[PLUG-TALK] Stablok electrical boxes

[John Jason Jordan]

On Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:57:08 -0700
Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com> dijo:

>We just bought a 1960's era house, which contains a Federal Pacific
>Stablok load center aka circuit breaker box.  These have a nasty and
>well deserved reputation for starting fires.  An electrician will
>be replacing it soon, but apparently not soon enough.
>
>Today I was replacing 2 prong sockets with 3 prong (the boxes are
>grounded, hooray!) when the panel started making noises.  Five
>breakers fused, and some of the wires blackened.  I hit the main
>cutoff and it stopped.
>
>I will see what the electrician says.  I may have done something
>wrong while wiring sockets, but the worst case is sparks and a
>thrown breaker, usually.  Or it may be the kitchen light that was
>miswired by the last owner.  However, it is very disconcerting that
>the breakers did not do their job. 
>
>There are apparently about 20 million Stablok boxes still in
>service out there, and non-functioning breakers have resulted
>in enormous branch currents, melted wires, and fires.  If you have
>one of these, please replace it.  This is expensive, but so is a 
>fire.  If it was that fixture, it could have gone when I was not
>around to hit the cutoff.

I assume you have already checked, but just in case it has not occurred
to you, check for recalls. I had a service panel that was recalled and
the company paid for replacement, including the permit and labor. When
I called them they tried to weasel out of it by claiming there was a
disclaimer on the instructions that came with the panel, but after I
pointed out that you can't contract out of liability (fundamental
principle of contract law), they caved.