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 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
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
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 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
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 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.
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
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).
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?
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.
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!
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.
Do they sell an adapter for them for a 15? I have a 15 amp but have that gold thread around it and my apartment holds it without that gold thread around the fuse
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.
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.
We broke the end of the 15 amp fuse putting it back and taking it out multiple times. A small piece is lodged in the receptacle. Any issues in just using non-concuctive pliers to get it out? It is barely enough to get a grip on. Thank you. Bad timing just before Christmas without kitchen power.
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.
Hard to offer advice from afar on this one. Sometimes it's better to give a quick yank, sometimes it's better to pull slowly with even pressure. You could try both methods.
Hi , my main panel pushes 30 amps to my garage and In My garage I have a what I think is a breaker box with a main lever that has 2 (15) amp fuses ... that breaker box is maxed out to 30 amps correct since that is what the main panel is limiting it to?
A sub-panel fed from a main somewhere else should not have it's own main breaker or fuse. You might be describing a situation where you have a sub panel that has two 15 amp 120V circuits in it or a single 240v circuit, I'm not sure. There are countless possible configurations, not all of them correct, either! But, in general terms, whatever breaker or fuse is upstream is the determining factor as far as total amperage.
You know, I'm not sure what you are referring to, but maybe somebody else knows. There are actually a lot of variations on fuses so I may not have seen what you have.
Have an old fuse box system no noticed today in a bedroom i never use that the lights don't work in there. I was removing wallpaper in the room today and was spraying water on wall - could that have gotten into plug-in recepticle?
Probably not, unless you were using a garden hose! More likely it's a coincidence or perhaps you disturbed a loose wire or loose fuse when banging around. Start with the basics and work your way back to the fuse box. Is the bulb good? Do the outlets on the circuit work?
Thank you for the video. I have a question about charging an electric car. I live in an apartment (I believe it was built around 1940) and all appliances run off of a fuse box with 4 15amp fuses. According to some articles online, I may blow a fuse if I have any other appliance running like heating water in my electric kettle. I'm curious, would I be able to charge the car at home or have to seek out alternative power sources?
I'm no expert on electric car charging, but your existing setup would be inadequate to put it mildly. My understanding is that most charging stations are 240 volt and entail a separate box in the garage. I guess 120 volt charging is possible but it takes forever and a day to complete the charge.
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.
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.
hey maybe you can help.. My oven occasionally stops getting enough power to heat up but just enough power to display time/temp. If i pull out the fuse out box and push it back in then the oven heats up properly again. Sometimes ihave to pull out the fuse and push it back in a couple of times to get the oven to heat up again. Any idea why that happens? Thanks
Your oven needs 240 volt power to operate the heating elements. The display on the oven only needs 120 volt power. You get 240 volt power by combining two 120 volt "legs." It's likely that one leg of your power has an intermittent problem which prevents the heating elements from working and the other leg allows the display to continue to work. If you have a meter (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-g0YRkwv40r8.html) you can confirm this by testing the oven outlet. Each "hot" leg measured to ground should be 120 volts. Measuring across the two legs should read 240 volts. If this test fails, then you may have faulty contacts or another issue in the fuse box. On the other hand, if the readings are correct even when the oven is not working then the problem may lie with the oven itself.
There are a lot of different ways to wire a house and it would be foolish to try and give you advice from afar. You could have multiple boxes, or various configurations within a single box. If you have fuses you should be able to pull the fuses just for that circuit or for the whole house, but to be certain you should test with a meter (I have a video on that) or with a non-contact tester like this one: amzn.to/2Up1WFr
I'd have to see the problem in person, I think, to offer advice. Possibly you could grab what remains of the handle seat with pliers or cut power somewhere else. Worst case you can always have a pro or the power company pull the meter to cut power and then you could pry out the fuse.
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.
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 RU-vid. 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
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
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.
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 . :)
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!
Very nice video, thanks. I have two questions... 1) My NYC apt has a fuse box, 4 fuses total. Three are the older glass fuses, 20A each, the 4th is a newer 15A fuse. They havee been here since I got the place in 2006. I can't see "the wiring' to the fuse box b/c it is behind/inside the wall. Is there a way with a multimeter to test what amperage is supported? 2) I need to know for a/c installation (window unit) how many "phases" I have supplied. I understand there is a way to use a multimeter (volts) to test this, somehow putting one lead on the center button inside one fuse slot and the other lead on the center button in another slot. But I forget the process specifics...and what readings I'm looking for to see if I have 1 phase or 2 (the building is 1932). Do I measure between the center buttons in all combinations of 2 slots (i.e. measure between the top two, then the bottom two, then the left two, the right two, then diagonals?) Can you shed light on that process? Googling isn't turning anything up.
