Thanking you in 2024!! The apartment my husband and I live in is 40 years old, and I blew a fuse this morning for the first time! This video was super helpful at calming my nerves around changing 🥰
Both of my parents are gone, single momma. Ours blew last night. Something did anyways, lol. About to hit the hardware store, thank you for helping those of us who don't have any help!!! ❤🥰 this stuff sticks with ya forever!
Thank you bc I'm in an old Apt. Blog with 20 amp fuses in my unit. I was afraid to change a blown fuse but was successful after watching this video...Girl Power
Marys Line1969 125v fuse? They should be rated by amperage. It’s not safe to replace a fuse with something different/unknown. Did you read the original fuse wrong? Do you still have it?
Thank you for posting this, everything I read said I needed to unplug everything - which is difficult since the plug is behind the refrigerator, but after watching you unscrew the fuse controlling the light without blowing up the house, I felt comfortable enough to replace mine.
Dude thank you! 1.] Wasn't sure my house could only have a fuse box;so I spent hour looking for my breaker box 2.] You saved me about 65-100$ doing it myself instead of having an electrician come out. So for that I thank you for your knowledge shared
There's still a good number of homes in my city that still has this type of fuse box. It's also a bit on the expensive side to upgrade to a breaker box as (I believe) local regs require the whole home's wiring to be redone up to modern code if you decide to upgrade to a breaker box, so a lot of older homes kept this style of fuse box.
In my area a typical fusebox to breakerbox upgrade is around $1500 or so. You do not need to upgrade the wiring in the entire house unless you have something really old, such as bare wire knob-and-tube circuits. It may also make sense to upgrade the wiring depending on condition, but it isn't a requirement as long as the existing wiring is safe.
@@enduringcharm THe problem is that the wiring in most of these houses(like mine) are questionable. You don't want to touch the wiring because it's a delicate ecosystem. Fabric wrapped wires stapled into wood 70 years ago. No doubt, it's not a safe thing. But, it's expensive and super inconvenient to address and it's grandfathered in so people just live with it and are really careful. Inevitably, old wiring shorts out and hopefully it doesn't start a fire. I hate it. I'm not in the position to replace it all or replace the fuse box. But, it's going to be a priority in life with the dependency AC has on these systems and the increased need for AC to work properly. I've had one line short. Turned out to be a few feet from the fuse box. Personally, lower current solutions such as led lighting are becoming increasingly attractive to avoid stressing these systems. The video has it right. Modern living is too much a stress on these older systems.
@johnreskusich2324 I can't disagree with you, the wiring originally installed in the 40s, 50s and even 60s can deteriorate just from time and the heat in enclosed spaces. And, of course, rodents can do a number. Many times I have struggled in an old box to determine which wire is neutral and which is hot until I pull out a meter. Even then you need to check for reverse polarity upstream. Electrical and plumbing systems don't necessarily age well. But, the cost of rewiring, which includes the labor and materials plus the requirement to update to current codes, can be staggeringly high. In my entire career I can't recall a single homeowner choosing to update the entire house at once unless it was a complete gut-job. Typically they will do a kitchen and a bath one at a time, and the other rooms don't get attention.
Very informative, thank you. My brother plugged in a sketchy 1800W AC without testing it first and blew half the rooms in our apartment, this helped a lot because I didn't even realize we had the bulbs
very nice to see videos still teaching this. I have a really nice well maintained fuse box here. Its 100 amp 120/240 and has 3 240v cartrighe fuse pullouts, 10 screw in edison base fuses, and the big main with two 100a cartrige fuses. The 50a 240 is the water heater, and the tow 30a 240v circuits feed sub panels for a large window ac and power in the workshop. 100 amp service is plenty adequate, as its powered from a single 10500w surge/8500w continuous generator. I actually installed the 100 amp fuse panel myself to replace an existing 110v 30 amp (two screw fuses) service when I replaced the old kohler light plant with the modern Honda. I also replaced the old Knob and tube wire with modern romex at that time. One thing I recommend, for anyone using fuses and on generator power, use the 'fast blow' fuses in as many circuits as possible, as while this may cost more in replacing fuses, it will also help protect your (likely expensive) generator. and of course make sure to use the proper size fuse for each circuit. I dont plan on further upgrading. I've always preferred fuses anyway, but also a fellow off-gridder who upgraded to a modern breaker panel said he uses more gas (same generator, and roughly similar electrical demands) so yeah I'll stick to fuses, and save that extra half gallon a day for blasting the A/C when its really hot like it is now.
Reminds me of the box in an estate sale home I helped to redo the wiring and plumbing. Very interesting history to the home. About 7 years ago. The home in question was built in 1887, originally had gas lighting. The 60 amp box similar to this one had the installation date 10/'52. The home still had the 1953 kelvinator electric range. The earliest that home could have gotten electricity was 1908, when we went to replace the old galvanized iron plumbing on the 2nd level, which was originally an attic but the home had been extended over the years, found behind the wooden wall panelling, what used to be the original service panel to the house: mounted in a wooden like box lined with asbestos was a knife switch and 3 ceramic edison fuse holders, fused on both the hot and neutral, the ceramic block had the year 1908 stamped on it. 6 fuses together, but 3 circuits feeding the whole house, again, because the hot AND neutral were fused. And the two wires on the outer wall going to the knife switch were 10 awg if I remember correctly. Meaning the home originally had a 120 volt 30 amp main service. But because the house was 2 miles from town, we are not sure exactly when it was electrified, but we suspect it may have been in the later 1910s or early 1920s. So with the 240 volt 60 amp fuse box in the basement from 1952 and the 1953 electric stove, we suspect the homeowner had the service upgrade to 240 volts 60 amps for the electric range. Also found some knob and tube spliced with romex in the wall (fire hazard!) Now home has a modern 200 amp square D breaker box. Pretty interesting about the known dates. Lol
I'm also fascinated by older installations of electric, plumbing and even framing. Put me in an old house and I head straight to the basement! The knob and tube I don't see live anymore, but I do find the remnants. It seems crazy that bare wires seemed like a good idea at one time!
@@enduringcharm I know right. You and I must have a lot in common about old stuff. Not only knob and tube, but the wooden fuse box lined with asbestos we found in the attic of that 1887 estate with a knife switch dating 1908, I guess the idea was asbestos was fireproof so that in case of an electrical failure it would be less likely to spread. And probably the attic seemed like a good place for safety sake as well, to keep curious little boys away from it, that thing was dangerous enough for adults, let alone children. But again, the abandoned black iron pipes in the wall meant the home originally has gas lighting, so the new fangled electric light bulb must have been cutting edge technology then, like having the new iPhone X. Crazy to think of it that way in the 1910s and 1920s.
Very informative. Thank you. I bought a Federal Pacific fuse box assembly at an auction because it looked cool, but wasn't sure how it worked (or heck, exactly what it was). Makes a nice man cave item.
Heh, lightswitch went out, went to flip the breaker (at my uncles) and ran into this for the first time. I had worked in an industrial building and seen the large standalone fuses (and im talking these were huge by my standards) but never saw where they belonged. Thanks for the info!!
My great grandmother lived in a four unit apartment house that was built in 1924, according to a search I did on line some time ago. I remember one Christmas my aunt and I were there, and my great grandmother demanded that we not turn the tree lights on because she was afraid of a fuse blowing. Well, we turned the Christmas lights on and they worked without incident. This house is located in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, and half of the house was in Detroit and half was in Grosse Pointe Park. I had lots of good memories there, and me being a little kid wanting to explore I wanted badly to check out the basement, and eventually did years later. My great grandmother didn’t want me going down there either, because I guess there was a problem with mice.
great suggestions. I was weedwhacker and hit my extension cord in barn; blowing the fuse. Frist time in 12 years I had to replace fuse; and this was good primer on what they are. My house is breakers, so I've not done this before.
The top two fuse pullouts are both 240V (each one will have 2 fuses). The feed coming in from the street goes into the left pullout (which is 60 amps I'm guessing, based on the label on the door of the panel), which powers the rest of the panel. The right pullout is for a 240V appliance circuit, typically an electric stove.
Just so you know if someone hasn't already stated, screw in fuses are still sold and a little extra tip, you can get breaker fuses, they are essentially little breakers that screw into the fuse slot and acts like a breaker, it has a little button that you press if it trips. They are a little more expensive but worth it if you dont have to purchase regular fuses. I have a fuse panel on my house built in 1962, I would rather have a breaker panel but the house isnt that great of condition anyway and rather than replace it I may just start a new house and put a breaker panel in it. Current house was all block walls and broke footer just cracking all over.
Interesting--I've never seen those hybrid fuse/breakers before. As noted before, there are geographic pockets of the country where fuses are more prevalent and that's where you probably find more variety for sale locally. In my area of NJ fuses are now relatively rare since most folks have upgraded or always had breaker boxes.
www.amazon.com/Bussmann-BP-MB-20-Circuit-Breaker/dp/B000GAS1GY/ref=sr_1_1?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1524187776&sr=1-1&keywords=breaker+fuse&refinements=p_89%3ABussmann Bussman makes them, I seen 15amp and 20amp
Matt Casdorph thanks for that info, I didn't know they even had something like that! that's cool, so its like a fuse but when tripped can just be pressed? our house is really old, from like the 1820s so I get it when you say whats the point in doing a total upgrade for a breaker box. in this economy we all cant just afford it. I'm def gonna look into those, thanks!
very good video, glad to see that I'm not the only one that always picks the fuse/breaker that kills the lights that I need. my 1950's house has had it main fuse box replaced with circuit breakers, thought that I'd be good to go, then I found a secondary box in the attic that still has fuses. Only 4 circits but they all had 30 amp fuses and I'm pretty sure that it ain't 10AWG so I'll be buying new small fuses tomorrow and hoping that none of them blow.
