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If an old Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) breaker panel/box has been fine for 50+ years and only one person who doesn't use multiple things at once lives there, does it still need to be replaced?
| It will be fine for one person not using multiple things at once. | 2 | |
| Get rid of it. | 2 |
Im going to tell you an industry secret as an unliscenced sometimes-electrician. Building codes exist specifically so you can't sue the installer if something goes on fire as long as they follow whatever dumb standards they've made up for the new year. Just because something is no longer up to current electrical code doesn't make it unsafe.
Replacing an entire breaker panel just because its old is an upsell job an electrician will try to sell you because he can charge you for it. It's the same as those people that go door to door trying to sell you a new roof or new windows, like Boojum said they provide the service and are trying to solicit work from you. An example would be a couple months back I went to check out a really old sprinkler system from the 70s that wouldnt shut one of the zones off. The guy wanted to sell her an entire new control box and system, the problem was the solenoid in one of the valves had come loose and it cost $0 to fix.
Personally Ive always stuck with what my shop teacher said in school, if you have an old house with old wiring and outlets and stuff don't touch anything unless its broken. Old wires are fine until you start messing with them.
I was told this particular brand (Federal Pacific Electric/FPE) is notoriously unsafe and responsible for over 2,000 house fires per year, any truth to any of that?
I mean my electrician stuff is generally fixing home fixtures cheaper than a real electrician, I havent been around those specifically enough to talk from personal experience as to how safe they are. The complaints about them seem related to quality control not being very good, but if the person isn't using multiple appliances at once it shouldn't overload anything.
Just because something doesn't meet current building codes doesn't necessarily mean that its unsafe. They're constantly revising the rules. Like I said, the real purpose of the codes in the first place is to set a standard that electricians have to follow to avoid getting sued if a fire happens that wasn't their fault, like if I changed an outlet and there was a fire a month later, they can't sue me if it was installed up to code standards.
git someone who knows their shit to tighten the terminals and give it a visual onceover for hot spots
rack the breakers off & on and make sure nothin feels crunchy
if theres still question get someone to load up the area in question and look at it thru a flir camera
fed pac panels are absolutely notorious
if its lasted this long itll likely be fine but maintenance dont hurt
It should be OK. You might need to replace a few breakers. Also, have an electrician check that wires are tight and routed properly (I've seen some horrible wiring jobs that were not safe).
The link below suggests that there are particular problems with FPE breakers and you'd be wise to have an electrician look at it. But then the cynical part of me is aware that the link below is provided by a company that provides this service, so it's reasonable to wonder if they might be looking to panic homeowners and drum up business.
Take what I say below with a grain of salt. I know a fair amount about domestic electricity, but I'm not an electrician.
If circuit breakers aren't repeatedly abused by overloading to the point of almost tripping or actually tripping, they should be safe for decades. They're very simple devices, and normal levels of electric current passing through them doesn't wear them out. Typically, if a circuit breaker fails, it does this by refusing to stay in the 'on' position when it's carrying a normal load. That's how they're designed: to fail safe.
Something you might do is check to see if any of the breakers feel warm when you'd been using whatever is a normal amount of electricity for you, and also when you've had heat-producing appliances on for a while (the stove and dryer are usually the highest wattage appliances in a typical house). If any of the circuit breakers feels warm when you touch the back of your hand to it, then it would be safest to have the panel checked out.
An odd, hot smell when you open the panel would obviously be a very bad sign, as would any signs of water having got into the panel at some point, or any physical damage to the breakers.
You might also go through the panel and flip all the circuit breakers off and then on again to make sure that they haven't somehow got gunged up inside for some bizarre reason, and they can actually go to the off position.
https://www.docelectricalservices.com/electrician-services/federal-pacific-electric-panels/