We hope we caught your attention with the headline, because if you live in a Chicagoland home built within that range, you may have a serious fire hazard in your home and not be aware of it.
The trouble is with panels installed between 1950 and 1990 by a now-defunct manufacturer called Federal Pacific Electric Company (FPE). These panels may contain Stab-Lok circuit breakers, which are defective and a serious fire hazard. Millions of these circuit breaker boxes were installed in homes throughout North America between 1950 and1990. Although these malfunctioning panels are responsible for thousands of fires every year, they were never issued a former recall after tests uncovered the defects. Professional electricians urge homeowners who live in houses built before 1990 to check if they have a FBE electrical panel with Stab-Lok breakers and call for an immediate replacement if they do.