A lot of older homes ran #14 requiring the 15 amp breaker for light circuits then #12 on the outlets/duplex plugs requiring 20 amp breakers Don't mix them up!!! a 20 amp breaker on #15 wire is asking fire a fire.

Yea, I got that Mike. Thanks, 

As far as Im aware, most states as a home owner you can make such repairs, as far as the city they will just want to check it after the fact.  As long as its a clean organized install with NO broken wires, wire nutting, etc... inside the panel, Id think your golden.

You just cant do repairs for someone else.

So if it a good time with what ya have going and wanting to do, Id jump and get it done IMO.
If your just adding a circuit or 2 for microwave or whatever,  get ya a chunk of 12/2/G, a 20 amp breaker, duplex box and outlet and make it happen. 

The rest is self-explanatory.
Black Wire to Breaker
White Wire to the Neutral Bar (It will have a mess of other White Wires on it)
Copper Wire to the Ground Bar  as is with all the other circuits in the box. (Will have all the other grounds wires on it)

As for the outlet
There will be a Brass screw-for the Black Wire (Line)
A Silver Screw-for the White Wire (Neutral)
A Green Screw-for the Copper Wire (Ground)

Make sure the wire is secured and protected where it goes through the boxes 

I couldn't agree with you more on wanting to rid yourself of the FPE Panel-Been there and seen the damaged connection and the possible nightmares it could have resulted in.  Id never feel safe with one.  This last house I bought also had one in it, I had it put in the contract to have everything from the Meter Base to the Panel replaced and then load balanced all the circuits.  Even then I still came in behind them, checked everything over and made a few fixes they missed like loose connections in junction boxes.
 

A "lighting panel" is simply a panel in a house.... or in some cases a business which handles among other things, the lighting loads. 

In a house the lights and the general purpose outlets are considered to be part of the lighting load as calculated in the square foot method. We often use the wall outlets to plug light fixtures and lamps in. In most houses, this also includes the heavy loads like range, dryer, and HVAC.


However, by using the power panel as I described, you are able to unload all of the heavy loads to the service equipment. This clears up spaces in the "lighting panel" and lowers the load on it. Good all the way around. 


http://www.bing.com/image...&selectedIndex=169

I tried to find a picture of a power panel. ^^^^ this is as close as I could find with a quick search.

The power panel I talk about is simply a single can/box with a built in meter base, and a main 200a built in CB with room for 6 double pole breakers. Even though it may look like there is room for more than 6 DPCB in the right side, the buss bar configuration of a panel like this only allows room for 6DPCB to be installed. (code requirement) 

A bit more on that white wire hot issue..... back a number of years, it was legal to use a romex cable with 2 wires and a bare ground to feed a 240v load. The ground would serve as ground and neutral in many cases. As accidents happened as a result, the codes were re-written to improve safety and now a 4 wire circuit is required with red & black as hot, white is neutral and bare equipment ground. Old circuits, as long as they are properly fused for wire size are grandfathered and need not be removed BUT, the white does need to have "permanent" color coding to eliminate the danger associated with people thinking white wires are "safe".  Color coding is to be on both ends and in ALL junctions on that circuit. 

This is the reason they still sell 3 wire dryer & range pigtails and outlets. All new installs require 4 wire circuits on dryers and ranges.  

Doing your own work:  If you own the house AND live in it as your primary residence full time...... in NC you are allowed to perform your own repairs. You are still required to obtain the proper permits and the job will be inspected by an inspector. All applicable codes must be followed to the letter and failure to do so will be cause for a failed inspection. They probably look closer at a homeowner's repairs than they would at a licensed electrician's work whom they know to do excellent and conscientious  work. 


If there is something you do not understand, let me know and I'll try to splain it better. 

Can someone elaborate on the what "FPE" means?

I see snippets of explanation in this thread but I'm left with some holes in the idea.

It's making the lurking confusing. :-)

So, the electrician comes over. Real nice guy. After all the normal talk about this and that I said, 'If this was your house what would you do'. He said he has an FPE panel in his house. nuff said.......


Mike. FPE is 'Federal Pacific Electric' who made these panels many of which were defective causing fires.

Thanks.