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I have a 1961, Apartment with Bolted on panels vrs the Stab-lock is bolted on safer?

Julie
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1 Answers1

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If you are talking about Federal Pacific Electric in both cases (bolt-on and snap-in, both exist under the "Stab-Lok" name), the whole thing needs to be replaced promptly either way. The internal mechanism has several problems according to http://fpe-info.org/hazardous_fpe_171110.pdf which has nothing to do with the bus connection method:

  • Breakers often don't trip at their rated current, but at a much higher level, which can lead to fires
  • Breakers can jam on overcurrent and not trip at all, which can lead to fires
  • Breakers can jam when manually moved to "off" which is a safety problem and also possible fire hazard

Some (probably not all) of the bus-connection problems may be mitigated by the bolt-down breakers, but that does not make them acceptably safe. Either way, these panels are a fire hazard and need to be replaced promptly.

nobody
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