by Jodie Wells
You can spot a Stab-Lok breaker by Federal Pacific Electric from the red strip across the switch.
Your electric panel ensures your home’s electrical safety, but is it safe? If your home was built between 1950 and 1990 and is equipped with a Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) panel with Stab-Lok circuit breakers, you run a significant risk of breaker malfunction and fire.
The breakers inside the panel are designed to guard your home’s electrical system against circuit overload, short circuits and outside power surges coming into the panel. When an overload occurs, a breaker protects you by tripping, thus shutting down the power to the circuit. However, if a breaker is defective or not operating properly, the risk of fire to the panel and consequently to your home becomes imminent.
Multiple tests done on the breakers since the 1980s have proven that one in four Stab-Lok breakers will be defective and not properly trip off. Unfortunately, when the testing began in the early 1980s, a New Jersey court later ruled that FPE committed testing fraud and a cover-up, labeling the breakers as meeting the standards set by the UL when in reality, they were defective.
In 1983, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) closed its two-year investigation and felt it impossible to create a product recall at the time because of budget issues, even as Federal Pacific panels and breakers continued to be installed in millions of homes that to this day still run the risk of an electrical fire. An estimated 2,800 fires each year directly result from Federal Pacific panel breaker malfunction. Federal Pacific Electric has been out of business for many years, but the danger and damage caused by their negligence continues.
Many electrical panels have Federal Pacific or its logo on the front cover.
Do you have a Federal Pacific panel?
If you own a home between 23 and 63 years old, check your breaker box. A Federal Pacific panel will usually have its name or logo on the front cover. Inside, you will find the name Stab-Lok printed near the center or side of the panel. The intact breakers will have the signature red strip that runs across the front.
If you find you do have a Federal Pacific panel or Stab-Lok breakers, call a licensed electrician in your area for further information regarding replacement.