Evidence, it's what every police detective seeks at a crime. Clues that lead to facts, whether rock solid or hair thin. The assemblage of proof is the making of a case. Home inspection is in many ways similar. Inspectors in essence are hunting for clues through out a house.
Experience is said to be the best teacher, which I have found to be true not only in every job I've done, but in life. The great thing about experience is that we don't have to rely totally on or own. We can benefit from the shared experiences of others to help build upon our own knowledge. Passing along knowledge is a uniquely human ability.
Home inspectors learn first by formal training, then by poking through houses and the shared experiences of other inspectors. Other important pieces of knowledge are gathered from the collective expertise of people who are deemed specialists.
There are particular items that are red flags in the world of home inspection. Defective products that have through testing, both in the lab and by time itself, shown themselves to be problematic. One of these products is Federal Pacific electric panels and circuit breakers.
The issues with this long out of business manufacturer's equipment are several and well documented. I have personally experienced just one of these problems up until very recently.
There are two basic problems with Federal Pacific equipment, one is with the panel enclosure. The design of the busbar (the metal strip on to which the breakers attach) is poor. Basically breakers can become loose. I once removed the cover of an older FPE panel to have three breakers tumble from the panel. Loose connections cause fires.
The other problem with FPE equipment as I said is with the circuit breakers. The breakers are known to not trip when an over current condition occurs. The failure of FPE breakers is well known and documented. Yet few if any inspectors actually experience this first hand. And so it was with me until recently.
During the course of of a recent home inspection the hall bathroom was used. This like the master bathroom, had a bath fan installed...from 1965. After use the door had been left closed with the fan running. When I entered to inspect the bathroom later, the room was filled with smoke. The ancient fan had apparently burned. The light in the fan was still on meaning the circuit breaker hadn't tripped. The house has two FPE panels.
Whether the fan motor burning out should have tripped the circuit breaker is hard for me to know. The presence of an FPE panel does lead me to believe the breaker is faulty considering all the evidence.
My reports always contain a short paragraph describing the know faults of FPE equipment along with an attached document giving detailed information of this equipment and its manufacture's history. Taken all together the evidence is strong for the replacement of these panels.
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