I recently bought a house with an old Federal Pacific Panel in it. (Yes yes I know, major fire hazard.) I was just wondering, it is rated as a 60 amp panel, does that mean that the sum of all the breakers must be less than 60 amps, or that no one breaker can exceed 60 amps?

60 amp rating means that the maximum curent flow passing from the power supply autorithy to wards your home (board panel is 60 A).

All the sum of all your loads (appliances) not execced this rating , so if there is a sudden flactuation at your surrounding tranformer (where u get your line ) it might try ti give you more than 60 amperes ,but your breaker will tripp off to protect your house electric .

and u are right that no one breaker should execcd this 60 ampers .and yes the sum of all current flow towrds your applinaces isless than 60A. But it could happen that sum of all breakers could execced this 60 A by some values.

Is your panel rated for continuous duty or not? If it is, that means it is able to handle 60A of continuous current - a sum of ALL current through ALL breakers in the panel. Otherwise, it is likely that it is only able to handle 85% of 60A, or around 50A of continuous current - again, a sum of ALL current through the panel.

Use your local electrical code in determining the proper size for your panel, it will instruct you on how to properly add up the loads in your house and at what percentage to add them to reach a final value that your service should be sized at. It is not as simple as adding up every single load in your house as not every load will be running at full capacity at any given time.

If you want to be on the safe side, you could simply add all major appliance loads, heating and lighting loads at 100%. If this number is equal to or less than 50A you should be okay.

No, you should not install a breaker of size 60A (certainly not more) in this panel, unless it is the main breaker and your panel is rated 100%.

Talk to an electrician!