Federal Electric- later known as Federal Pacific Electric (FPE)- was a popular manufacturer of panels and breakers from the mid-1950’s until the early 1980’s. Based in New Jersey, their products were very popular throughout the country, and some communities have FPE panels in almost every home. For years, stories have circulated about the hazards and defects unique to this equipment, and the darker rumors include tales of product recalls, fraudulent manufacturing, and house fires resulting from failed breakers. Inspectors and electricians share tales of breakers falling out of panels when the deadfront is removed, or breakers failing to shut off when the handle is operated. Home inspectors need the facts so they can present their clients with accurate information on which to base a decision on accepting or replacing FPE panels. 

Problems with FPE panels can be broken down into 3 basic categories:
1. There is the simple fact that the equipment is old, and manufactured to less stringent codes and standards than modern equipment. Electrical equipment is not something that improves with age or use.
2. There are problems unique to the design of the FPE Stablok breakers, problems that are not found in other equipment this age.
3. There are issues of manufacturing defects and circuit breaker failures. This last issue causes the greatest concern; what good is a circuit breaker that won’t trip when overloaded or shorted? What good is a breaker that doesn’t de-energize the circuit when the handle is tripped?

Several of the problems found with FPE panels are found in other brands of equipment of the same age. There is less gutter space in the panel than we find in modern equipment. The result is crowding of the wires in the panels. It is sometimes impossible to see all of the terminals in an FPE
panel. The space for bending wires is also less than required in modern panels.

The bus bars on several of the FPE models were set on springs, with a depth adjustment that enabled the position of the breakers to be moved forward or backward. For a recessed panel, this feature allowed the breakers to be brought out flush to the deadfront cover even if the panel set too far back into the wall. The code today does not allow this, and states that bus bars must be rigidly mounted. Rigid mounting prevents the entire bus from moving when a single breaker handle is operated. Another problem with spring-mounted bus bars is that the breakers sometimes push against the deadfront cover, creating a danger to the inspector when they remove and put back the deadfront cover.

There are at least 5 design issues that are no longer allowed by code; the gutter space, the wire bending space, spring-mounted bus, breakers that are on when down, and the split bus service equipment.  These issues mean that a panel that has been sitting on the hardware store shelf for 20 years would not meet today’s code, despite the UL listing of the panel at the time it was manufactured. Another even greater concern is that older breakers, of any brand, do not become more reliable with age. The internal mechanical components can become corroded or distorted, and the springs, hinges, and levers inside the breaker might not operate as designed after sufficient passage of time. Most breaker manufacturers guarantee their products for only a year, and for valuation purposes breakers are considered fully depreciated after 15 years.

FPE found a unique way of designing their wafer breakers and creating a limitation on the number of them that could fit in a CTL panel. Full size breakers have a stab that is perpendicular to the direction the breaker handle operates, and wafer breakers have a stab parallel to the direction of the breaker handle. The full size breakers stabs are referred to as “F” type, and the wafer breakers as “E” stabs. FPE has two different styles of bus opening. An “E” type opening will allow either two “E” type breakers or one “F” type. An “F” type opening will only allow one breaker, of either type. The number of breakers that can fit in the panel can therefore be limited by installing “F” type openings, instead of “E” openings.The problem with this arrangement is that the “E” breaker stabs can be bent over and jammed into an “F” socket, and the result is nother poor connection, as well as an overcrowded panel. read the full article...