After having a Four Point inspection done, you might have found out your home has an electrical panel installed that is considered not eligible by your insurance carrier. The insurance carrier could terminate coverage or give you 30 days to replace the panel.
Is my panel safe?
Federal Pacific Electric “Stab-Lok” service panels and breakers are a latent hazard and can fail to trip in response to overcurrent, 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 – a serious fire and electrical shock hazard. Failures are documented in the CPSC study and by independent research.
How to Identify a Federal Pacific Panel?
- Logo (if present)
What if my home has a Federal Pacific Panel?
If your home has a Federal Pacific Stab-Lok main panel or sub-box installed, then please contact a licensed Electrician to have it replaced. The panel may have been there for 30 years and seem to work fine, however, the underlying problems are there and it’s simply not worth the risk.