old house and elektriks ?

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
The house my daughter moved into is a 1950's vintage. Bathroom are interesting. :bonkers: They still feature the old ceramic tile from that era. In one there are three different shades of pink and two of green. It is nearly barfable to look at too long. The other is an un-appetizing combo of pinks and dark purple. I get queasy just looking at it. :eek:
Enneyhow, my one big concern with the house is the electrical system. Some outlets are labeled "no ground", some have no juice but record a very slight amount with a tester, others seem OK. The lone, small, fuse box strikes me a possibly borderline adequate. BTW, the house is 1600-1800 sq. ft., not tiny. I didn't even know if these types fuses were still made but I bought her extras at the BORG.
Wadda y'all think?
 

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I know this is a big job, but I'd seriously consider upgrading the electric system in the home. The house probably has a limited amount of outlets, lights, and other electric service. When that happens, people tend to use extension cords, or do jury rigged wiring, to get the service they need. Of course, they overload the circuit and then they put in a larger fuse, more than the wiring was designed for. Then you have a fire.

If the house is one story and has a basement or crawl space, the new wiring can be run without horrible trouble or cost.

Mike
 
mr. Henderson is probably spot on.
My house had all those old type screw in fuses. It was inadequate for my home and I had it replaced.
The garage, I didnt update till this summer. I used those old screw in fuses for 4 years running all my machines all the time, and never had a problem until I started blowing fuses with my dust collector and planer running together.
My electrician just bypassed the box, Im keeping it on the wall because its not in my way, but put a new box above it.
the house is probably 100 amps.
 

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I haven't seen a fuse box in years. I remember my dad taking pennies and putting them in the fuse box then screwing in the fuse when the circuits overloaded and blew a fuse :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, flashlights, in every room, and like Don said lots of renters insurance. Oh ya, lots of extra fuses. As soon as she uses her hair dryer while brewing coffee she will need some.:doh:
 
+1 on a complete upgrade...if not possible...+1 on renters insurance and smoke/Co2 detectors. Not safe the way it looks in the pictures
 
Frank I know you and electrics don't get along. Might be worth paying an electrician for an hour or two and have him pull the cover to make sure that the right fuse are being used for each circuit, also trace them and see what's on each and get the box labeled with what the fuses support.

If you want to check yourself, pull the cover and look at the wire sizes. 12 gauge shouldn't have anything larger than a 20 amp and 14 gauge shouldn't have anything larger than a 15 amp. Come to think of it, it's possible the house has aluminum wiring, so those fuses may need to be down one size for each.

I agree with the insurance, smoke detector, and c/o 2 detector advice.
 
...Might be worth paying an electrician for an hour or two and have him pull the cover to make sure that the right fuse are being used for each circuit, also trace them and see what's on each and get the box labeled with what the fuses support...I agree with the insurance, smoke detector, and c/o 2 detector advice.

Aren't those the "Type S" fuses that have different base sizes for each rating, so that a big fuse can't be screwed into a circuit designed for lower amperage? I seem to remember having them in a house I rented back in the late sixties. House was built in the mid/late fifties.
 
Aren't those the "Type S" fuses that have different base sizes for each rating, so that a big fuse can't be screwed into a circuit designed for lower amperage? I seem to remember having them in a house I rented back in the late sixties. House was built in the mid/late fifties.

Hard to tell from the pic, but that looks like the older style fuses to me, look about like a light bulb base, all the same size. Have to let Frank verify.

Edit: I zoomed in and it looks like they are TL fuses, which are all the same size screw base, so one could put the wrong size in a socket. They do sell adapters to retrofit this type of box to use the "S" type fuses though.
 
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Frank,
A house that old may have aluminum wiring too.... I was watch an episode of Holmes on Holmes (I know he works under Canadian rules and Reg), but his electrician said that the aluminum wiring is getting to be dangerous.... to much chance of an overload and fire...

If you don't do anything else, follow Don's advice... smoke detectors and insurance.
 
Frank,
A house that old may have aluminum wiring too...

