The last 20 years of Home Power Have Been Amazing

My relatively upscale neighborhood in north San Diego County was built in the late 80s.  the entire development was wired with Federal Pacific Electric (FPE) breaker boxes.  they were out of business about the time that the homes were built because their crappy breakers were burning down houses.  

Fortunately for me, I bought the house and promptly started adding circuits to power tools, an electric dryer (I work for the electric company, but have to admit I've gone back to gas now) and a few othe circuits including 2 circuits for audio.

I was surprised when I went to Home Depot and new breakers weren't available but they sold "refurbished" ones that were 4-10 times the price of new name-brand breakers like Westinghouse.  So I quickly did the math and concluded it was worth the effort to change to a 200 A Westinghouse panel with all new breakers, which I did.  total cost of parts about $300.  I did the work myself.  at the time I didn't even realize how dangerous the FPE breakers were.

Now, 30 years later, I am surprised no homes have burned down but several neighbors have done thermography and found significant hot spots in their boxes.  When they get a quote to change out the box, it runs up to $50,000 because of new regulations.  of course all the breakers have to be the new type which are 5-10 times as expensive.  but the big cost is a new code requirement that the gas meter and the electrical panel must be seperated (I think 10 ft).  This wasn't a requirement when the neighborhood was built so all the gas meters are directly below the electrical panels.    If you try to get a permit to upgrade your electrical panel, you have to meet all the new code requirements, that is,  move either the panel or the gas meter.  One neighbor just moved his gas meter.  what a pain in the rear and what a cost.  He had to take off a total of 7 days from work to be home for various appointments and of course there were the obligatory redos to make the inspector happy.  

One neighbor found an electrician who would do the work without a permit and without moving the gas meter.  that was probably the best answer.

Most of the neighbors are doing nothing because of the expense of moving the gas meter (generally seen as cheaper than moving the electrical panel).  Clearly this code change, along with the requirement to backfit any new code requirements in order to get a permit, is making the neighborhood much less safe.

Jerry

It isn't just audio protection folks. I put in a Whole house surge protector after a brown out fried (in the middle of a California summer) all the control electronics in our AC/heat pumps. Our forebears were tougher than us and lived with no AC on days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38C for you @bigtwin). An AudioQuest Niagara guards audio equipment. So there's that.

@erik_squires  Up here in Canada, the concept of surge protectors flies under the radar. 

@bigtwin Silly me, I forgot Canadians listen to audio equipment too. :)

Here’s a story. Neighbor here in the lowcountry had lightning hit tree then it went to his gutters, then to internal supporting bolts in footers, then to random outlets zapping his dryer, washer, and two tv’s. Would these upgraded outlets you mentioned prevented this? Any solution other than multiple surge protectors?

@jpwarren58 - Neither the GFCI nor CAFCI breakers help with electrical surges. The first reduces fatalities from electric shocks especially around wet areas, while CAFCI reduces fires which may start in a wall. While the statistical evidence of reduced deaths and structure fires is clear no one sells them as lightning or surge devices. Protecting your appliances and home wiring from lightning and power line surges however is what a whole house surge protector should do.

Now, as far as whole house surge protectors, yes, protecting appliances from power surges is what they should do. Keep in mind that no protection is perfect, but we often look to the worst case scenarios to prove something doesn’t work. Like seat belts. Any first responder working through the 1990s will tell you the mandatory seat belt laws meant they were rescuing more accident victims and picking up fewer bodies than they used to. Traffic fatalities have dropped about 50% since states started adopting mandatory seat belt requirements, but it's also true that traffic fatalities do occur.  The question I ask people is whether you know when you are going to get into a car accident or not.  If you do, then sure, don't wear a seat belt until you know you are going to be in an accident.  Otherwise put it on at all times. 

I also happen to live in the SC lowcountry and a whole house unit was the first thing I installed here, but they do have their limitations. All whole house units have relatively high let-through voltages. I wrote about the technical differences at length here. To make a long story short, your most delicate devices may still need a good surge protector. I lost a MacBook Air I left charging overnight through a thunderstorm, forgot all about it, but the multiple PC’s and electronics I have on surge strips didn’t even notice.

I also have about 50 devices which are permanently connected which I can’t surge protect. ~ 20 automated light switches, 4 HVAC units, 7 major kitchen appliances, the hot water heater, fire alarms, etc. Also, many of these devices have become more delicate. Mechanical timers have given way to computerized circuits throughout the kitchen and laundry area.

Hi @erik_squires

I’m in Missouri and have never heard of needing whole house anything and I can use a 29cent receptacle anywhere except for within 6’ of water. I just had a couple of rooms added to the house and I had to get a 100amp sub panel. The only thing I noticed that was different was that the buttons on the 110 outlets were both white instead of (red and black)in the new laundry room. I also had to rebuild a bathroom ( no fun at all!) and I was required to use the same 110 plug with the white buttons.