I see that a lot--secondary fuseboxes were put in as a way to expand service, and they are often located in oddball areas. Good for you for checking on the fuse capacity versus wiring gauge.
Fuses will still work fine, but typically what triggers a move to a new breaker box is the limited capacity of the old fusebox or the need to replace old, degraded wiring. Not only has the demand for electrical circuits greatly increased in modern life, the electrical codes now require more circuits and receptacles. So doing a kitchen remodel, for example, often requires adding more circuits.
Many thanks, John for your useful video. I live in an old 1950s apt building in NYC and have one of these in my apartment. I am not sure if I used the right fuse (20 vs. 15 amps) but one of the fuses blew and I replaced with a 20 amp fuse but it’s causing everything to flicker/ fans making a sizzling sound/ power strips to blow. For safety I removed the fuse altogether which has left a portion of my apartment / power outlets without power. I need to convert to a breaker box but not having luck finding a reasonable quote. Quotes are varying from 500-1200 USD for a 4 circuit conversion.
Obviously it's tough for me to try and diagnose your problem from here, and there could be many issues. The reason your original fuse blew is likely related to the flickering you describe with the new fuse. It's possible you didn't screw in the new fuse securely enough and you had a loose connection there, but more likely you have a loose connection somewhere else in the circuit. It could be a loose screw terminal on an outlet, or a loose wire nut in a box somewhere. That loose connection somewhere in the circuit can cause arcing as well as flickering lights so it's fortunate that the original fuse did blow. For a 1950s fuse box in an apartment, the circuit is almost certainly a 15 amp, not a 20. Anyway, prices for electrical work can vary widely across the country, which is why I typically don't get into cost estimates here. However, I happen to work in NJ, so I can tell you that the quotes you are getting are actually quite reasonable. In my area a small fusebox replacement could be $1200-1400 and it would not be unexpected that you would also need additional wiring replacement, replaced receptacles, and some work to find that loose connection in the bad circuit. You didn't mention if you own or rent the apartment. I'm always a bit baffled by the way the NYC rental system works (or doesn't work) but in the rest of the world, it would be the owner's responsibility to pay for a replacement box or at least for repair of the faulty circuit, not the renter. So if you rent I would pursue a conversation with the landlord, who presumably doesn't want a fire hazard in his building.
I've been told the old fuse boxes are actually safer as long as you're using the correct fuses depending on the wire, because they can blow faster than a breaker trips. Just bought a house that uses an old fuse panel like this and they had all of them swapped to 30 amp fuses but I found some spares in a cabinet that were 15 amp, immediately swapped all of them back down to the 15 amp fuses. Back then people didn't have a lot of electronics and appliances actually drew more than they do today, but today appliances actually draw less and the difference is we have more smaller devices that depend on electricity in our everyday lives like TV's and game systems. 15 amps should easily be able to handle lights and TV's, etc. but when you're running lets say a microwave or a washer / dryer, vacuum cleaner you will likely have to run them one at a time to avoid blowing the fuses. You can find out how many amps a device draws by dividing the wattage by the voltage, for example 1500w / 120v = 12.5 amps so you know if you have to run a 15 amp fuse you're getting close to your limit. While yes it may be annoying that you may have to replace the fuse because you can't run everything at once, just remember it's keeping your house from burning down and the fuse blowing is a GOOD thing!. While expensive ($10 a piece) you can get those fuses with a push button to reset them so you don't have to keep replacing them.
That's kind of a silly argument that fuses are superior to breakers because of trip speed. For one thing, fuses are inevitably in a much older installation so the aging wiring, oxidized terminals and missing ground connections are likely to be as much of an issue as the fuses themselves. Modern era breakers have an excellent record when installed correctly, and the newest arc-fault breakers provide protection unavailable on breakers. The reality is that electrical installations are not forever. They need to be maintained and updated after decades of use to replacing aging components and to bring the installation up to modern code standards. Of course, fuses with push-button reset are just mini-breakers. You were smart to replace your 30 ampers with 15 ampers, since it highly unlikely the circuits were run with 10 gauge wire!
@@enduringcharm There's no doubt the old fuse panels are aging and becoming more prone to issues, but in a modern breaker parts have to move before it cuts the connection where as a fuse blows almost instantaneously, I've had newer breakers (installed early to mid 2000's) only partially trip. I would definitely love to replace the wiring and fuse box but unfortunately that's going to be in the thousands, I think even the wire coming into the house is aluminum but the wire in the fuse box running throughout the house looks like copper, but its the black jacket stuff.
Of course, I understand your dilemma with cost. But to be clear about the safety of breakers versus fuses-- a fuse may blow some milliseconds faster than a breaker in some instances, but we shouldn't confuse that marginal speed with additional safety. Breakers, which use electromagnetic principles to disconnect the power when needed, are not just more convenient to use. They are safer because they don't expose the user to electrical contacts in use, they are able to provide arc-fault and ground fault protection, and they don't allow a homeowner to accidentally install the wrong amperage after tripping. There have been faulty breakers in the history of the product, but that doesn't reflect on every manufacturer. Put another way, if you win the lottery I think you'll be safer replacing your fusebox with a breaker box, even if you lose a few milliseconds.
@@enduringcharm Yeah I understand what you're saying, unscrewing the fuse to replace it makes me a bit nervous and if someone doesn't understand what they're dealing with they could install the wrong fuse creating a very dangerous situation. Upgrading the fuse box to a standard breaker box is the plan down the road but the wiring concerns me more than the box as the house was built in the 40's, it's extremely common for houses in this area to still have old wiring. The good thing is that the water heater and fridge are running off a separate breaker panel with newer wiring running from the main instead of the fuse box.
@@ToothpickMan11 Lack of circuits, and lack of space to add circuits is also big issue with most fuse panels. Most only have 4 to 8 circuit spaces and no room to expand. Even a small home with gas stove, dryer and water heater and no central A/C is going to need at least a dozen 110 volt circuits. With only a half dozen or less circuits means that those few circuits are going to be frequently overloading and blowing fuses. Subpanels can be added for additional circuits but it's tricky to do with a fuse panel. Some later 100 amp and larger fuse panels from the 60s and 70s did have a lot of circuit spaces, and some even were expandable with fuse socket modules you added like you would a breaker to a breaker panel. If you have a larger panel in good shape with a lot of spaces you're ok. You're going to be far less apt to overloading circuits on these. More circuits = less overloading = less blown fuses.
I live in rural PA and fuse boxes like this are common around here, ever since they changed to the new smart meters on the side of the house I have been having problems with fuses blowing, total pain in the butt, its very true though It seems to blow when we have lots of things plugged in like the computer, fan, tablet, and 2 lights, or in the winter when we have the space heater plugged in. they still sell the glass fuses here as many old houses still have these types of fuse boxes still. I think more people here would replace them, but with the economy being the way it is, its tough to have the money for things like replacing fuse boxes, and its easily pushed aside. our house is very old like 1820s old lol
Problem with most older fuse boxes is lack of circuits, and no room to expand and add circuits. A house today, even if all the major appliances were gas or propane, would have at least a dozen circuits for everything in the house. Multiple circuits for lights, at least two for kitchen receptacles, one for bathroom receptacle, and each major appliance having it's own circuit. By contrast, most fuse panels were 60 amp and usually only had 4 to 8 circuits for a whole house. The truth is, whether it's fuses or breakers, if you don't have enough circuits, and multiple rooms and appliances share those handful of circuits you have, you are gonna be overloading circuits all the time. The fuse is just less convenient when it happens.
These things are still all over the place in Chicago because the city's electrical code incentivises them. The code was negociated with union electricians, and they wanted more fuse boxes because they're harder to install and maintain, leading to more work hours for them. There's even a decent amount of new ones in the suburbs, since city-based electricians and engineers go there for work on occasion and don't know how to work with anything but fuse boxes.
Thank you very much for the video I actually have to work on one of those in the next few days Your video was a refresher course from what I learned in class once again thanks
Thank you- that was so helpful! My house is old and has both a breaker box in basement and an old fuse box upstairs in the pantry. i tried shutting off power at breaker box to switch out a light fixture and of course the power didn't go out where i needed it to :/ . I did a little investigating and found your video and am now going to attempt to shut off power through fuse box! Wish me luck :p
If you live in Kentucky or Indiana fuse boxes in houses are still quite common in older homes. I've lived in many that had them. In fact I still have a fuse box in my garage for the power out there, though it has the smaller base "S" type fuses in it.
The "newest" fuse panel I've seen was in a house built in 1974. It had 150A main blade cartridge fuses, with four 240 V pullouts and 20 plug fuse circuits! All the fuses were Type S, mostly 20A with 12 gauge wire. Square D panel in excellent condtion. There was also room to add fuse modules for more circuits. This was probably one of the last ones installed. Judging by the dust and cobwebs on the spare fuses, and with many circuits I'd say blown fuses were few and far between
same here in rural PA, these types of fuse boxes are VERY common here, with the houses being so old, most of the time you would need more work done than just replacing a fuse box with a breaker box, especially when a house like my is from the 1820s. trouble is electrical work is expensive especially with the economy being so bad, its not uncommon for us to put all that off for other things, especially when these still do work, but ever since we have gotten the new smart meter on the side of the house, we have been having a lot of problems with fuses blowing, I know with the computers, cell phones, and all our other stuff plugged in, it seems to be causing more fuses to blow. just sucks!
