Federal Pacific (FPE) Panels: The Hidden Fire Risk in Older NYC Homes

If your NYC home or building was wired between the 1950s and the early 1980s, there's a real chance your electrical panel is a Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) "Stab-Lok" unit — one of the most well-documented safety problems in American residential wiring. Most owners have no idea it's there until an electrician points it out.

Here's what every NYC homeowner should know.

What's actually wrong with FPE Stab-Lok panels

A circuit breaker has one job: when a circuit draws too much current (an overload) or shorts out, the breaker should trip and cut the power before the wiring overheats. That's your home's primary defense against an electrical fire.

The problem with FPE Stab-Lok breakers is that independent testing has repeatedly found they can fail to trip when they're supposed to. The most cited work, by engineer Dr. Jesse Aronstein, found failure-to-trip rates far above what any modern breaker would tolerate. A breaker that doesn't trip leaves the circuit unprotected — the wiring keeps heating up, and that's exactly how electrical fires start behind walls.

A few things make this worse:

• The breakers can appear to be off when they're not fully disconnected.
• Some are difficult to reset, which can tempt people to force them.
• Swapping individual breakers usually doesn't fix it — replacement Stab-Lok breakers can carry the same defect.

"Didn't the government look into this?"

Yes — and this is where a lot of confusion comes from. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission investigated FPE in the early 1980s and closed the case in 1983 without issuing a recall, reportedly because of resource constraints at the time. That closure is often misread as "the panels were cleared." They were not. The hazard was never resolved, and FPE Stab-Lok panels are still widely regarded across the electrical industry as a fire risk worth removing.

The same caution applies to Zinsco / Sylvania panels of the same era, which have their own well-known breaker problems.

How to tell if you have one

You don't need to open anything. Look at the front of your panel and breakers for:

• The name "Federal Pacific Electric" or "FPE"
• The word "Stab-Lok" (often on the breakers themselves, sometimes with red trip handles or a red strip)

If you see those, or you're not sure, have a licensed electrician take a look. It's a five-minute identification.

Why this matters more in NYC

A huge share of NYC's housing stock — brownstones, pre-war buildings, and homes that haven't had a service upgrade in decades — still runs on panels from this era. If you've never upgraded your electrical service, it's worth checking. And there's an upside: replacing an aged 100-amp FPE panel with a modern 200-amp service doesn't just remove the hazard — it gives you the capacity for the things people actually want now: central A/C, an EV charger, an electric dryer or range, and heat-pump equipment.

What to do if you have an FPE panel

The only reliable fix is replacing the panel with a modern breaker panel from a reputable manufacturer. It's a one-day job for most single-family homes, done to NYC code and inspected.

If you think you might have an FPE, Zinsco, or other aging panel, Chazon Electric can identify it and walk you through your options — no pressure, just a straight answer. Income-eligible homeowners may also qualify to have panel and wiring upgrades covered through New York State's energy program; we handle that application too.

Spotting one of these panels early is one of the cheapest pieces of home safety there is. If yours looks like the description above, get it checked.