Probably not. Most of the Aluminum wiring was done in the mid-to-late sixties. My California house, built in 1968 was one of those. We had to have the outlets 'pigtailed because of corrosion problems in the Al connections.

Interestingly, though, most electric utilities still use aluminum wiring for the lines coming from their poles into your service inlet. Aluminum on the utility side of the meter, then copper coming out of it. Gotta wonder about that...
 
I know this is a big job, but I'd seriously consider upgrading the electric system in the home. The house probably has a limited amount of outlets, lights, and other electric service. When that happens, people tend to use extension cords, or do jury rigged wiring, to get the service they need. Of course, they overload the circuit and then they put in a larger fuse, more than the wiring was designed for. Then you have a fire.

If the house is one story and has a basement or crawl space, the new wiring can be run without horrible trouble or cost.

Mike

Mike that would be perfect advice if she owned it. But it is a rental. If I were updating the house I would start with a bulldozer. I'll betcha it has galvanized plumbing also. I know it has little to no insulation. Not a bad house, was a luxury one when built. But it is just old and outmoded.
 
Frank I know you and electrics don't get along. Might be worth paying an electrician for an hour or two and have him pull the cover to make sure that the right fuse are being used for each circuit, also trace them and see what's on each and get the box labeled with what the fuses support.

If you want to check yourself, pull the cover and look at the wire sizes. 12 gauge shouldn't have anything larger than a 20 amp and 14 gauge shouldn't have anything larger than a 15 amp. Come to think of it, it's possible the house has aluminum wiring, so those fuses may need to be down one size for each.

I agree with the insurance, smoke detector, and c/o 2 detector advice.

I believe aluminum wiring didn't come along until the early 70's. We had a house here in Arkansas that had a combo of alum and copper. Our electrician (a friend) was over so often we started discussing adoption.
 
Hard to tell from the pic, but that looks like the older style fuses to me, look about like a light bulb base, all the same size. Have to let Frank verify.

Edit: I zoomed in and it looks like they are TL fuses, which are all the same size screw base, so one could put the wrong size in a socket. They do sell adapters to retrofit this type of box to use the "S" type fuses though.

I'm pretty sure they all have same size base, like light bulbs. Only 20 and 30 amp. fuses are in the box.
 
I'm pretty sure they all have same size base, like light bulbs. Only 20 and 30 amp. fuses are in the box.

It would probably be good to verify the right size of fuses are being used. for the 20 amps, you'll want to make sure it's 12 gauge wire connected or larger (10, 8, or 6...), the 30 amp should be at least a 10 gauge wire.
 
As far as I know there is nothing wrong with fuses, per my electrician buddy they act faster than breakers and in that one respect are safer.

It would probably be good to verify the right size of fuses are being used. for the 20 amps, you'll want to make sure it's 12 gauge wire connected or larger (10, 8, or 6...), the 30 amp should be at least a 10 gauge wire.

Darren (and possibly others) hit it right on the head. Someone really needs to check the wire size and replace any fuses with the right size. Fuses protect the wire and not the appliance plugged into it. It keeps you for overloading the wire, it overheating and catching the house on fire.

Rarely do I have see a house with at fuse box that doesn't have at least one fuse to large in it. With only those few circuits and the fact we use so much more electricity than when the house was built I would say it is even more important to make sure the right size fuse is in place. And STRESS TO HER/THEM if a fuse keeps blowing not to out a bigger one it. Bigger fuse could lead to a fire.

I am not sure of the type but I know that these old ones can have a inserted added so that it only will accept the new fuses and they have different bases so you can't put in the wrong side. Matter of fact the Southern Building Code requires and electrician that does any work on a panel to replace fuses with the new one. That how important it is.

PS If the house was built when you said I strongly suspect there is another panel somewhere. There is no main disconnect there. That means there is probably another panel and this is just a subpanel.
 
PS If the house was built when you said I strongly suspect there is another panel somewhere. There is no main disconnect there. That means there is probably another panel and this is just a subpanel.

Great thought Jeff. And an obvious one even I should have thought of, I'll scour the place when we go back Thursday.
 
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