When I moved into my 1949 house, I found the fuse box loaded up with 30A fuses. It's also a Federal Noark box. Contrary to popular belief, normal breakers and fuses have no difference in safety. Breakers are just more convenient to reset. However GFCI and AFCI breakers are safer since they protect from additional electrical hazards.
That is true. Fuses provide the same level of safety as a circuit breaker. That is, provided the correct size fuses are used. The issue with fuses is the human factor, most people don't understand them and the need to use the correct size. Usually they didn't have enough circuits, typically just 4 -8. Instead of adding circuits or replacing the panel people just put 30's in there to stop them from blowing so often, creating a fire hazard.
Homes in Santa Barbara still have these, my grandmas old house which is about 100 years old, looked even older than this one. I use to have to switch out those glass fuses
Thanks because I was thinking you just pull them straight out like a regular fuse. I believe this house has a second fuse box somewhere because there was no main fuse but I have to find it. I think it's outside and hopefully not under this house since this house is in Mississippi (below sea level) and if it did have a basement or cellar that means it's open and disconnected from the house (it means air flows under the house and into the opening, like digging a hole then placing a house on top of it to keep the ground dry enough so the cement walls will stay dry and not crumble).
Trouble shooting: remove the fuse screw in a light bulb, if it burns you have a hot too ground short-find it. Fuse blows for no reason? Check the screw area in the center of the fuse housing if it is discolored probably loose from excessive heat Remove the main and tighten up the screw in the center of the fuse holder screw. No work? change to a small breaker unit or rewire the house. Replacement for fuses are standard fuses or breaker fuses with a pop out button circuit breaker Cooper Bussmann 20-Amp Fast Acting Plug Fuse (Lowes and other places) Another fuse to use is (Fusetrons) a one way fuse Screw in device that prevents a larger fuse from being used. When inserted they will not unscrew and a standard fuse will not work. Fusetron base fuses only.
those are not "canister" fuses, they are cartridge fuses. There are a few quirks. One, that's a 60amp federal pacific box, often fused for a max of 120 amps. It's never been an issue, but it's just wrong. The other gotcha, is that things like your water heater, if wired thru two fuses, can trip one fuse, and not the other, so, basically, run 120, in a 240 appliance (like a water heater). Also, the old fuse boxes, had several aux pannels, where the new panels, can be big enough to just wire the main, and the aux panels into the same box. With a new panel, you can add a cafi breaker, and the breaker will trip if in out, giving you some additional protection. And new boxes come with terminal guards (giant plastic covers, to cover life posts).
thanks alot sir for letting us know about the fire hazard. I was about to place 25 gp fuse with a broken 15 gp fuse in my apartment . But now I will put the 15 gp one . :)
The reason there are two pull out fuse holders is NOT because there are two lines coming in (two sides of the 240 volt service)! Each pull out has two fuses. One pullout (with its two fuses) is the main fuse and the other is for a 240 volt appliance, usually a range. On some fuse boxes similar to the one in this video, the main pull out feeds the screw in fuses only, and in some boxes the two fuses in the main pullout feeds both the screw in fuses and the range pull out. So, depending on how the box is set up, you can pull out the main fuse and disconnect everything, or you would have to pull out both fuse pullouts to disconnect all circuits. Many older houses have had additional fuse boxes or small breaker boxes added, so it can get complicated. Don't mess with these unless you are qualified to do so.
In the 60 amp panels, the main pullout disconnects the whole panel, everything including the range pullout circuit. In the 100 amp panels with this Main/Range configuration, the Main and Range pulls are wired separately. The main pull feeds the plug fuses and the sub feed terminals. The range pull would still have power and have to be pulled separately to disconnect all power to the panel. So you had a 60 amp main and a 40 amp range circuit. Often if there is a gas range, the Range pull might be feeding another 220 volt appliance such as an A/C unit, dryer or another subpanel supplying additional circuits.
Our old house had 60 amp service. But unlike yours, the fused box disconnects were vertical, not horizontal. Top one was the Main and the bottom the 240 volt Range. There where 4-15 amp circuits, 2 on each side of the disconnect. The 240 Range had spaces for a fuse one on each side. But we had no 240 volt appliances, so those sockets were never installed. Also our local code did not allow Edison base fuses (the light-bulb type sockets) so only Type-S fuses could be installed. Unlike Edison sockets, Type-S are sized for amperage, 20 amp is smaller than 30, and 15 amp is smaller than 20. A 20 amp won't fit in a 15 and a 15 would fall out of a 20 or 30 amp socket. Also you could put the disconnect plug in the "OFF" position but since one of the 4 prongs is offset, it will not engage, a smart safety feature the old timers thought of. Thus, a "stow-able" disconnect. Also it had bus lugs under the 120 and 240 volt disconnects, which I suspect could feed a sub-panel.
Hey is it normal for them to get warm fairly hot under load? Our fuse from the air conditioning unit and 2 TVs are making it warm. 20 amp fuse with 12gauge wire
@@Truesk8er1 As you approach the upper end of a fuse or breaker's capacity it is likely to get warmer. An air conditioner is a heavy draw on a circuit, and older units might be drawing 15-20 amps on their own. Probably your circuit is nearly maxed out when you add in the TVS and whatever else is on that circuit. This is actually why we have fuses and breakers--they should blow or trip before the heat builds up hot enough to start a fire.
Actually the pull out fuses on the left,are the mains. The pull-out on the right is usually the range.(oven) Don't pull the right and think your power is off . Mains are always on the left.
This house I am in is around 60 years old but uses breakers. However, out in the garage which is much older than the house there is a box with a single fuse that protects the garage circuir.
In homes that lived through the transition from fuses to breakers it's not at all unusual to see both still in existence. It's a pain and expensive to switch over, so some circuits were left alone. It's also common to find multiple fuse or breaker boxes in the house, because it was easier to add another box than to reroute existing circuits to a single box.
This was really great. I need to change the fuse for my heating, and nothing is properly labeled but I can see the burnt fuse. Do I need to turn anything off before changing out the fuse with the new one?
It's not strictly necessary, but it's always a good idea to shut down anything on the circuit before installing a new fuse. Electronics can be sensitive to power interruptions, but also it's good to know why the fuse blew in the first place. By turning things on one at a time you can determine if one item is causing a problem.
If you look at the end of a glass fuse you will see that the diameter changes from small (15 amp) to larger (20 amp) and larger still (30 amp). You can buy plastic discs from your electrical store that screw into the fuse socket and these limit the fuse amperage that the circuit can carry. You must turn off the power to the fuse box before inserting the discs. I install these in ALL my rental properties.
I think you are talking about type "S" tamper proof fuses. You can screw in a thread adapter which only fits the correct amperage fuse. Those are helpful, although you have to have the knowledge and will to install them in the first place.
There are countless variations on how fuse boxes or breaker boxes are wired, so you won't find a video specific to your circumstance. For 240v circuits you need two "hot" legs, one from each side of the electrical service. The circuit may or may not call for a neutral and you should have a ground. How you get these connections inside the box depends on the design of the box and how it was originally wired. If you are uncertain, better to call a pro.
So my Grandma's old house that we're now moving into has the push circuit breakers for the main house but a separate box with these for just the dryer plug.
My house was built in 1952. Service was 120v with 4 circuits. 1 fuse was kitchen, 1 was for oil burner, 2 are for lights and outlets in the rest of the house.
Four circuits was pretty typical, outside of the kitchen circuit didn't really have or need dedicated appliance circuits back then. A house I had was three bedrooms, bathroom, hallway, entry, and den all on one 15 amp circuit.
A blown fuse can be detected by looking through the glass on the front and seeing if it is still connected or if it is melted away. It will look different than the other fuses in the box. If you find one that's blown, unscrew it and screw in a new one of the same amperage.
@jj smallz Wow JJ smallz - living a privileged life I guess. No reason to belittle people just because they don't live in a newer building, or cannot buy a newer single family home. Fuse panels are not uncommon in many residences, whether houses or multi-family dwellings. Realistically, how many buildings do you think were built less then 60 years ago? It's hardly anything that requires updating as long as it has been well-maintained and is sufficient to meet the usage. Why dole out the cash to change 60+ units in an apartment complex to breakers if it isn't a safety issue?
My old glass fuses are partially covered by a black plastic yoke. No obvious way to release the plastic yoke. I know the release is likely super simple. Can you suggest?
"if you're living in a house where you have one of these it's really best to replace it with a modern breaker box" For a seemingly minor rare issue of a fuse blowing it seems a bit of a waste of money.
Fuse boxes were typically last installed in the 60s, meaning if you have a fuse box in your house it could be 55-80 years old. At that age not only is it time for the box itself to be examined for problems, the wiring may need to some work too. Plus, it is becoming more difficult to find replacement fuses in some areas. Finally, modern life requires far more electrical circuits than were provided by fuseboxes back in the day. Electrical and plumbing systems do have a lifespan and codes have changed dramatically in these decades for good reason. So, when I recommend updating a fuse box to a modern breaker box, it's not about the convenience of throwing a switch, it's about the safety of a modern system and the ability to provide the electrical service we expect today.
