Electrical Service Panel

Photographs of the electrical service panel found during home inspections.

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mast head
The
masthead where the power cables come to the home when they are
overhead. There is not much of one here, but the cables have a little
slack at the end to allow water to drip off.

The
service entrance cables (electrical power cables) are going through a
tree. If the branches fall, they can take the cables with them.

FPE panel box
If
you look close, you can see the “FPE” symbol. Federal
Pacific panel boxes are not safe, but this one has been on the home
for forty years without issue. The real problem comes with the
breakers not staying in place.

inside the panel box
This
is the service panel after the interior cover has been removed. The
bottom right breaker almost fell out on me. Otherwise, there are no
burn marks on the wiring, but there is a problem.

two wires on the same breaker
On
the bottom breaker, two wires are going into the same spot. This is
called double lugging, and it can lead to problems. The solution is
to have another breaker installed for this circuit, but FPE breakers
are hard to come by now.

grounding electrode
An electrode bar is hammered into the earth to provide grounding for the home. They are eight feet long. The problem can be the tops which rust off or are knocked off by lawnmowers, so then the system is no longer grounded.

These
are some solar panels that have been set up on the lion’s house at
the Houston Zoo. I have not seen these on any home yet, so I thought
I would share these with you.