| Author |
Message |
    
Rfish
| | Posted on Friday, February 9, 2001 - 1:19 pm: |     |
Hi All,
The house I am about to purchase has a Federal Pacific circuit breaker panel in the basement. I am going to replace the circuit breaker panel and I am wondering if anyone has any recommendations for the following things:
1) The maker of the new circuit breaker panel box
2) A certified electrician to install the box.
Regards,
Rich |
Eliz
| | Posted on Friday, February 9, 2001 - 2:06 pm: | |
Here's what I have to say about my journey into the Federal Pacific Morass.... When we were buying our house we kept hearing Federal Pacific this and that - get money off blah blah blah. So we (not handy types - don't know a lot about electricity) were pretty sure the house was ging to blow up if we didn't change the panel.
I called 2 electricians highly recommended on this board - and they both said basically the only reason to replace the Federal Pacific Panel was if we were upgrading our panel to more amps/watts/volts whatever that electric thingy is called  . One even said he had one in his house until recently and only changed it because he had nothing to do one day. Someone else told me the only thing to worry about is that if you sell the house you have to give an allowance for it.
The electricians are - Brian Stromko 973-762-6639 and Barnett Electric 973-275-1020. Both are very nice but I found it hard to get a hold of Brian Stromko. We actually had Barnett Electric do other work for us and he was great - called back, showed up on time and very reasonable.
We still have our Federal Pacific panel and I now feel pretty confident that it's ok. |
Njjoseph
| | Posted on Friday, February 9, 2001 - 2:33 pm: | |
When I bought my house, it had Federal Pacific box and breakers. I heard about the problems and did the research myself.
Federal Pacific breakers have been known to NOT trip when they should. In addition, when they do trip as they should the first time, they are less likely to do so the second and later times.
The panel in my house was probably original (50 years), but I would not move into a situation that is known to be so risky. The prior owner had people in the house most of the day (work-at-home wife and full-time housekeeper), but I don't and didn't feel so comfortable. The seller agreed to split the cost of replacing the panel, so I agreed to let the sale go on. They contracted Litzebauer, who I hear is very expensive, and the total was slightly over $2400 for the 200 amp service. It's a SMALL price to pay knowing that the breakers I have now are much more reliable.
I wouldn't recommend Litzebauer because of the cost, because they didn't screw in the panel cover correctly (using 2 screws instead of 6), and they didn't even attempt to make any markings for which circuit was which. |
Ken
| | Posted on Friday, February 9, 2001 - 2:33 pm: | |
I would replace it - FPE breakers have been known to fail and not trip causing fires when overloaded. |
Lseltzer
| | Posted on Friday, February 9, 2001 - 2:55 pm: | |
I was in your situation too 3 or 4 years ago. I used Steven Manginelli; he's in the book. He did a very good job. I was less happy in later years when I called with smaller jobs and he was too busy to bother with me. |
Spw784
| | Posted on Saturday, February 10, 2001 - 7:51 pm: | |
We used E & M O'Hara out of West Orange. I checked with my hubby (since we recently had the panel changed, when we upped from 60 amps to 200); he says our old panel WAS Federal Pacific.
OHara charged around $1700 to change the panel and they marked the circuits, too. |
Rfish
| | Posted on Monday, February 12, 2001 - 11:24 am: | |
Thanks Everyone,
I'll probably have the work done sometime in early April, I'll let you know how it turns out.
Regards,
Rich |
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