I replaced the panel in a 1946 house and the before/after was insane

Old Federal Pacific panel with pushmatic breakers, took me 6 hours to swap it for a 40-space Square D. Whoever wired that thing originally had the neutral and ground on the same bar, not bonded in the main panel. Has anyone else run into pushmatic panels still being used?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_mia1mo ago

Wait, you actually found a Federal Pacific still in use? Those things are straight up terrifying, I'm honestly surprised it didn't burn the house down before you got to it. That whole neutral/ground mess you described sounds about right for those old panels, they were basically a fire hazard from the factory. Six hours is pretty quick for a full swap on a house that old, I've seen jobs like that turn into all day projects with unexpected surprises. Glad you got it sorted out, that house is way safer now.

robin7771mo ago

Yeah, so here's the thing, I actually found one in a house my buddy bought upstate like two years ago. The panel was still original from the 70s and I swear the previous owner had been doing their own wiring for decades just jamming random breakers in there. One of the circuits had a neutral tied to a ground screw on the box itself which is just... I mean you see that kind of stuff and you almost have to laugh because what else can you do? The whole house smelled like burnt dust when we opened the panel cover. Six hours sounds quick but I think half the time was me just staring at the mess trying to figure out where to even start.