Ask the Akron Ohio Home Inspector

If the electrical panel in your home is a Federal Pacific Electric “Stab-Lok” panel then there is a real fire hazard in your home!

Federal Pacific Electric “Stab-Lok” service panels and breakers are a safety hazard and can fail to trip in response to an overcurrent situation, leading to electrical fires.

The breakers may also fail to shut off internally even if the toggle is switched to “off.” Some double-pole (240-Volt) FPE circuit breakers and single-pole FPE Stab-Lok circuit breakers simply do not work safely.

There are other panel-defects independent of the breaker problems, panel and panel-bus fires and arcing failures in some equipment.

The failure rates for these circuit breakers were and still are significant. In some cases failure to trip occurs 60% of the time creating a serious fire and electrical shock hazard.

Failures are documented in the Consumer Products Safety Commission’s study and by independent research.

FPE Stab-Lok electrical panels should be replaced. Do not simply swap in some replacement breakers.

For complete information about the problems with Federal Pacific Electric “Stab-Lok” service panels and breakers go to:

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

In the video below we have shared what a Federal Pacific Electric “Stab-Lok” panel looks like.