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dpb

wrote:
dpb wrote:
wrote:
...

new service panels arent that expensive.

I've already pointed out the cost savings aren't so much on the
hardware but in labor and OP in this thread certainly ain't gonna' be
doing this kind of upgrade him/herself...

please address my point...

assuming she has a 100 amp panel, is upgrading a FPE 100 amp a good
idea when adding a new major load of a electrical pool heater?

....

As I've pointed out repeatedly, assuming the physical size is adequate
(and OP has already indicated there was room available in the existing
panel) one can select a larger main w/ a larger ampacity main as part
of the retrofit kit. In essence, one no longer has an FPE panel at
all.

Whether it would be a fit in the particular application is
indeterminate from here, this asinine subthread started when I simply
pointed out there is a neat way to replace the trouble-prone FPE panels
besides a complete tearout which is potentially cheaper.

If the old box is surface mounted in an unfinished basement, there's no
purpose in a retrofit kit. Assuming it is embedded in a finished area
and does have physical capacity (and a lot of the FPE panels are plenty
large enough, dimensionally and that assumption is as equally
verifiable to be true in this case as that it isn't) the labor savings
in the associated replacement and repair of ancillary finished area can
save a sizable fraction of a replacement labor cost.