If you have recently bought a house that has FPE circuit breakers, you may be wondering if you will be able to find replacements. We had this concern when we bought a house that had been pretty much destroyed and gutted by the previous owner and vagrants while the house was empty. As we were finalizing the sale, we had an electrician out to give an estimate on the wiring that needed done. He told us that the circuit breakers were an older model and may be hard to find. I had never known it mattered one way or the other.
I had always figured you just went and bought new circuit breakers and installed them. Now I find out that even though the breaker may fit, it may cause damage to the whole system if not the same brand and model. Personally, I think it is a scheme to make people have to replace the whole box. Manufacturers discontinue models all the time. What about all the houses that already have that kind? Luckily, they can be refurbished.
The electrician we had for the estimate advised us to just replace the whole box and install newer model General Electric circuit breakers. We talked to a few other electricians and a few electric supply stores and decided to go with pre-owned, refurbished FPE breakers and not redo the whole box. We were already putting a lot of money into the house for repairs. We also bought ten extra breakers, just in case we needed to replace any more in the future.
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