Quick Search
Categories
- 3 Prong Plugs
- 3-way switches
- A Short Video
- A Shorted Chandelier
- Abbreviations
- AFCI Breakers
- BBB Reliability Report
- Biography
- Contingency Fund
- Customer References
- Discounts
- Emergency Calls Are Always Welcome Here 24/7 Including W/E & Hollidays
- Fire Protection Systems with Addressable Pull Stations
- FPE Problems
- Fuses
- GFI and saving lives
- Grounding Myths
- Guarantee
- History
- Holes & Incisions
- How a GFI Works.
- It's the watts that kill you.
- Knob & Tube Wire
- License
- My Personal Biography
- Old Houses
- Permit Requirements
- Plaster Patching
- Pricing Structure
- Quality Assurance Letter
- Sample Bid Medium
- Shorthand Abbreviations
- Sitemap
- Smoke Alarms
- Surge Protection
- Tips
- Trouble Kitchen plug sparks
- Warranty
- What to Expect
- Why choose to pay just a little bit more?
- Xtra FAQ 1
- Xtra FAQ 2
- Yellow Pages
- More...
- Service Areas
Recent Blogs
FPE Problems
FPE Problems
What is the problem with FPE breakers?
FPE breakers were produced by a company named Federal Pacific Electric, now long gone.
If you want to scare yourself, go to your search engine and Google for "FPE problems" or "FPE report".
Basically FPE breakers are only thermal breakers. They're not fully thermal-magnetic breakers. Thermal only breakers rely on a bimetallic strip to heat up and trip the breaker.
Modern thermal magnetic breakers have an additional magnetic solenoid that trips the breaker more quickly when there is a fault current.
If you short out a circuit by touching the black and white wires together a FPE breakers will take almost a full second or two before it trips. A modern thermal magnetic breaker will trip in only about one-fourth of the second. The faster it turns off the better and the less chance there will be of something overheating. Of course we don't want a bunch of sparks flying onto anything combustible.
Replacing these old out of date FPE breakers with a modern panel and AFCI breakers will be beneficial. Be sure and read the article on Arc fault circuit breakers and plan to provide enough space for these larger modern circuit breakers.
This category is currently has no content associated with it.
