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Haus

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Close, Federal Pacific Electric. They were popular in the 60's because they were cheap. The highlights on them?
  • No ground wire to prevent power surges from overloading the breakers.
  • Breakers may not trip correctly when moisture is detected near an outlet, causing the circuit to overload and potentially catch fire.
  • Federal Pacific panel breaker malfunctions are the cause of an estimated 2,800 fires each year. As a result, electrical companies recommend that homeowners replace any Federal Pacific panels with new, up-to-date circuit breakers.
  • Most insurance companies will not cover a home or property with a FPE breaker panel installed. Rather than repair your circuit breaker box, it’s best to hire an electrician to replace it.
I have two people in my neighborhood who have had these things flame up on them.
 
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Kajiimagi

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So just had the fun of dropping $10k on major electrical work.
  • Replaced the house panel, because old panel was a death trap...
  • Moved said panel because old panel was in a non-code compliant location.
  • Upgraded house to a 200 amp drop from the grid
  • Added whole house surge supression
  • Added an external plug to accept input from a generator for backup power needs.
Didn't like dropping the coin on it, but I feel better now that it's done. 2 houses in my neighborhood have caught fire due to these old, no longer manufactured, panels from a company that was literally driven out of business because of making crap panels it would seem. Also the surge suppression and generator outlet were things I wanted. Didn't go full on "smart panel" as that seemed like overkill.
Federal Pacific?
 
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Kajiimagi

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Close, Federal Pacific Electric. They were popular in the 60's because they were cheap. The highlights on them?
  • No ground wire to prevent power surges from overloading the breakers.
  • Breakers may not trip correctly when moisture is detected near an outlet, causing the circuit to overload and potentially catch fire.
  • Federal Pacific panel breaker malfunctions are the cause of an estimated 2,800 fires each year. As a result, electrical companies recommend that homeowners replace any Federal Pacific panels with new, up-to-date circuit breakers.
  • Most insurance companies will not cover a home or property with a FPE breaker panel installed. Rather than repair your circuit breaker box, it’s best to hire an electrician to replace it.
I have two people in my neighborhood who have had these things flame up on them.
Well due to the weird way this board does replies I saw your post AFTER I guessed FP. When I was house hunting , any house that had a FP panel was an immediate turn around and walk out. Finally trained my realtor how to check so we didn't keep wasting my time.

We used to have a construction joke that FP panels were only good for temp power as you didn't have to worry about them tripping.
 

Haus

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Well due to the weird way this board does replies I saw your post AFTER I guessed FP. When I was house hunting , any house that had a FP panel was an immediate turn around and walk out. Finally trained my realtor how to check so we didn't keep wasting my time.

We used to have a construction joke that FP panels were only good for temp power as you didn't have to worry about them tripping.
In this case it was not only a crappy panel, it was on what was originally the garage wall. Then the original owners converted that garage into an office, a workshop, and a darkroom (which is now the pantry). For whatever insane reason, they literally put a wall right into where the box was :
1756173965792.png

So I had them move it one stud space to the right and it's now in the pantry/darkroom and unobstructed. Because the original panel box is now where some wires junction over and through the wall it will forever have to be a panel with a door to show where wires are spliced together for code purposes.
 
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300Lane1

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I asked about this a while back but we had a 72" fan installed in our bedroom. It replaced a 52" that was working fine but we were looking for more air flow. We've been able to bump our AC up 1/2 degrees due to how much air this thing moves. Typically we set the AC at 72 once it starts to warm up in Cali and it stays there until we turn it off sometime in November, but it's been at 73/74 shortly after we had the fan installed.

The only thing I don't like is the lack of light it produces. My buddy installed it for me and he is residential/commercial electrician and will be coming back to put in some can lights to help with the lack of lighting.

Overall a nice upgrade and happy with the results.
 

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Lanx

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I asked about this a while back but we had a 72" fan installed in our bedroom. It replaced a 52" that was working fine but we were looking for more air flow. We've been able to bump our AC up 1/2 degrees due to how much air this thing moves. Typically we set the AC at 72 once it starts to warm up in Cali and it stays there until we turn it off sometime in November, but it's been at 73/74 shortly after we had the fan installed.

The only thing I don't like is the lack of light it produces. My buddy installed it for me and he is residential/commercial electrician and will be coming back to put in some can lights to help with the lack of lighting.

Overall a nice upgrade and happy with the results.
i remove the frosted glass in my fan
 

Furry

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Speaking of fans, fan fell off the vaulted ceiling of a master bedroom at a relatives. Kind of a red flag, but it was 20 years old and apparently it wobbled and she adjusts it like 20 times a day by yanking the cords.