People used to put pennies in these these things and defeat the purpose and sometimes cause fires Also the wrong fuse 20 amp in 15 amp is another problem So some home insurance won't cover you if you have these old fuses. I agree but it's costly to be fool proof
I have an older fuse panel like you are talking that's in my house and each fuse has a different thread pattern,so you cant screw a bigger amp fuse in place of a smaller amp fuse..
believe it or not, I own a large house at the beach built in 1923 and it has one 15 amp fuse powering the entire house. This is a 4 bedroom 3 bath 2 floor house and it is running on 1 15 amp fuse in the box. Pretty scary.
Have both pullouts clean out. Power still works. Going to assume the one breaker that was installed in the basement of the house is ran for the garage and to make it “legal” to sell at bottom dollar to some unsuspecting fool(me).
Obviously I don;t know what's going on without seeing it in person, but it's not uncommon for there to be more than one fuse or breaker box in an older house. They often just added a box instead of expanding the existing one. If the house is new to you, take a careful look around, sometimes the boxes were put in unusual or even hidden places.
The problem with a modern breaker is that they heat up and the old style fuse box will simply blow the fuse and not generate the additional heat which can cause a fire.
I hear this concern a lot, but it's a straw man. In 15 years of doing this professionally I've seen one breaker that failed to trip as it should and that was in a box that was heavily corroded from water damage. Far more concerning to me are old style fuses that were replaced with a higher amperage by unknowing homeowners, leaving a circuit with aging wiring and devices essentially unprotected. Sure, breakers can malfunction, but the incidence of it is extremely low.
How do you know if one of those cylinder fuses needs replacing? Also, i pulled the black square thing out to take a photo of the fuse, but didn't turn off the main power switch for electricity....could this cause me to be electrocuted? OMG!
The cartridge style fuses (cylinder) without a window require a meter to test. Otherwise, you can only replace them. You can pull the fuses without electrocuting yourself.
Very often the reason a fuse box is replaced with a breaker box is the totality of the circumstance. In other words, the box may be working but the number and size of the circuits are inadequate for the modern house, the wiring itself is getting old or damaged and the ground system is missing. In the course of addressing those sorts of problems it makes sense to replace the box as well.
My parent's house has these PS-230 fuses, with those tube-like fuses in them. One that powers HVAC recently exploded, and I replaced it with a new houseing as well as fuses....but the HVAC still won't turn on -- any recommendations where to check next?
Well, there could be a number of things to check. The easiest is first to take a meter and check for voltage at the condenser unit. It's quite possible your problem is not electricity to the HVAC unit but the HVAC unit itself. If there is voltage at the unit then you could have a faulty control board, or a blown start capacitor, for example.
This video is so interesting and informative. My circa 1950's panel has what appears to be one old main fuse box labeled "main" (about twice the size of the two in your video - although my guess is it is "two" but with one silver handle that pulls both out) at the top of the panel, and underneath it, all switch breakers - no glass fuses. I'd like to turn off all the power to my house, and aside from the safety precaution of turning off the HVAC, TV's, etc., was wondering if I should turn off each breaker before sliding/pulling out the main fuse box? It has been a couple of years since I've completely cut the power out, so I'm a bit rusty and want to do it safely. Thank you!
There are a million different fuseboxes and breaker panels, so I certainly don't know every one. I'm trying to picture what yours looks like, but I'm not sure if your fuses were replaced with breakers with a fuse base or if you have a breaker panel with cylinder fuses, or what. In any case, you shouldn't need to shut down indvidual circuits to shut off or pull out the main. It's always a good idea to power off or unplug sensitive electronics like computers, phones, tvs, etc., but there's no harm in shutting off the main breaker or fuse and leaving the rest of the panel alone.
@@enduringcharm Thank you! I have a wizard of an electrician who's out of town. I think he was trying to save me money so left the original main fuse box like the one you pulled out in the video, and replaced all of the glass fuses with those circuit breakers you switch off and on by using the palm of your hand. Not sure how to add a pic in UA-cam. Anyhow, I am going to go with pulling out the main fuse box as you suggested. Had just read some stories about circuits not coming back on after turning off breakers incorrectly (or maybe their time was up!) so did not want to do anything to add to that possibility. I already have too many broken things to fix! I look forward to watching more videos. Many thank yous! - Suzanne
You know, I've not had an opportunity to see them. In my area the majority of homeowners have upgraded to a breaker panel by now. There are other reasons to upgrade to a new panel anyway, including replacement of old wiring, the opportunity to add new circuits and clean up old ones, and the ability to add much greater overall capacity.
@@enduringcharm i just found out they only replace Tl fuzes. you cant use them to replace SL, which is what most people who have fuse boxes had after the 1950's.
Wonder if it would be possible to hook a central heat to a twist in fuse box. We were told we couldn't use our central heat with this type of box so we have been using heaters which is killing our light bill.
I'm not sure what was meant by that assertion to you, or exactly what you mean by central heat. Fuse boxes in general are capable of handling significant power demands, including 240 volt service. If you already have a heating system in place presumably it was wired and working at some point? If you are trying to add a central heating system it's possible that your fuse box doesn't have enough capacity, in which case you'd need to add a second box or swap out for a modern breaker box.
What do you do if the threading in the fuse box has messed up the fuse won't screw in properly anymore because someone ruined it. Can that be replaced?
If the base threads are trashed, it's time to upgrade to a modern breaker box. I'm not aware of any way to replace those, and it sounds like you got your money's worth out of the old box!
I've got an old fuse box in the place I'm renting but I'm looking for somewhere else to live not taking chances of anything happening with that old fuse box
This is Very Helpful. Not everyone cn afford to Upgrqde to a Breaker box,.. Electricians are VERY Expensive and dont give a darn,.. Its all about MONEY$$$ to Most Americans today.
That's pretty tough to provide long distance. Possibilities include an issue with your A/C unit causing it to draw more current, a fault in the circuit causing a short, and a circuit with added devices which are bringing it over capacity. You could start by carefully examining every device on the circuit to make certain it isn't over capacity.
You probably have Type T or Type W fuses, and it is often labeled as such. These are still available, so try and replace your fuses with the same type already installed.
In the middle of a glass fuse is a window of sorts. Under that window is a metal strip which is solid if the fuse is working. When a fuse "blows" that strip melts away, which is what cuts power. If you have a blown fuse, look for the one missing that strip. It is possible to have a failed fuse and that strip appears intact, but that's rare. If you still can't see, you can always swap fuses around until the circuit comes back up or the problem moves to a different circuit when you move the fuse.
@@enduringcharm thanks very much we have light again ☺️☺️☺️ my husband did bought the wrong size at first was supposed to be a W but then went back and got the right one , it was easy well you made it easy . Thanks a lot
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #1 НАЧАЛО ПУТЕШЕСТВИЯ [Новый сезон] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/380Q7gLWGvk/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanking you in 2024!! The apartment my husband and I live in is 40 years old, and I blew a fuse this morning for the first time! This video was super helpful at calming my nerves around changing 🥰
Both of my parents are gone, single momma. Ours blew last night. Something did anyways, lol. About to hit the hardware store, thank you for helping those of us who don't have any help!!! ❤🥰 this stuff sticks with ya forever!
You got this!
@@enduringcharm its fixed! Thank you!
Thank you bc I'm in an old Apt. Blog with 20 amp fuses in my unit.
I was afraid to change a blown fuse but was successful after watching this video...Girl Power
Hello I have a question, was your lights flickering prior to all the electricity going out? And was ur sockets also not working
Marys Line1969 125v fuse? They should be rated by amperage. It’s not safe to replace a fuse with something different/unknown. Did you read the original fuse wrong? Do you still have it?
Thank you for posting this, everything I read said I needed to unplug everything - which is difficult since the plug is behind the refrigerator, but after watching you unscrew the fuse controlling the light without blowing up the house, I felt comfortable enough to replace mine.
Dude thank you! 1.] Wasn't sure my house could only have a fuse box;so I spent hour looking for my breaker box
2.] You saved me about 65-100$ doing it myself instead of having an electrician come out.
So for that I thank you for your knowledge shared
There's still a good number of homes in my city that still has this type of fuse box. It's also a bit on the expensive side to upgrade to a breaker box as (I believe) local regs require the whole home's wiring to be redone up to modern code if you decide to upgrade to a breaker box, so a lot of older homes kept this style of fuse box.
In my area a typical fusebox to breakerbox upgrade is around $1500 or so. You do not need to upgrade the wiring in the entire house unless you have something really old, such as bare wire knob-and-tube circuits. It may also make sense to upgrade the wiring depending on condition, but it isn't a requirement as long as the existing wiring is safe.
@@enduringcharm THe problem is that the wiring in most of these houses(like mine) are questionable. You don't want to touch the wiring because it's a delicate ecosystem. Fabric wrapped wires stapled into wood 70 years ago. No doubt, it's not a safe thing. But, it's expensive and super inconvenient to address and it's grandfathered in so people just live with it and are really careful. Inevitably, old wiring shorts out and hopefully it doesn't start a fire. I hate it. I'm not in the position to replace it all or replace the fuse box. But, it's going to be a priority in life with the dependency AC has on these systems and the increased need for AC to work properly.
I've had one line short. Turned out to be a few feet from the fuse box.
Personally, lower current solutions such as led lighting are becoming increasingly attractive to avoid stressing these systems. The video has it right. Modern living is too much a stress on these older systems.
