Federal Pacific Dates

[Terence McCann]

Are there certain dates that FP manufactured breakers that were "ok"?

I did a home inspection for a client and the seller was a real estate agent. Upon calling out the FP box they responded with "their FP box was ok because it was produced after X date (I asked for a copy of their response, haven't received it yet).

What's the skinny on production dates, if any.

TIA.

[BADAIR]

Terry,

They are all OK the day after they are removed and replaced with new equipment.

Here is a link I pass on to clients after I have documented the conditions of their particular panel.

http://www.inspect-ny.com/fpe/fpepanel.htm

[hausdok]

Hi,

They're blowing smoke Terry. After a certain date doesn't mean a thing. When FPE went under the General Manager and some other employees bought the remaining stocks and name of the company. Anything sold after that, was just remaining stock so it wasn't any different from what had been produced before they went under.

OT - OF!!!

M.

[BlackJack]

That's why you are a Home Inspector, and He is a Real Estate Agent.

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by Terence McCann

Are there certain dates that FP manufactured breakers that were "ok"?

I did a home inspection for a client and the seller was a real estate agent. Upon calling out the FP box they responded with "their FP box was ok because it was produced after X date (I asked for a copy of their response, haven't received it yet).

What's the skinny on production dates, if any.

TIA.

There are two fundamental problems with FPE equipment.

First, at least some of the FPE breakers failed to meet the safety standards that they were supposed to; they're reluctant to trip. This was a breaker design issue that was discovered late in the game in the early '80s. As far as I know, there were never any changes to the breakers after that discovery. Some of the earlier, much older, breakers might have been ok. I don't know for sure.

Second, the method by which the breakers connected to the bus bars was flawed. This condition is common to all FPE circuit breaker panels regardless of age.

There's a boatload of misinformation out there about FPE panels. Most of it is spread around by home inspectors. I'll bet that the agent heard it from one of them.

All you can do is send them to Friedman's site and hope that they have enough of a brain to understand it.

- Jim Katen, Oregon