Get up to inspect the pancake box and well.... WTF?
1756306695271.png

I thought at first that the second screw and pancake box had broken, until I did a double take on the bracket and found the tiny machine screw and no part of the box. I poked the spot where the screw should have gone in the ceiling and confirmed they hadn't drilled it at all.

If it isn't obvious, they cut the side mount off the pancake box, never drilled a hole, mounted the fan with only 1 screw, and then put a sawed off machine screw on the other side to make it look like there was a second screw. The amount of effort it took to be this retarded is truly breaking my brain right now.
 
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300Lane1

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yup, there is so much light that gets refracted from it

and i also use 100w leds too, not the 60w, is yours a 4 or 2 bulb, looks like 2 bulb
I'm not sure I could rock it without the globe, reminds me a dorm bedroom, but I will look to see what wattage the bulbs that are in there are.
 

BrutulTM

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My girlfriend has a ceiling fan with a frosted globe that puts out a retardedly small amount of light. It also uses odd sized bulbs so you can't just go buy bigger bulbs to put in it. Pretty stupid.
 

Kajiimagi

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I asked about this a while back but we had a 72" fan installed in our bedroom. It replaced a 52" that was working fine but we were looking for more air flow. We've been able to bump our AC up 1/2 degrees due to how much air this thing moves. Typically we set the AC at 72 once it starts to warm up in Cali and it stays there until we turn it off sometime in November, but it's been at 73/74 shortly after we had the fan installed.

The only thing I don't like is the lack of light it produces. My buddy installed it for me and he is residential/commercial electrician and will be coming back to put in some can lights to help with the lack of lighting.

Overall a nice upgrade and happy with the results.
I won't have a ceiling fan with a light kit like that. I need bare lamp holders so I can put high output lamps in them. When I turn on the light I want to SEE.
 

Kajiimagi

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Speaking of fans, fan fell off the vaulted ceiling of a master bedroom at a relatives. Kind of a red flag, but it was 20 years old and apparently it wobbled and she adjusts it like 20 times a day by yanking the cords.

Get up to inspect the pancake box and well.... WTF?
View attachment 599588
I thought at first that the second screw and pancake box had broken, until I did a double take on the bracket and found the tiny machine screw and no part of the box. I poked the spot where the screw should have gone in the ceiling and confirmed they hadn't drilled it at all.

If it isn't obvious, they cut the side mount off the pancake box, never drilled a hole, mounted the fan with only 1 screw, and then put a sawed off machine screw on the other side to make it look like there was a second screw. The amount of effort it took to be this retarded is truly breaking my brain right now.
What is above? If you have room, remove the pancake box completely and put in a new one (ideally deeper) but at the minimum the same type.

Also, for some reason I thought you were from the UK, don't they use different colors for their wiring ? This is a sincere question , my in-laws always told me about how different their electricity was but 230V is 230V.
 

Furry

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What is above? If you have room, remove the pancake box completely and put in a new one (ideally deeper) but at the minimum the same type.

Also, for some reason I thought you were from the UK, don't they use different colors for their wiring ? This is a sincere question , my in-laws always told me about how different their electricity was but 230V is 230V.
Texas. New fan is already installed. I drilled in a bit to test and it was wood. I'm relying on the wood to hold that side up, It felt like a nice bite, and just that side held 20 lbs easy. If I tested and it wasn't wood I was going to grind the side down some and jb weld in a bracket to anchor it. I didn't want to fuck with the box because its roof above, but I was able to feel at least 2 inches of clearance poking the wiring hole, so wasn't afraid of going through.
 
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Kajiimagi

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Texas. New fan is already installed. I drilled in a bit to test and it was wood. I'm relying on the wood to hold that side up, It felt like a nice bite, and just that side held 20 lbs easy. If I tested and it wasn't wood I was going to grind the side down some and jb weld in a bracket to anchor it. I didn't want to fuck with the box because its roof above, but I was able to feel at least 2 inches of clearance poking the wiring hole, so wasn't afraid of going through.
That works, the el-cheapo ceiling fan boxes they sell now (should be able to see them in HD/Lowes) attach to the wood and have a plastic pocket to make the electrical joint in. That's pretty much all a pancake box is good for anyhow.
 

300Lane1

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I won't have a ceiling fan with a light kit like that. I need bare lamp holders so I can put high output lamps in them. When I turn on the light I want to SEE.
I can't rock a fan with the exposed bulbs, looks old to me. I'll probably pull the bulbs out of it once the can lights are in.