@johnreskusich2324 I can't disagree with you, the wiring originally installed in the 40s, 50s and even 60s can deteriorate just from time and the heat in enclosed spaces. And, of course, rodents can do a number. Many times I have struggled in an old box to determine which wire is neutral and which is hot until I pull out a meter. Even then you need to check for reverse polarity upstream. Electrical and plumbing systems don't necessarily age well. But, the cost of rewiring, which includes the labor and materials plus the requirement to update to current codes, can be staggeringly high. In my entire career I can't recall a single homeowner choosing to update the entire house at once unless it was a complete gut-job. Typically they will do a kitchen and a bath one at a time, and the other rooms don't get attention.
Very informative, thank you.
My brother plugged in a sketchy 1800W AC without testing it first and blew half the rooms in our apartment, this helped a lot because I didn't even realize we had the bulbs
very nice to see videos still teaching this. I have a really nice well maintained fuse box here. Its 100 amp 120/240 and has 3 240v cartrighe fuse pullouts, 10 screw in edison base fuses, and the big main with two 100a cartrige fuses. The 50a 240 is the water heater, and the tow 30a 240v circuits feed sub panels for a large window ac and power in the workshop. 100 amp service is plenty adequate, as its powered from a single 10500w surge/8500w continuous generator. I actually installed the 100 amp fuse panel myself to replace an existing 110v 30 amp (two screw fuses) service when I replaced the old kohler light plant with the modern Honda. I also replaced the old Knob and tube wire with modern romex at that time.
One thing I recommend, for anyone using fuses and on generator power, use the 'fast blow' fuses in as many circuits as possible, as while this may cost more in replacing fuses, it will also help protect your (likely expensive) generator. and of course make sure to use the proper size fuse for each circuit. I dont plan on further upgrading. I've always preferred fuses anyway, but also a fellow off-gridder who upgraded to a modern breaker panel said he uses more gas (same generator, and roughly similar electrical demands) so yeah I'll stick to fuses, and save that extra half gallon a day for blasting the A/C when its really hot like it is now.
Reminds me of the box in an estate sale home I helped to redo the wiring and plumbing. Very interesting history to the home. About 7 years ago. The home in question was built in 1887, originally had gas lighting. The 60 amp box similar to this one had the installation date 10/'52. The home still had the 1953 kelvinator electric range. The earliest that home could have gotten electricity was 1908, when we went to replace the old galvanized iron plumbing on the 2nd level, which was originally an attic but the home had been extended over the years, found behind the wooden wall panelling, what used to be the original service panel to the house: mounted in a wooden like box lined with asbestos was a knife switch and 3 ceramic edison fuse holders, fused on both the hot and neutral, the ceramic block had the year 1908 stamped on it. 6 fuses together, but 3 circuits feeding the whole house, again, because the hot AND neutral were fused. And the two wires on the outer wall going to the knife switch were 10 awg if I remember correctly. Meaning the home originally had a 120 volt 30 amp main service. But because the house was 2 miles from town, we are not sure exactly when it was electrified, but we suspect it may have been in the later 1910s or early 1920s. So with the 240 volt 60 amp fuse box in the basement from 1952 and the 1953 electric stove, we suspect the homeowner had the service upgrade to 240 volts 60 amps for the electric range. Also found some knob and tube spliced with romex in the wall (fire hazard!) Now home has a modern 200 amp square D breaker box. Pretty interesting about the known dates. Lol
I'm also fascinated by older installations of electric, plumbing and even framing. Put me in an old house and I head straight to the basement! The knob and tube I don't see live anymore, but I do find the remnants. It seems crazy that bare wires seemed like a good idea at one time!
@@enduringcharm I know right. You and I must have a lot in common about old stuff. Not only knob and tube, but the wooden fuse box lined with asbestos we found in the attic of that 1887 estate with a knife switch dating 1908, I guess the idea was asbestos was fireproof so that in case of an electrical failure it would be less likely to spread. And probably the attic seemed like a good place for safety sake as well, to keep curious little boys away from it, that thing was dangerous enough for adults, let alone children. But again, the abandoned black iron pipes in the wall meant the home originally has gas lighting, so the new fangled electric light bulb must have been cutting edge technology then, like having the new iPhone X. Crazy to think of it that way in the 1910s and 1920s.
Cool story.
YOU post is exactly why I call an electrician to change a light bulb. lol
Always love helpful youtube tutorials, thanks for saving my brother and I from some minor electrical frustrations
Thank you so much! One of ours blew while the dryer was going. I was able to replace the fuse and get it back up and running. 👍👍
Very informative. Thank you. I bought a Federal Pacific fuse box assembly at an auction because it looked cool, but wasn't sure how it worked (or heck, exactly what it was). Makes a nice man cave item.
Heh, lightswitch went out, went to flip the breaker (at my uncles) and ran into this for the first time. I had worked in an industrial building and seen the large standalone fuses (and im talking these were huge by my standards) but never saw where they belonged. Thanks for the info!!
My great grandmother lived in a four unit apartment house that was built in 1924, according to a search I did on line some time ago. I remember one Christmas my aunt and I were there, and my great grandmother demanded that we not turn the tree lights on because she was afraid of a fuse blowing. Well, we turned the Christmas lights on and they worked without incident. This house is located in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, and half of the house was in Detroit and half was in Grosse Pointe Park. I had lots of good memories there, and me being a little kid wanting to explore I wanted badly to check out the basement, and eventually did years later. My great grandmother didn’t want me going down there either, because I guess there was a problem with mice.
great suggestions. I was weedwhacker and hit my extension cord in barn; blowing the fuse. Frist time in 12 years I had to replace fuse; and this was good primer on what they are. My house is breakers, so I've not done this before.
The top two fuse pullouts are both 240V (each one will have 2 fuses). The feed coming in from the street goes into the left pullout (which is 60 amps I'm guessing, based on the label on the door of the panel), which powers the rest of the panel. The right pullout is for a 240V appliance circuit, typically an electric stove.
Any tips on how to get the fuses in and out? (I bent the copper arms back and now I can't get them straight again to push the whole thing back in).
Just so you know if someone hasn't already stated, screw in fuses are still sold and a little extra tip, you can get breaker fuses, they are essentially little breakers that screw into the fuse slot and acts like a breaker, it has a little button that you press if it trips. They are a little more expensive but worth it if you dont have to purchase regular fuses. I have a fuse panel on my house built in 1962, I would rather have a breaker panel but the house isnt that great of condition anyway and rather than replace it I may just start a new house and put a breaker panel in it. Current house was all block walls and broke footer just cracking all over.
Interesting--I've never seen those hybrid fuse/breakers before. As noted before, there are geographic pockets of the country where fuses are more prevalent and that's where you probably find more variety for sale locally. In my area of NJ fuses are now relatively rare since most folks have upgraded or always had breaker boxes.
enduringcharm Amazon I believe is where I purchased my breaker fuse, cant remember off the top of my head the price
www.amazon.com/Bussmann-BP-MB-20-Circuit-Breaker/dp/B000GAS1GY/ref=sr_1_1?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1524187776&sr=1-1&keywords=breaker+fuse&refinements=p_89%3ABussmann
Bussman makes them, I seen 15amp and 20amp
Matt Casdorph thanks for that info, I didn't know they even had something like that! that's cool, so its like a fuse but when tripped can just be pressed? our house is really old, from like the 1820s so I get it when you say whats the point in doing a total upgrade for a breaker box. in this economy we all cant just afford it. I'm def gonna look into those, thanks!
5 years later, this comment still helping people lol, i just bought few of those, nice!
very good video, glad to see that I'm not the only one that always picks the fuse/breaker that kills the lights that I need. my 1950's house has had it main fuse box replaced with circuit breakers, thought that I'd be good to go, then I found a secondary box in the attic that still has fuses. Only 4 circits but they all had 30 amp fuses and I'm pretty sure that it ain't 10AWG so I'll be buying new small fuses tomorrow and hoping that none of them blow.
I see that a lot--secondary fuseboxes were put in as a way to expand service, and they are often located in oddball areas. Good for you for checking on the fuse capacity versus wiring gauge.
Thank-You, Hope I don't catch on fire tonight waiting to go to Home Depot to get the right size fuse.
Thank you for the explanation! Very helpful. Found this ancient technology in my house today, needed the knowhow.
My house built in the 60s has a 12 circuit 100 amp fuse box. Still works great. No problems.
Fuses will still work fine, but typically what triggers a move to a new breaker box is the limited capacity of the old fusebox or the need to replace old, degraded wiring. Not only has the demand for electrical circuits greatly increased in modern life, the electrical codes now require more circuits and receptacles. So doing a kitchen remodel, for example, often requires adding more circuits.
Many thanks, John for your useful video. I live in an old 1950s apt building in NYC and have one of these in my apartment. I am not sure if I used the right fuse (20 vs. 15 amps) but one of the fuses blew and I replaced with a 20 amp fuse but it’s causing everything to flicker/ fans making a sizzling sound/ power strips to blow. For safety I removed the fuse altogether which has left a portion of my apartment / power outlets without power. I need to convert to a breaker box but not having luck finding a reasonable quote. Quotes are varying from 500-1200 USD for a 4 circuit conversion.
Obviously it's tough for me to try and diagnose your problem from here, and there could be many issues. The reason your original fuse blew is likely related to the flickering you describe with the new fuse. It's possible you didn't screw in the new fuse securely enough and you had a loose connection there, but more likely you have a loose connection somewhere else in the circuit. It could be a loose screw terminal on an outlet, or a loose wire nut in a box somewhere. That loose connection somewhere in the circuit can cause arcing as well as flickering lights so it's fortunate that the original fuse did blow. For a 1950s fuse box in an apartment, the circuit is almost certainly a 15 amp, not a 20.
