LIVERMORE — If you live in an older home and have never looked at your electrical panel, it’s time you did. Why? There’s a chance your entire electrical system is relying on a defective product.
Despite advances in circuit breaker technology, many older homes still have their original electrical panels. However, in some cases, this isn’t merely an energy efficiency issue—it’s a safety issue as well. Certain brands of discontinued panels (most notably Federal Pacific and Zinsco) are still present in homes across the United States, despite having lost their UL listing and being known to be defective.
One of the biggest problems seen with these panels is when their circuit breakers fail to register dangerous conditions such as shorted or overloaded circuits, which stops them from tripping when they should. Since circuit breakers are your first line of defense against electrical hazards, if yours aren’t working properly, it leaves your family and home susceptible to a significant safety risk. To avoid this, look inside your panel and make sure it doesn’t have a Federal Pacific or Zinsco manufacturing label. If it does, have a professional electrician come out and replace it.

Identifying Hazardous Electrical Panels

Learn how to identify hazardous electrical panels in your home and ensure your family's safety.

Identifying Hazardous Electrical Panels by Scott Mamola

By Scott Mamola of Service Champions

Addressing Electrical Problems

Video: Electrical System Warning


If you have flickering lights or tripping circuit breakers, it may be time to upgrade your home's electrical system. To learn more, we're in Livermore with Chris Garcia of Main Electric speaking on behalf of our Diamond certified expert contributor Scott Mamola. Today's expert tip involves power consumption in your home during the winter and summer months. During these months, we want to keep our house cool and we want to keep our house warm. This leads to larger amounts of power being drawn through your electrical system. Should you have any type of tripping circuit breakers or flickering lights, these problems will only be amplified by these hotter and cooler months. Do not ignore these problems, get them taken care of before they become a hazard. And that's your tip for today. To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond certified expert reports at experts.Diamond.  certified.

Video: Identifying Hazardous Electrical Panels


You may not realize it, but your home's electrical system could be relying on a defective product. To learn more, we're in Livermore with Mary Sanchez of Main Home Services, speaking on behalf of our Diamond Certified expert contributor, Startin Ebola.

My recommendation for any homeowner is to check their panel. The service panel coming in, is that the actual box coming in from the Stila T companies? If you have a Federal Pacific or Cisco panels, those panels are actually defective. You know that they don't, the circuit breakers, they don't trip. The first safety in the electrical house is your circuit breakers, and if your circuit breakers don't trip, that could be a fire hazard.

To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified expert reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.


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