The only way to know the wiring gauge is to look at it. If it's really old you may even have trouble identifying if it is 12 or 14 gauge. The safer bet is to stay with 15 amp breakers unless you know for sure the wiring will support a larger breaker. You may be able to look at the wiring in one of the outlet boxes, although that's no guarantee that the whole circuit is the same gauge. For your air conditioner presumably you are looking for 220V power? The question of phases is a different one and refers to how the power is generated and supplied. Residential is typically single phase power, but we have two 110V legs coming in which can be combined for the 220V power. To supply that 220V power you'll see either two fuses or breakers tied together or else a single fuse/breaker designed to tie into both legs of power. On the outlet side you'll have two "hots" and a neutral. You can put a meter across both hots to measure 220V or between a hot and a neutral to measure 110V. Make sense?
here in india we have 240v on each phase in my home i have 3 240v phase !!! sound pretty dangerous it is dangerous that is why i also have an rccb that will stop the flow of power if more than 20ma flows to the earth...because i play with electric and i am 14 my father fit that just in case 20 ma can still kill me !!
Since you live in an apartment, you have to use the wiring that has been provided. Most likely, you'll be stuck buying a 120V air conditioner and then being careful to operate as few appliances as possible when the air conditioner is running. Very likely, your wiring is only rated for 15 A. You can probe between the center button of the different fuse sockets. You will either see 0 Volts, 208 Volts, or 240 Volts. However, this test won't help you because you do not own the property and are thus not allowed to make modifications to the wiring.
Is there a wiring diagram on the inside cover? Are the four fuses arranged in a horizontal row or are they two over and two under? It's unlikely it's just one single hot 120 volt wire feeding all four plug fuses. Most likely if it's a vertical row the two left fuses are fed by one 120 volt leg, and the other two by another 120 volt leg. If it's two over and two under, usually the left two are on one leg and the other two on another. It is single phase service being served by two hot wires each at 120 volts.
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.
There are a lot of different fuse box configurations and even more ways to wire them, so it would be irresponsible for me to offer advice from afar. To make a 220 volt (really 240 volt) circuit you do need to pull from both 120 volt legs. How that gets done inside your box depends on it's layout and design, and there are many more rules as far as wire size, grounding, neutral and fuse size. Best to have a local electrician take a look if you are uncertain.
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.
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..
Hi, I live in an old apartment building and the fuse connected to my kitchen blew. I followed all of your instructions but when I took the fuse box out all the power in my house was still on, I made sure no lights or anything were plugged in and when I tried to change the fuse I got a big shock, twice. Google isn't helping me and I'm not sure what to do? I've wasted about 4 fuses but even before im able to screw it in theres a big shock and it burns out.
Obviously I can't see how your apartment is wired from here, but it's not uncommon for older structures to have more than one fuse or breaker box for a particular dwelling. And, there may well be a circuit or two which are miswired. I did a bathroom remodel once where I found that somebody had wired two breakers into the same circuit! If you flipped the presumed breaker off the circuit was still powered up by the other breaker. Needless to say, that was a "shocking" discovery for me! Anyway, it sounds like your fuses are doing what they are supposed to do--they are blowing as soon as you install them because you still have a problem. And, that problem may be in the breaker box itself. So, rather than continue to waste fuses you need to have a professional track down the actual problem, which may be a short to ground, or corrosion in the box, or bungled wiring in a circuit. The blowing fuses are a symptom of the problem, not the actual problem. If you are a renter, then this is something your landlord should be taking care of for you.
You might be referring to a hybrid thing that was introduced in later years. It's basically a breaker disguised as a fuse. It's screws in like a fuse, but it really acts as a breaker and can be reset.
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.
I am having an issue with my microwave and stove and washer and dryer. Non are running but they keep tripping on and off? Any idea why? The fuse is not burned out. Of I unscrew it and put it back on it will work but trip on and off. Help.
I think I need some more detail. You mention the fuse "tripping" rather than "blowing." Do you have a screw-in style fuse base with a breaker style switch built in? Or, is it a regular fuse but you mean to say that the electrical service cuts in and out without blowing the fuse? Probably you have a loose or marginal connection inside the box or in the circuit somewhere if you are losing power without blowing a fuse. You mention a stove and a dryer, both of which are presumably 240 volt circuits. It is possibly to have one "leg" of that service fail, which will prevent the device from running. It's also possible to have an issue with the electrical service delivered to the house if the service entrance is loose or if a transformer nearby is failing. I'm afraid there's not much I can diagnose from a distance, so you may need to have an electrician come in and take a look at the box.