Anyway, prices for electrical work can vary widely across the country, which is why I typically don't get into cost estimates here. However, I happen to work in NJ, so I can tell you that the quotes you are getting are actually quite reasonable. In my area a small fusebox replacement could be $1200-1400 and it would not be unexpected that you would also need additional wiring replacement, replaced receptacles, and some work to find that loose connection in the bad circuit.
You didn't mention if you own or rent the apartment. I'm always a bit baffled by the way the NYC rental system works (or doesn't work) but in the rest of the world, it would be the owner's responsibility to pay for a replacement box or at least for repair of the faulty circuit, not the renter. So if you rent I would pursue a conversation with the landlord, who presumably doesn't want a fire hazard in his building.
Thank you for making this. Helps real people.
I've been told the old fuse boxes are actually safer as long as you're using the correct fuses depending on the wire, because they can blow faster than a breaker trips. Just bought a house that uses an old fuse panel like this and they had all of them swapped to 30 amp fuses but I found some spares in a cabinet that were 15 amp, immediately swapped all of them back down to the 15 amp fuses. Back then people didn't have a lot of electronics and appliances actually drew more than they do today, but today appliances actually draw less and the difference is we have more smaller devices that depend on electricity in our everyday lives like TV's and game systems. 15 amps should easily be able to handle lights and TV's, etc. but when you're running lets say a microwave or a washer / dryer, vacuum cleaner you will likely have to run them one at a time to avoid blowing the fuses. You can find out how many amps a device draws by dividing the wattage by the voltage, for example 1500w / 120v = 12.5 amps so you know if you have to run a 15 amp fuse you're getting close to your limit. While yes it may be annoying that you may have to replace the fuse because you can't run everything at once, just remember it's keeping your house from burning down and the fuse blowing is a GOOD thing!. While expensive ($10 a piece) you can get those fuses with a push button to reset them so you don't have to keep replacing them.
That's kind of a silly argument that fuses are superior to breakers because of trip speed. For one thing, fuses are inevitably in a much older installation so the aging wiring, oxidized terminals and missing ground connections are likely to be as much of an issue as the fuses themselves. Modern era breakers have an excellent record when installed correctly, and the newest arc-fault breakers provide protection unavailable on breakers. The reality is that electrical installations are not forever. They need to be maintained and updated after decades of use to replacing aging components and to bring the installation up to modern code standards. Of course, fuses with push-button reset are just mini-breakers. You were smart to replace your 30 ampers with 15 ampers, since it highly unlikely the circuits were run with 10 gauge wire!
@@enduringcharm There's no doubt the old fuse panels are aging and becoming more prone to issues, but in a modern breaker parts have to move before it cuts the connection where as a fuse blows almost instantaneously, I've had newer breakers (installed early to mid 2000's) only partially trip. I would definitely love to replace the wiring and fuse box but unfortunately that's going to be in the thousands, I think even the wire coming into the house is aluminum but the wire in the fuse box running throughout the house looks like copper, but its the black jacket stuff.
Of course, I understand your dilemma with cost. But to be clear about the safety of breakers versus fuses-- a fuse may blow some milliseconds faster than a breaker in some instances, but we shouldn't confuse that marginal speed with additional safety. Breakers, which use electromagnetic principles to disconnect the power when needed, are not just more convenient to use. They are safer because they don't expose the user to electrical contacts in use, they are able to provide arc-fault and ground fault protection, and they don't allow a homeowner to accidentally install the wrong amperage after tripping. There have been faulty breakers in the history of the product, but that doesn't reflect on every manufacturer. Put another way, if you win the lottery I think you'll be safer replacing your fusebox with a breaker box, even if you lose a few milliseconds.
@@enduringcharm Yeah I understand what you're saying, unscrewing the fuse to replace it makes me a bit nervous and if someone doesn't understand what they're dealing with they could install the wrong fuse creating a very dangerous situation. Upgrading the fuse box to a standard breaker box is the plan down the road but the wiring concerns me more than the box as the house was built in the 40's, it's extremely common for houses in this area to still have old wiring. The good thing is that the water heater and fridge are running off a separate breaker panel with newer wiring running from the main instead of the fuse box.
@@ToothpickMan11 Lack of circuits, and lack of space to add circuits is also big issue with most fuse panels. Most only have 4 to 8 circuit spaces and no room to expand. Even a small home with gas stove, dryer and water heater and no central A/C is going to need at least a dozen 110 volt circuits. With only a half dozen or less circuits means that those few circuits are going to be frequently overloading and blowing fuses. Subpanels can be added for additional circuits but it's tricky to do with a fuse panel. Some later 100 amp and larger fuse panels from the 60s and 70s did have a lot of circuit spaces, and some even were expandable with fuse socket modules you added like you would a breaker to a breaker panel. If you have a larger panel in good shape with a lot of spaces you're ok. You're going to be far less apt to overloading circuits on these. More circuits = less overloading = less blown fuses.
I live in rural PA and fuse boxes like this are common around here, ever since they changed to the new smart meters on the side of the house I have been having problems with fuses blowing, total pain in the butt, its very true though It seems to blow when we have lots of things plugged in like the computer, fan, tablet, and 2 lights, or in the winter when we have the space heater plugged in. they still sell the glass fuses here as many old houses still have these types of fuse boxes still. I think more people here would replace them, but with the economy being the way it is, its tough to have the money for things like replacing fuse boxes, and its easily pushed aside. our house is very old like 1820s old lol
Problem with most older fuse boxes is lack of circuits, and no room to expand and add circuits. A house today, even if all the major appliances were gas or propane, would have at least a dozen circuits for everything in the house. Multiple circuits for lights, at least two for kitchen receptacles, one for bathroom receptacle, and each major appliance having it's own circuit. By contrast, most fuse panels were 60 amp and usually only had 4 to 8 circuits for a whole house. The truth is, whether it's fuses or breakers, if you don't have enough circuits, and multiple rooms and appliances share those handful of circuits you have, you are gonna be overloading circuits all the time. The fuse is just less convenient when it happens.
These things are still all over the place in Chicago because the city's electrical code incentivises them. The code was negociated with union electricians, and they wanted more fuse boxes because they're harder to install and maintain, leading to more work hours for them. There's even a decent amount of new ones in the suburbs, since city-based electricians and engineers go there for work on occasion and don't know how to work with anything but fuse boxes.
Thanks John looking into a house with a fuse box which I would need to update but glad to have some knowledge in the meantime
This video helped me to much. I've been watching other videos, but this resolved my problem. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thank you very much for the video I actually have to work on one of those in the next few days Your video was a refresher course from what I learned in class once again thanks
Thank you- that was so helpful! My house is old and has both a breaker box in basement and an old fuse box upstairs in the pantry. i tried shutting off power at breaker box to switch out a light fixture and of course the power didn't go out where i needed it to :/ . I did a little investigating and found your video and am now going to attempt to shut off power through fuse box! Wish me luck :p
Good luck--I think you'll be fine.
Thank you very much!.
I was always tempted to put a light bulb instead of the fuse in my grandma's house
If you live in Kentucky or Indiana fuse boxes in houses are still quite common in older homes. I've lived in many that had them. In fact I still have a fuse box in my garage for the power out there, though it has the smaller base "S" type fuses in it.
Yeah, there are definitely pockets of older homes in some areas with original electrical and plumbing systems still chugging along.
The "newest" fuse panel I've seen was in a house built in 1974. It had 150A main blade cartridge fuses, with four 240 V pullouts and 20 plug fuse circuits! All the fuses were Type S, mostly 20A with 12 gauge wire. Square D panel in excellent condtion. There was also room to add fuse modules for more circuits. This was probably one of the last ones installed. Judging by the dust and cobwebs on the spare fuses, and with many circuits I'd say blown fuses were few and far between
same here in rural PA, these types of fuse boxes are VERY common here, with the houses being so old, most of the time you would need more work done than just replacing a fuse box with a breaker box, especially when a house like my is from the 1820s. trouble is electrical work is expensive especially with the economy being so bad, its not uncommon for us to put all that off for other things, especially when these still do work, but ever since we have gotten the new smart meter on the side of the house, we have been having a lot of problems with fuses blowing, I know with the computers, cell phones, and all our other stuff plugged in, it seems to be causing more fuses to blow. just sucks!
When I moved into my 1949 house, I found the fuse box loaded up with 30A fuses. It's also a Federal Noark box. Contrary to popular belief, normal breakers and fuses have no difference in safety. Breakers are just more convenient to reset. However GFCI and AFCI breakers are safer since they protect from additional electrical hazards.
Sean Place Don't breakers wait a while before flipping off were a fuse goes off instantly? Correct me if I am wrong.
That is true. Fuses provide the same level of safety as a circuit breaker. That is, provided the correct size fuses are used. The issue with fuses is the human factor, most people don't understand them and the need to use the correct size. Usually they didn't have enough circuits, typically just 4 -8. Instead of adding circuits or replacing the panel people just put 30's in there to stop them from blowing so often, creating a fire hazard.
Well said. Breakers are typically more human-proof because it takes more effort to replace one with the wrong capacity. Not that I haven't seen it!
The yellow wire in electrical panel
Fuses are quicker and safer to open and protect the circuit.
