Edward Mackoul, President, discusses the issues with Federal Pacific Electric Stabloks.
Stab-Lok panels are circuit breaker panels that were sold by Federal Pacific Electric between the 1950’s and 1990’s and have long been known to be problematic. To understand why, here are a few key points:
• Testing by the Consumer Product Safety Commission has shown these breakers to have an unacceptably high rate of failure, which creates a safety hazard.
• Testing has proven that virtually every one of these panels installed in the United States contains defective breakers.
• Federal Pacific falsified their UL testing, making their UL listing void.
• Approximately 1 out of 3 breakers are defective.
• If a breaker fails to trip when it should, the wires that are supposed to be protected, can start on fire.
If your home or building contains them, it’s going to be a lot more difficult and costly to obtain insurance in the future, as insurance companies no longer want the panels evaluated by an electrician, they want them replaced.