Hi John, question I have a fuse panel in my garage looks like it was signed off in 96' when garage was built. Looks like all new Romex wires. I have 5-15 amp fuses that controls different lights and outlets. And I also have 1-20 amp that's not wired, I'm looking to run a 120 volt 20 amp welder. What should be wire size 12g ? And I will have one dedicated 20amp outlet. Is there anything else you think I should do ? And since it's for a welder do I need a certain type of 20amp glass fuse, slow blow ? Or something like that.
I'd be surprised if somebody installed a fusebox over a breaker box in the 90s. Maybe the box was there and the stickers from the 90s indicate a re-working of the box? Anyway, to answer your question, you can use a 20amp fuse with 12 gauge wire. However, I would encourage you to think twice about your welder! The small 120v welders are almost useless and I can almost guarantee you'll wish you went with a 240v model. The cost of the welder itself isn't that much more but you'll get far better ability for metal penetration and for duty cycle. If your fuse box doesn't have room for the 240v breaker, you can easily add a box to the side just for the welder. Before you do anything, look around on youtube and in forums for welder advice, and I think you'll come to realize that 240v is the way to go.
@@enduringcharm yeah John, that's what they did maybe they just had it laying around. I'm not welding anything big, so I think what I need it for the 20 amp should be good enough. Just looking to add a dedicated outlet just for this 110 wire feed welder. If need be that I need my bigger welder I could always run off my generator. But I'm just tinkering around with this little welder. Thank you for getting back to me
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.
Thank you for your video, but i have a question, i have a similar fuse box( panel) in my place, just bigger, and i have them all 15 amp ,120V, how can i connect two of them together to get 20 amp 220 Volt( i know we can ), of course from inside,..i do have two empty circuit there , and i know i have to use 12 gauge wire for whatever want to use from the new circuit, ( i do not want to change the whole thing to breaker panel yet ).
240 volt circuits are made from two 120 volt feeds. Residential service includes two 120v ""hot" feeds, plus a neutral and a ground. For a 240v circuit you have to include one of each of the 120V hot feeds. You'd have to examine the physical layout of your fuse box to see how your two hot feeds are allocated, but they are often arranged on opposite sides. Even though this is about breaker boxes, you may find parts of it helpful: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kCRzEOqeRdw.html
if you have two open spaces and feel comfortable you cld feed small sub panel or if you really feel comfortable you cld see if your existing panel has the lugs at the end of buss bar and just get a new panel and us the old one as a disconnect and j-box. if you really dont understand concepts plse seek a pro good luck
The fuse amperage is related to the gauge (size) of the wire in the circuit, nothing else. for example, a 15 amp fuse is required for 14 gauge wire. A 20 amp fuse may be used if you have 12 gauge wire. The design of the circuit--how many receptacles it has, how far the run--is done in the original installation. Circuits designed many decades ago are often insufficient for modern use because we have so many more items to plug in now. Code requires special dedicated circuits in kitchens now, as another example. So, what you need for your circumstances depends on what the circuits are feeding and what wire gauge is installed.
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, a fuse box can be replaced with a modern breaker box. How big a job that will be depends on the physical layout of your wiring, the condition of your wiring, whether you have grounds or not, how many circuits you have and how they are designed, etc. You need an electrician onsite to examine these factors and give you an estimate. Sometimes it is almost plug-and-play, other times there is a lot of new wiring and rearranging that needs to be done.
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.
Ok I have one of these most of my fuses are labeled 30 green or red ones but I have clear glass ones too I can’t tell the amp on these please help I need to replace them
Hello, i live in a 3 bedroom 1 bath house and have one of these old fuse boxes there is 6 30 amp fuses in there and only one keeps burning out ive replaced it like 4 times and it it only last about 24 hours before it burns out agian. Anyway i think the reason that it burns out is that when that fuse burns out the oulets and light of all 3 rooms and the kitchen don't work are all those rooms running on that one fuse? And if so how do i fix it? Thanks in advance
It's unlikely that all of those fuses should be 30 amp capacity. More likely is that those circuits are wired for 15 amp or possibly 20 amp capacity and somebody put in the higher amp fuses out of ignorance or in an effort to stop them from constantly blowing. But, that is dangerous. As for the circuit and fuse you have trouble with, it is blowing because it is overloaded or because there is a problem like a short. This is even more concerning since it is a 30 amp fuse, when the circuit probably should have no more than a 20 amp. I would HIGHLY recommend having a licensed electrician come take a look. He or she can sort out why there seems to be so many areas on one circuit and can give you a quote for upgrading to a modern breaker box or at least distributing the electrical load more evenly.