Dude thank you very much that was very instructive and informative for us younger cats!
This is a really important video I'm very grateful you made
this fuse box looks almost exactly like my current one I am trying to figure out, this vid helped a lot thank you
Homes in Santa Barbara still have these, my grandmas old house which is about 100 years old, looked even older than this one. I use to have to switch out those glass fuses
Yeah, they can continue to function just fine as long as you can buy the fuses.
great job, and without lights and all, well explained
OMG great video. you answered 100 plus questions i had. Go Oilers's Go! TY Charm 😜
Seven years later.
Very informational and easy to understand. Thanks.
Thanks because I was thinking you just pull them straight out like a regular fuse. I believe this house has a second fuse box somewhere because there was no main fuse but I have to find it. I think it's outside and hopefully not under this house since this house is in Mississippi (below sea level) and if it did have a basement or cellar that means it's open and disconnected from the house (it means air flows under the house and into the opening, like digging a hole then placing a house on top of it to keep the ground dry enough so the cement walls will stay dry and not crumble).
Trouble shooting: remove the fuse screw in a light bulb, if it burns you have a hot too ground short-find it. Fuse blows for no reason? Check the screw area in the center of the fuse housing if it is discolored probably loose from excessive heat Remove the main and tighten up the screw in the center of the fuse holder screw. No work? change to a small breaker unit or rewire the house. Replacement for fuses are standard fuses or breaker fuses with a pop out button circuit breaker
Cooper Bussmann 20-Amp Fast Acting Plug Fuse (Lowes and other places)
Another fuse to use is (Fusetrons) a one way fuse Screw in device that prevents a larger fuse from being used. When inserted they will not unscrew and a standard fuse will not work. Fusetron base fuses only.
those are not "canister" fuses, they are cartridge fuses. There are a few quirks. One, that's a 60amp federal pacific box, often fused for a max of 120 amps. It's never been an issue, but it's just wrong. The other gotcha, is that things like your water heater, if wired thru two fuses, can trip one fuse, and not the other, so, basically, run 120, in a 240 appliance (like a water heater). Also, the old fuse boxes, had several aux pannels, where the new panels, can be big enough to just wire the main, and the aux panels into the same box. With a new panel, you can add a cafi breaker, and the breaker will trip if in out, giving you some additional protection. And new boxes come with terminal guards (giant plastic covers, to cover life posts).
Yes sir my guy you did a terrific job!! ❤
many thanks for the video, super helpful as I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at haha
thanks alot sir for letting us know about the fire hazard. I was about to place 25 gp fuse with a broken 15 gp fuse in my apartment . But now I will put the 15 gp one . :)
Jesus christ
The reason there are two pull out fuse holders is NOT because there are two lines coming in (two sides of the 240 volt service)! Each pull out has two fuses. One pullout (with its two fuses) is the main fuse and the other is for a 240 volt appliance, usually a range. On some fuse boxes similar to the one in this video, the main pull out feeds the screw in fuses only, and in some boxes the two fuses in the main pullout feeds both the screw in fuses and the range pull out. So, depending on how the box is set up, you can pull out the main fuse and disconnect everything, or you would have to pull out both fuse pullouts to disconnect all circuits. Many older houses have had additional fuse boxes or small breaker boxes added, so it can get complicated. Don't mess with these unless you are qualified to do so.
In the 60 amp panels, the main pullout disconnects the whole panel, everything including the range pullout circuit. In the 100 amp panels with this Main/Range configuration, the Main and Range pulls are wired separately. The main pull feeds the plug fuses and the sub feed terminals. The range pull would still have power and have to be pulled separately to disconnect all power to the panel. So you had a 60 amp main and a 40 amp range circuit. Often if there is a gas range, the Range pull might be feeding another 220 volt appliance such as an A/C unit, dryer or another subpanel supplying additional circuits.
Our old house had 60 amp service. But unlike yours, the fused box disconnects were vertical, not horizontal. Top one was the Main and the bottom the 240 volt Range. There where 4-15 amp circuits, 2 on each side of the disconnect. The 240 Range had spaces for a fuse one on each side. But we had no 240 volt appliances, so those sockets were never installed. Also our local code did not allow Edison base fuses (the light-bulb type sockets) so only Type-S fuses could be installed. Unlike Edison sockets, Type-S are sized for amperage, 20 amp is smaller than 30, and 15 amp is smaller than 20. A 20 amp won't fit in a 15 and a 15 would fall out of a 20 or 30 amp socket. Also you could put the disconnect plug in the "OFF" position but since one of the 4 prongs is offset, it will not engage, a smart safety feature the old timers thought of. Thus, a "stow-able" disconnect. Also it had bus lugs under the 120 and 240 volt disconnects, which I suspect could feed a sub-panel.
Yes, there were many, many variations on fuse boxes produced over the decades.
Also be careful, fuses can get pretty hot depending on the load!
Hey is it normal for them to get warm fairly hot under load? Our fuse from the air conditioning unit and 2 TVs are making it warm. 20 amp fuse with 12gauge wire
@@Truesk8er1 As you approach the upper end of a fuse or breaker's capacity it is likely to get warmer. An air conditioner is a heavy draw on a circuit, and older units might be drawing 15-20 amps on their own. Probably your circuit is nearly maxed out when you add in the TVS and whatever else is on that circuit. This is actually why we have fuses and breakers--they should blow or trip before the heat builds up hot enough to start a fire.
@@enduringcharm hey thanks alot man appreciate the response 🙏
Surprisingly, my relatives have this fuse box too.
Actually the pull out fuses on the left,are the mains. The pull-out on the right is usually the range.(oven) Don't pull the right and think your power is off . Mains are always on the left.
This house I am in is around 60 years old but uses breakers. However, out in the garage which is much older than the house there is a box with a single fuse that protects the garage circuir.
In homes that lived through the transition from fuses to breakers it's not at all unusual to see both still in existence. It's a pain and expensive to switch over, so some circuits were left alone. It's also common to find multiple fuse or breaker boxes in the house, because it was easier to add another box than to reroute existing circuits to a single box.
Thank you for making this video!!!! This really helped me today!
Good video fella. Way to keep it simple.
This was really great. I need to change the fuse for my heating, and nothing is properly labeled but I can see the burnt fuse. Do I need to turn anything off before changing out the fuse with the new one?
It's not strictly necessary, but it's always a good idea to shut down anything on the circuit before installing a new fuse. Electronics can be sensitive to power interruptions, but also it's good to know why the fuse blew in the first place. By turning things on one at a time you can determine if one item is causing a problem.
If you look at the end of a glass fuse you will see that the diameter changes from small (15 amp) to larger (20 amp) and larger still (30 amp). You can buy plastic discs from your electrical store that screw into the fuse socket and these limit the fuse amperage that the circuit can carry. You must turn off the power to the fuse box before inserting the discs. I install these in ALL my rental properties.
I think you are talking about type "S" tamper proof fuses. You can screw in a thread adapter which only fits the correct amperage fuse. Those are helpful, although you have to have the knowledge and will to install them in the first place.
My house has a old fuse box. Still has it. My house built in 1953
also most insurance companies want you to replace them
This video helped me a ton thanks!
Interesting, I was trying to find how to connect the wires for 220 to the fuse box in my garage. Guess I'll keep looking
There are countless variations on how fuse boxes or breaker boxes are wired, so you won't find a video specific to your circumstance. For 240v circuits you need two "hot" legs, one from each side of the electrical service. The circuit may or may not call for a neutral and you should have a ground. How you get these connections inside the box depends on the design of the box and how it was originally wired. If you are uncertain, better to call a pro.
So my Grandma's old house that we're now moving into has the push circuit breakers for the main house but a separate box with these for just the dryer plug.
Not unusual. Sometimes one box is upgraded and the older subpanels are left alone.
old fuses are fun I have taken many out I have done a house that has 3 circuits for the whole house also only a 120 volt service
It is remarkable how little electricity was needed in decades past!
My house was built in 1952. Service was 120v with 4 circuits. 1 fuse was kitchen, 1 was for oil burner, 2 are for lights and outlets in the rest of the house.
Four circuits was pretty typical, outside of the kitchen circuit didn't really have or need dedicated appliance circuits back then. A house I had was three bedrooms, bathroom, hallway, entry, and den all on one 15 amp circuit.
My apartment has a fuse box and one of my rooms' power went out 😭 so like im just tryna learn how to reset the damn thing
A blown fuse can be detected by looking through the glass on the front and seeing if it is still connected or if it is melted away. It will look different than the other fuses in the box. If you find one that's blown, unscrew it and screw in a new one of the same amperage.
@jj smallz Wow JJ smallz - living a privileged life I guess. No reason to belittle people just because they don't live in a newer building, or cannot buy a newer single family home. Fuse panels are not uncommon in many residences, whether houses or multi-family dwellings. Realistically, how many buildings do you think were built less then 60 years ago? It's hardly anything that requires updating as long as it has been well-maintained and is sufficient to meet the usage. Why dole out the cash to change 60+ units in an apartment complex to breakers if it isn't a safety issue?
My old glass fuses are partially covered by a black plastic yoke. No obvious way to release the plastic yoke. I know the release is likely super simple. Can you suggest?
Thank you so much for this video!! So helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
Helpful.. thank you!
"if you're living in a house where you have one of these it's really best to replace it with a modern breaker box"
For a seemingly minor rare issue of a fuse blowing it seems a bit of a waste of money.
