Federal Pacific Electrical Panels | Why Are They Bad For My Home?

Federal Pacific Electrical Panels - Why are they bad for my home?

 

A.) It starts with the circuit breakers. They have a PROVEN track record of not tripping when they are supposed to. Upwards of 1 out of 3 will not properly trip when they are supposed to and that's a BIG problem! The sole purpose of that circuit breaker is to provide circuit protection and to shut down when the circuit gets short circuited or overloaded. This particular circuit breaker has a history of not tripping out and shutting down the circuit under those conditions and frankly that’s just NOT acceptable.

 

B.) Another issue with these panels is how the circuit breaker attaches to the “buss bar”. The buss bar is what you usually don't see as the circuit breakers hide it. However, it's the buss bar that delivers power up and down the panel to each of the circuit breakers that delivers power to all your branch circuits. The connection point between the circuit breaker and buss bar has shown overtime to not connect properly a create a loose or improper connection which can result in a overheated condition burning the circuit breaker and melting the buss bar. Does it happen on every panel we inspect? No, but it happens on too many of them!

 

C.) We also see a lot of Federal Pacific panels that are split buss panels. Split buss panels don't have a main circuit breaker but instead have the panel broken down into 2 sections. The top half is completely unprotected and has a 6 disconnect rule so you are very limited as to what you can install in that particular area. (lighting and receptacle circuits are not allowed in this portion of the panel) one of the six disconnects (circuit breakers) feeds the bottom 2/3 of the panel and is usually a 60 amp circuit breaker. The problem here is that most of the time there is too much load that has been added over time to this portion of the panel and the 60 amp circuit breaker is not sufficient to handle the load any longer. These panels are too small for today's homes and space is very limited do to their design.

 

If you take all the above into consideration you will see why I personally feel these panels should be replaced. The breakers don’t trip when they should, The Buss Bar has a bad design, the panels are often too small and in the case of them having a split buss they can easily get overloaded. Today’s modern electrical panels fix all these problems and are dependable and safe when you need them to be!  

 

Not sure about your electrical panel? Give us a call, we will always come out and perform a free safety inspection so that you have the peace of mind in knowing exactly what you have in your home.