Hartman Home Inspections, LLC.

This is a discussion about the safety of Federal Pacific (FPE) “Stab-Lok” circuit breaker panels and the fact that they may have inherent defects. The result of the defect has linked them to numerous electrical fires.

There is no supporting evidence from any government agency or regulatory authority stating that these panels are unsafe and should be replaced. There has not been a recall by the consumer product safety commission. If you have one of these FPE panels or intend to purchase a home that has one of these FPE panels, Hartman Home Inspections, LLC, recommend that you have the system evaluated by a qualified licensed electrician.

As a Home Inspector, this information puts us in a very difficult situation when we perform a whole house Home Inspection. These FPE breaker panels will perform their intended function when doing a visual inspection. The panel does not initiate an unsafe condition, which leaves us in the precarious position of knowing that a latent problem “may” exist in a breaker panel.

The problem with Federal pacific breaker panels is that some of the double pole 220 volt circuit breakers and some of the single pole 120 volt circuit breakers may not operate as intended if overloaded or shorted. A circuit breakers job is the trip and stop electrical service to the circuit it is protecting. FPE breakers have been found to not do this every time, which has a potential to cause a fire.

Another issue is that these breakers can come loose when removing the panel, and end up not sitting correctly in the panel box, which could lead to arcing, which has a potential to cause a fire.

Aftermarket breakers are available for these panels. Most of these panels are large and had a lot of circuits and the cost of replacing all the breakers is often more than the cost of installing a new panel, and to anyone buying your property at a later stage, it still has a Federal Pacific panel that will be called out by their home inspector as a safety issue.

So it is that time again. Where every time we change the clocks, we change the batteries in out smoke detectors. Well what about changing your smoke detector? Do you know how old it is? If not, you probably should consider replacing it.

It is recommended that you replace the smoke detector every 10yrs. The reason being is that the sensors can become degraded over time from dust, dirt, and debris floating around it.

Here is another fun little fact. Is your smoke alarm yellowish in color and looks like its in the home of a 3 pack a day smoker? Well that yellowing is actually caused by Bromine, which is added to the plastic as a flame retardant. It causes the plastic to become yellow over time, and it has a chance to also make the resin casing to become brittle. As a safety concern, it would be a good idea to replace this smoke alarm.