When an electrical service panel upgrade becomes necessary to enable you to accommodate additional branch wiring circuits or to replace an obsolete electrical service box look to KNG Electrical Services to provide you with options and sound advice.  Fire and safety hazards are inevitable in aging older circuit panels needing updating and if one is inside your home KNG Electrical Services can provide you the information necessary to facilitate the decision making processes.  See the following report if your electrical service panel is keeping you from being able to renew your home owners insurance.

Our licensed staff can assist in providing you with the best, most cost-effective and safest way to make your electrical panel repair or replacement a reality, providing a free estimate recommending only what’s necessary to accomplish your electrical service panel replacement or improvement needs.

Our electrical service panel upgrade and replacement services includes all labor, materials and equipment necessary including circuit breakers to completely remove and replace your existing electrical service, backed by our full one year warranty covering the entire installation, including labor.  We remain committed and standby every service change we undertake.

Branch Circuit Wiring

If you have the extra space available in your existing electrical panel box to add an additional circuit or two excellent!  KNG Electrical Services is here and ready to assist you in getting your project finished. Here are a few things worth consideration:

• When adding a new bedroom circuit, utilizing AFCI breakers is required per the electrical code
• Hot tubs and central air conditioners will require an additional slot in your service panel utilizing two instead of one for the large breaker
• Bathroom outlets, outdoor outlets and wet areas inside your home like nearby the kitchen sink must be GFCI protected
• Any additional concerns, please contact KNG Electrical Services at 603-625-0086

Federal Pacific Electric Stab-lok Electrical Panels & Circuit Breakers

Federal Pacific Electric Stab-lok type residential circuit breakers have been reported to have created fire hazards. FPE Stab-lok® circuit breakers and electrical panels can still be found in millions of homes. Although FPE has not made a circuit breaker since 1986, the circuit breaker processes were obtained and subsequently maintained by other companies. In the United States, Stab-lok® circuit breakers are sold by the American Circuit Breaker Corporation.

Due to their design and or quality control troubles, the FPE Stab-Lok circuit breakers have not worked as reliably as intended. Testing has proven approximately 30% of the 2-pole circuit breakers have failed to trip when they are supposed to. Unfortunately some entire lots of these breakers have been 100% defective. Fuses were utilized to provide the same safety function that today’s circuit breakers now provide. The situation with the FPE circuit breakers is no different than the dangerous yet common practice of over fusing or even putting a penny in the fuse socket behind the fuse itself to deal with the trouble of fuses repeatedly blowing.  There isn't an electrical inspector, an electrical contractor or even a realtor who would not agree that these conditions should be corrected and quickly!

The distinction is that over using is easy to see, but there is typically no visual indication that a breaker is working properly or not, giving the homeowner the perception that the breakers are in fine working order.  There is no way an electrician can look at a panel and know if the breakers inside will trip when they should.

The Solution

Although some companies have started making replacement breakers for the FPE panels, in most cases these replacement breakers have been manufactured with the same problematic design as the original and there is no supporting data showing that they are more reliable. Further although not as well documented as the circuit breaker problem replacing the circuit breakers does not address the problems with the buss bars in FPE panels. The only sure solution to address all of these situations is to replace the entire panel.

Home owners are encouraged to update themselves on FPE panels, the remedial acts to take if any, making an informed decision on their best course of action.

Need more information on Federal Pacific Electrical Panels? Call your Residential Electrical Experts at 603-625-0086.