The Electrical Panel

    Every home with electricity will have an electrical panel or a fuse box that distributes power throughout the home.  That electricity is distributed using circuit breakers or fuses that are put in place to protect the wiring and the home.  When something goes wrong with the electricity in your home this is what you go to and start flipping until the lights come back on.  Panels in use today include Square D, Cutler-Hammer, Siemens, & GE  These panels are well known brands that have a generally good reputation among the general public with the use and reliability of these panels.  For several years there were two companies Zinsco and Federal Pacific that made electrical panels for the use in homes.  These two companies are also well known brands but they have a generally bad reputation for the rate of failure and unreliability.  Federal pacific has been associated with an immense amount of house fires and approximately 80% breaker failure rate.  If you are a home owner that has the pleasure of having one of these wonderful panels in your home it might be a good idea to consider having it replaced.