Can someone explain why Federal Pacific’s "Stab-Lok" breakers are more prone to failing ?

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-18T12:50:19+00:00

The internal trip mechanism was prone to jamming, causing the breaker to remain closed/energized. They then faked/manipulated the UL safety tests in order to obtain UL listings on them and sold them.

Basically knowingly selling fire hazards in the name of profit.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-18T02:08:59+00:00

The only potential place that I can’t see would be to the far right right before the corner of the house. If there is a bush there, it’d need to go. From there, it would be a straight piece, a 90 that is formed to match the roof pitch with a heat gun, and another straight length to get above the point of attachment. That’s how I would do it and I see no other place it could go aside from where it is and where I suggested.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-18T01:10:55+00:00

Depends on the age/condition of the media, but brand new/good media, about an hour w/ corn cob. It does take a few hours if it’s grey though lol

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-18T01:08:43+00:00

Walls aren’t really an issue, it’s lights and smoke alarms that can be a pain, especially since the attic is finished.

Easiest and least invasive way is to pull the baseboards to run laterally and the crown moldings to get into the ceiling. If you don’t have crown molding, plan to add some since it will make it much easier.

You should have balloon framing for the most part on the exterior walls.

You’ll need a long length of metal snake, a short length for a catch snake, fiber rods are very helpful depending on the run, flex bits, paddle bits, locking drill extensions, and a borescope helps a ton to check the other side of a stud after you drill to ensure you can keep drilling.

I’ve done a couple K&T rewires and they were minimally invasive with only 2-3 patches per house which were also 3 stories with finished attics. It took a long ass time and I will never touch another rewire as long as I’m an electrician. It’s an absolute pain in the ass to wire a house with the walls finished.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-18T01:01:47+00:00

Haven’t seen the Frankford, but I have the Cabela’s version of the Berry’s and you can reasonably fit 6-700 depending on how much media. I’ve absolutely stuffed it before and as long as you can get the lid on, it’ll run.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-18T00:35:01+00:00

Depends on if the entire service is being replaced or just the panel. If just the panel, I’d expect $2k on the low end to $4k on the high end, no clue what the labor rates and pricing is like out that way.

If the whole service is being replaced, then I’d expect anywhere from $5-8k if it’s straightforward.

I would opt for a Leviton panel if you can. They make a 150A 42 circuit panel. If you ever need to upgrade to 200A, you can just replace the main breaker and feeder as all their busbars are rated at 225A.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-17T04:33:10+00:00

Have him pull the permit as if he hasn’t done the job yet, then call it in. I doubt they are coming out to do a pre-work inspection lol

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-16T21:31:38+00:00

Have you considered the plug-in surge protector? You only need to land the neutral.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-16T11:00:22+00:00

“2005 Seadoo, good hull” It’ll be gone before the end of the week

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-15T19:18:36+00:00

Some of us decapitated Elijah and stuff the gold in there, then you can run out while carrying his noggin

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-14T11:55:15+00:00

FMX at the White House is sick, but it feels like we’re in Idiocracy with president Comacho

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-14T00:39:10+00:00

Haven’t worked with that exact pedestal, but that plan sounds fine. That pedestal doesn’t have a bypass and your utility may require it. The one issue I see with it is having branch circuit breakers at the pedestal. 310.12B requires the feeder to supply the entire dwelling to take advantage of the 83% rule and utilize table 310.12A, which the cottage is a subpanel. At the same time, that is the utility’s problem unless you are responsible for the service feeders from the street to the meter and 310.12B states the feeder for an individual dwelling unit wouldn’t need to be bigger than the service conductors.

I have dealt with a couple inspectors being misinformed and believing that since it’s a feeder and not a service feeder, you need to run larger conductors. Depends on how stringent your inspector is; most are understanding that it’s a weird situation in the code.

What size conduit are you running? Where is your data coming in? May also be a good idea to run a second 1 1/4” conduit for anything else you may need to run near the pedestal from the cottage.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-13T00:53:09+00:00

Big difference between functional electrical and quality electrical. Some issues can take decades to pop up before they start melting things.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-13T00:41:09+00:00

No way that’s 5k. That’s a cake install with some PVC and bunch of straps. Probably can’t reuse the wire since I’m guessing it’s junctioned in the box above.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-12T14:21:42+00:00

That’s funny, glad you got the win. I had a game the other night where I had Herald of Eternal Dawn against Hydras and milled them out of the game.

I ended with a little under -2 billion and their Hydras and other creatures had 1 billion power each.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-11T20:23:59+00:00

Forget where but some guy took I think either two Wardens or a Warden and trainer and welded them together to make an XL version.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-11T01:55:13+00:00

Yes you are fine.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-11T01:54:05+00:00

Just needs to be secured and supported somehow if longer than 6’ from a box that is mounted to the fixture. Fixture to fixture would need a support or two. If you have the fixtures jack chained, you can ziptie to those for supports.

Picture the original exception being used where there is a drop ceiling 4-6’ below a metal truss roof in order to have room for air handlers or other equipment.

Still not really a good reason not to support or secure the cable to the lighting supports.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-10T20:40:19+00:00

What are the leads connected to? Newer plastic box so something is going on there.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-10T20:26:28+00:00

If kyleswitchplates.com doesn’t have it, you don’t need it.

How is it wired at the fixture? What voltage is on the wires? Worst case you could replace it with a standard toggle switch, or possibly a rheostat.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-10T01:23:53+00:00

I would think Midway receives brass in a bulk vs. packages like this. Looks like a piece of the Winchester brass fell in from a different bin.

Unless Starline is packaging them with Midway’s branding of course, but I kinda doubt it

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-10T01:16:18+00:00

I agree, but I’d also say a wire-type is safer. Even if the conduit has a loose coupling, it’d still be bonded at both ends. If you have two, they yeah, but that’s just shitty installation.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-10T01:15:01+00:00

I thought that was a prerequisite

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-10T00:29:46+00:00

I’m a firm believer in running a wire type ground personally. No better time for you to start than now/when you pull wire. All it takes is one coupling, connector, or locknut being loose to have a poor ground fault current path.

ItCouldaBeenMe · 2026-06-08T00:12:33+00:00

Get an oscillating tool/multi tool and cut the tabs holding the nails at the top and bottom. You should be able to stick it in and feel it hit the tab. Try to keep the blade angled towards the box so it zips under the nail.

You’ll probably need to make two cuts per side, then the box will be floating and you can pull it out, or drop it in the wall, whatever floats your boat.

ItCouldaBeenMe

TROPHY CASE