Fuse boxes were typically last installed in the 60s, meaning if you have a fuse box in your house it could be 55-80 years old. At that age not only is it time for the box itself to be examined for problems, the wiring may need to some work too. Plus, it is becoming more difficult to find replacement fuses in some areas. Finally, modern life requires far more electrical circuits than were provided by fuseboxes back in the day. Electrical and plumbing systems do have a lifespan and codes have changed dramatically in these decades for good reason. So, when I recommend updating a fuse box to a modern breaker box, it's not about the convenience of throwing a switch, it's about the safety of a modern system and the ability to provide the electrical service we expect today.
People used to put pennies in these these things and defeat the purpose and sometimes cause fires Also the wrong fuse 20 amp in 15 amp is another problem So some home insurance won't cover you if you have these old fuses. I agree but it's costly to be fool proof
Very very helpful. Thank you 😊
I have one that looks like the one on the far left that is probably from the 1920s or 1930s so it's probably a collector's item
Thank you. I have one in my garage
I have an older fuse panel like you are talking that's in my house and each fuse has a different thread pattern,so you cant screw a bigger amp fuse in place of a smaller amp fuse..
Sounds like S type fuses instead of Edison base fuses.
So 120 come in on each of the pull out fuses
Good video and educational. What is the grease you use that makes the main breakers easier to slide in and out? Thanks
You might be referring to dielectric grease, which is actually meant to protect contacts from corrosion not to lubricate.
believe it or not, I own a large house at the beach built in 1923 and it has one 15 amp fuse powering the entire house. This is a 4 bedroom 3 bath 2 floor house and it is running on 1 15 amp fuse in the box. Pretty scary.
Wow--that is pretty extreme!
wow
Have both pullouts clean out. Power still works. Going to assume the one breaker that was installed in the basement of the house is ran for the garage and to make it “legal” to sell at bottom dollar to some unsuspecting fool(me).
Obviously I don;t know what's going on without seeing it in person, but it's not uncommon for there to be more than one fuse or breaker box in an older house. They often just added a box instead of expanding the existing one. If the house is new to you, take a careful look around, sometimes the boxes were put in unusual or even hidden places.
And many times the old wiring is insulated with a paper type wrapping which has dried out! The paper insulation can crumble if you move it or bend it!
Yes, dried out insulation eventually becomes a problem and may require complete replacement of the wiring.
My workshop out behind my house has this very box.
The problem with a modern breaker is that they heat up and the old style fuse box will simply blow the fuse and not generate the additional heat which can cause a fire.
I hear this concern a lot, but it's a straw man. In 15 years of doing this professionally I've seen one breaker that failed to trip as it should and that was in a box that was heavily corroded from water damage. Far more concerning to me are old style fuses that were replaced with a higher amperage by unknowing homeowners, leaving a circuit with aging wiring and devices essentially unprotected. Sure, breakers can malfunction, but the incidence of it is extremely low.
How do you know if one of those cylinder fuses needs replacing? Also, i pulled the black square thing out to take a photo of the fuse, but didn't turn off the main power switch for electricity....could this cause me to be electrocuted? OMG!
The cartridge style fuses (cylinder) without a window require a meter to test. Otherwise, you can only replace them. You can pull the fuses without electrocuting yourself.
Thats a really nice box though a person wouldnt have to replace that .
Very often the reason a fuse box is replaced with a breaker box is the totality of the circumstance. In other words, the box may be working but the number and size of the circuits are inadequate for the modern house, the wiring itself is getting old or damaged and the ground system is missing. In the course of addressing those sorts of problems it makes sense to replace the box as well.
What would happen if one were to put a light bulb in one
Awesome thanks for the info
My parent's house has these PS-230 fuses, with those tube-like fuses in them. One that powers HVAC recently exploded, and I replaced it with a new houseing as well as fuses....but the HVAC still won't turn on -- any recommendations where to check next?
Well, there could be a number of things to check. The easiest is first to take a meter and check for voltage at the condenser unit. It's quite possible your problem is not electricity to the HVAC unit but the HVAC unit itself. If there is voltage at the unit then you could have a faulty control board, or a blown start capacitor, for example.
now the ITT crystal fuse I have is a 15 amp now can I replace it with a regular 15 amp or does it have to be the same as the ITT crystal
You're referring to a particular brand, that's all. Any screw-in style 15 amp fuse will be fine.
What would cause a low voltage reading 42v coming out to fuse?
So that makes sense why older houses catch on fire
Ha! Fuses actually worked fine if they were sized correctly, but I do think breakers are superior for a number of reasons.
fuses are safer than old breakers that replaced them, modern breakers are best but fuses can't fail like bad breaker designs like FPE do.
This video is so interesting and informative. My circa 1950's panel has what appears to be one old main fuse box labeled "main" (about twice the size of the two in your video - although my guess is it is "two" but with one silver handle that pulls both out) at the top of the panel, and underneath it, all switch breakers - no glass fuses. I'd like to turn off all the power to my house, and aside from the safety precaution of turning off the HVAC, TV's, etc., was wondering if I should turn off each breaker before sliding/pulling out the main fuse box? It has been a couple of years since I've completely cut the power out, so I'm a bit rusty and want to do it safely. Thank you!
There are a million different fuseboxes and breaker panels, so I certainly don't know every one. I'm trying to picture what yours looks like, but I'm not sure if your fuses were replaced with breakers with a fuse base or if you have a breaker panel with cylinder fuses, or what. In any case, you shouldn't need to shut down indvidual circuits to shut off or pull out the main. It's always a good idea to power off or unplug sensitive electronics like computers, phones, tvs, etc., but there's no harm in shutting off the main breaker or fuse and leaving the rest of the panel alone.
@@enduringcharm Thank you! I have a wizard of an electrician who's out of town. I think he was trying to save me money so left the original main fuse box like the one you pulled out in the video, and replaced all of the glass fuses with those circuit breakers you switch off and on by using the palm of your hand. Not sure how to add a pic in UA-cam. Anyhow, I am going to go with pulling out the main fuse box as you suggested. Had just read some stories about circuits not coming back on after turning off breakers incorrectly (or maybe their time was up!) so did not want to do anything to add to that possibility. I already have too many broken things to fix! I look forward to watching more videos. Many thank yous! - Suzanne
What do you think of breaker fuses. The breakers that screw in like a fuse but has a pin that shuts off like a breaker. Do they work?
You know, I've not had an opportunity to see them. In my area the majority of homeowners have upgraded to a breaker panel by now. There are other reasons to upgrade to a new panel anyway, including replacement of old wiring, the opportunity to add new circuits and clean up old ones, and the ability to add much greater overall capacity.
@@enduringcharm i just found out they only replace Tl fuzes. you cant use them to replace SL, which is what most people who have fuse boxes had after the 1950's.
Very enlightening thanks
Wonder if it would be possible to hook a central heat to a twist in fuse box. We were told we couldn't use our central heat with this type of box so we have been using heaters which is killing our light bill.
I'm not sure what was meant by that assertion to you, or exactly what you mean by central heat. Fuse boxes in general are capable of handling significant power demands, including 240 volt service. If you already have a heating system in place presumably it was wired and working at some point? If you are trying to add a central heating system it's possible that your fuse box doesn't have enough capacity, in which case you'd need to add a second box or swap out for a modern breaker box.
What do you do if the threading in the fuse box has messed up the fuse won't screw in properly anymore because someone ruined it. Can that be replaced?
If the base threads are trashed, it's time to upgrade to a modern breaker box. I'm not aware of any way to replace those, and it sounds like you got your money's worth out of the old box!
I've got an old fuse box in the place I'm renting but I'm looking for somewhere else to live not taking chances of anything happening with that old fuse box
This is Very Helpful. Not everyone cn afford to Upgrqde to a Breaker box,.. Electricians are VERY Expensive and dont give a darn,.. Its all about MONEY$$$ to Most Americans today.
Thank you...Peace
All of a sudden my window unit is blowing 20 amp fuses. Can I get some troubleshooting advice?
That's pretty tough to provide long distance. Possibilities include an issue with your A/C unit causing it to draw more current, a fault in the circuit causing a short, and a circuit with added devices which are bringing it over capacity. You could start by carefully examining every device on the circuit to make certain it isn't over capacity.
Mine has the glass fuses, do they have to be replaced with glass or will any kind work as long as its the correct amp?
You probably have Type T or Type W fuses, and it is often labeled as such. These are still available, so try and replace your fuses with the same type already installed.
if i need to turn off a circuit, can i just remove the fuse from the panel (will be similar as turning off circuit breaker)?
Yes, that's exactly right.
How do I know which one is the one I have to change ? I checked and I have like 7 of Thais small bulb but don’t know which one needs to be changed 😩
In the middle of a glass fuse is a window of sorts. Under that window is a metal strip which is solid if the fuse is working. When a fuse "blows" that strip melts away, which is what cuts power. If you have a blown fuse, look for the one missing that strip. It is possible to have a failed fuse and that strip appears intact, but that's rare. If you still can't see, you can always swap fuses around until the circuit comes back up or the problem moves to a different circuit when you move the fuse.
@@enduringcharm thank you very much wish us luck … ☺️☺️
@@enduringcharm thanks very much we have light again ☺️☺️☺️ my husband did bought the wrong size at first was supposed to be a W but then went back and got the right one , it was easy well you made it easy . Thanks a lot
That's great to hear--glad it worked out!
looking for information on mini-breaker fuses and how they work...