before you do anything

   and unless you're Canadian, you should replace the panel .....

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4. 
   rjw2 | Jul 05, 2006 06:09pm | #4

   First, if you don't know how, maybe you shouldn't at all.

   On Edit: the next paragraph demonstrtaes major brain fart ---  I was thinking of the old push-matics -- the stab-loks "stab" into place:

   <<The stab-loks typically are secured in the panel with a screw (and no wires are to be attached under that screw (not refering to the neutral or ground buss bars.)>>

   I [alos on edit --- still]  disagree with the other view expressed on  Stab-loks.

   They aren't the world's best laod center, and there are a number of people with a strong dislike for them, which all seems to trace back to a home inspector in  NY.

   They were subject of a CPSC investigation, but no recall notice was issued.

   I see them weekly, and have not seen any pattern of failure with them

   Electricians I talk to are divided on the issue.

   OTOH, If you're having problems with it, or are thinking of seeling gthe home soon, an upgrade is a good idea.

   
   

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   Edited 7/6/2006 3:31 pm ET by rjw2

1. 
   maddog3 | Jul 05, 2006 09:08pm | #5

   ..' there are a number of people with a strong dislike for them, .."count me in...you see many more than I probably have, but like Zinsco, junk is junk......just my 4¢...... and since there are no factory new breakers available....yada,yada,yada...blah,blah,blah.

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1. 
   maddog3 | Jul 06, 2006 07:47pm | #6

   as luck would have it........here is an example of how the breakers mount to the bus. you can see by looking at the spot right next to the breaker on the bottom...the breakers do indeed swing away from the center ...there also would have been more to look at in this panel but, quote......"This one had a 100 Amp breaker ahead of it, which actually DID trip, after both busses and the interior's mounting plate burnt through completely." ..end of quoteThe 100A breaker the electrician is talking about is, of course, another FPE !. (hat tip to my buddy, electure )
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   Edited 7/6/2006 12:56 pm by maddog3

2. 
   rjw2 | Jul 06, 2006 10:39pm | #7

   I screwed the pooch on that one, as noted in my edit v- I was think about push-matic panels, not FPEs talking about screwed in place breakers.

    

   Attached is a pic of a FPE I saw today, which is typical of the ones I see (although many use a split buss - unlike this one)

    

1. 
   maddog3 | Jul 07, 2006 02:14am | #8

   figgered you would catch it.......).

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