The ones that give me the heebie-jeebies when looking at a home are the Federal Pacific Stab-Lok panels. My electrical contractor friend calls those "widow-makers".
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Haha, actually I love the house even with all the quirks. I just have to work through all the fun "features."
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I think FP is a later vintage than this house.
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Yup - especially with the Despard switch - you're right!
Depends on the part of the house you are talking about. 
I think the latest addition was done in 2006.
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Kinda like Johnny Cash's Cadillac 
How many meter bases?
Just one meter.
I was wrong, there isn’t a panel in the attached garage although it does have 30 amp power for a welder.
Main panel
Behind the refrigerator
In the detached garage
Murder death panel
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The panel in the detached garage looks OK (though for a detached building, I'd prefer it to have a main breaker). Probably won't be part of this puzzle ...except I don't see a breaker to subfeed it in the panel under the breaker.
I suspect the 100 amp breaker in the main panel is what feeds the garage panel. The detached garage has 50 amp service for a welder and 30 amp for an air compressor.
Did you get a home inspection before you bought this fire trap? If you have Stab-Loc, change it ASAP.
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The bare conduit on your outdoor panel tells me that a lot of electrical was added.
The house was expanded three times that I know about.
If it were me, I would hire someone to come in and fix the problems. I'd be worried about my house burning down, or someone getting zapped.
Also note that you might be able to go after the previous owners if they did this work themselves and didn't have it inspected. Depends on the state though.
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I’m working through the issues. I just find new things from time to time. For the most part the renovations have been permitted and inspected.
It isn’t quite as bad as I’ve made it look. There are definitely some messed up things but nothing I can’t handle. I used to deal with 400 amp panels and two aught cable.
Haven’t had the chance to dig into the issue further. Instead I spend the weekend doing this:
Flame effects for the artist workshop. The sunset was even amazing when it was time to fire the class project. 
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Getting set for Burning Man ??
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Among other things. 
It was a fantastic class run by people that know that they are doing - or can fake it well. 
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Is that main panel outside? Looking at that, I’m reminded of our main panel on the house I grew up in. No, it wasn’t as tapped into as that, but it was outside, completely unlocked.
Just find it funny that as Americans, we worry about security so much (most do anyway), but when it comes to the main artery’s of our homes, they’re left unguarded for the most part. I’m so used to my panel in the basement now, where only we have access.
I’ve got a vibration and door sensor a fixed to my Power board box with a camera, coming soon.
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