Is it time for new breakers?

@erik_squires And I forgot to second how good your advice is to replace the FPE breakers.  One neighbor did thermography and had half a dozen hot spots. Hot spots can runaway like a redplated tube.  Heat raises the resistance which makes more heat and reduces voltage and some appliances want to pull more current and next thing you know you have a fire.  

I replaced them before I knew how bad they are since I was rewiring the garage and didn't have room in my 100amp box.  FPE breakers were then available at home deepot "rebuilt" for about 3x the price of new quality breakers.  I assume that you can still buy them.  but you shouldn't.  bite the bullet and put in a new service box.  

Jerry

@carlsbad2 Your friend got lucky, as were you.

I do want to warn readers that breakers do get a little warm in use. The breaker that runs my HT system gets to around 80 degrees or so. It’s considered normal.

Even if you don’t have a thermographic camera or thermometer, it’s worth touching every breaker and the exterior of your panel a couple of times a year and feeling for anything warmer than a puppy’s belly. :)

My house had been a rental for about 15 years before I bought it.  At some point I made up my mind to replace all the switches and most of the outlets, and I'm so glad I did, cause there was a lot of things to discover. 

Federal Pioneer had a reputation in the 80's for being the worst in the industry, our company never installed them.

Here's a full report on Federal Pacific:

Also, here: