# Fuse Box Mess



## applebear (Feb 16, 2015)

It was suggested I share these pictures on this thread [original thread http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18716]. I had a contractor that was suppose to have an electrician lined up to replace my fuseboxes [and flip the one in shower to the outside of the home], but he bolted before the jobs were done. I am told it was probably a blessing he did from the 'work' he did do, even though it's hard to see now.

The people here have been very kind and generous with helping me try to fix my mistake on who I hired, and I am open to any suggestions or ideas. The contractor tried several times to say he would do the work and have this mysterious electrician sign off on it [I don't know anyone who would do that], but I said no every time and he eventually showed his true motives.


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## nealtw (Feb 16, 2015)

My question is, can anything be done here to these boxes with out updating.
Anybody want to donate some supplies?


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## hornetd (Feb 17, 2015)

I'm not asking for the street address but if it is in my area and a genuine hardship case then I can put in the time since I am semi retired.  

--
Tom


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## nealtw (Feb 17, 2015)

hornetd said:


> I'm not asking for the street address but if it is in my area and a genuine hardship case then I can put in the time since I am semi retired.
> 
> --
> Tom



That is a real nice offer.


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## hornetd (Feb 17, 2015)

Christmas in April, Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, or some similar organization would assist with supplies once the need was verified.  

--
Tom


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## applebear (Feb 18, 2015)

I am located in NW Iowa Hornetd...probably not near you, but thank you, the thought is very generous. I haven't heard of most of those organizations you mentioned, but will look them up and see if any are in area. We tried habitat of humanity...got a hold of one branch that said we had to contact the one that covers my area, and can not get their attention at all. 

We do have habitat of humanity stores a couple/few hours away, not sure what they carry.


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## hornetd (Feb 18, 2015)

applebear said:


> I am located in NW Iowa Hornetd...probably not near you, but thank you, the thought is very generous. I haven't heard of most of those organizations you mentioned, but will look them up and see if any are in area. We tried habitat of humanity...got a hold of one branch that said we had to contact the one that covers my area, and can not get their attention at all.
> 
> We do have habitat of humanity stores a couple/few hours away, not sure what they carry.



Yes that would be a bit of a commute from Maryland.  

--
Tom Horne


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## nealtw (Feb 18, 2015)

applebear said:


> We do have habitat of humanity stores a couple/few hours away, not sure what they carry.



People donate used building materials and contractors drop off extras left over from jobs. All kinds of stores will clean out old inventory or when the go out of business the donate. To bad it's so far away, sometimes you can meet people that will trade work for something they need help with.


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## nealtw (Feb 21, 2015)

applebear said:


> It was suggested I share these pictures on this thread [original thread http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18716]. I had a contractor that was suppose to have an electrician lined up to replace my fuseboxes [and flip the one in shower to the outside of the home], b



The picture of the main wire coming to the house, Is that the bathroom and could it be that the wire goes to the box in the bathroom first?


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## applebear (Feb 21, 2015)

If I'm understanding your question right, that wire is leading down into a box and then a wire leads down from that into the house somewhere [I assumed basement but I can't swear to anything]. It doesn't appear to go into the bathroom box, as the window it's by is the room behind the bath.


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## nealtw (Feb 21, 2015)

The picture you posted in post 10. Is that the meter box?


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## slownsteady (Feb 21, 2015)

Perhaps you can make a rough sketch of the floor plan of your house. You mentioned earlier that the bathroom was on an outside wall. So this box would be around the corner from the wall that the bathroom touches? On the floor plan, show the location of the boxes.


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## nealtw (Feb 21, 2015)

slownsteady said:


> Perhaps you can make a rough sketch of the floor plan of your house. You mentioned earlier that the bathroom was on an outside wall. So this box would be around the corner from the wall that the bathroom touches? On the floor plan, show the location of the boxes.



My concern is the box in the shower is a switch, is that the origanal main. Those two fuses are not enough to power the other box. There are two wires coming from the meter box outside. So the question becomes, how much wire is running around the house without fuses or breaker to protect people and house.


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## applebear (Feb 21, 2015)

I will go get a shot of the entire backside of the house tomorrow and see if I can draw in some arrows and/or lines to give a better idea how things are laid out.


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## applebear (Feb 23, 2015)

Ok got a picture of the back of the house. The bottom fusebox is directly to the left of the cellar door when you walk down...it is free hanging off a beam, which I remember the guys who came to look, saying it wasn't really suppose to be like that and were going to try to build a base for it against the wall. 

I 'assume' the shower fusebox lines up pretty close to that one, though I don't know for fact. I measured approx 16 inches from that big window [above cellar door] to the wall, and directly behind that wall is the shower and fusebox [which is sitting on the wall facing outside].


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## slownsteady (Feb 23, 2015)

So, if I understand correctly; the bathroom fusebox is directly (more or less) behind the meter. Would it be the same height as the meter? 

Neal, it looks like the main line goes to the basement first, which would be good, I think. But is it possible that it goes to the BR fusebox first?

Applebear; have you ever had to replace any fuses?


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## nealtw (Feb 24, 2015)

I have never seen that meter box before, theremaybe fuses in the box below the meter


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## applebear (Feb 24, 2015)

Slow, I *think* it's close, but maybe not exactly behind. I'm not really sure how to determine that...could see if I could borrow neighbors tape measure and see if it can be worked out by bathroom window from both inside and out.

I have had to def replace fuses in the shower fusebox, and believe we have on the bottom one before too. It took us a long time to figure out there was even a fusebox in the shower, as the box was painted shut and I never had the courage to mess with it until a couple/few years back when we couldn't figure out why we couldn't get power back on to a back room and one part of the house [it's like it wires two different sections]. I had always just assumed it was a crappy box they stored shampoo in. hehe

Neal, there are literally two fuseboxes if you look at the first pictures...both have fuses in them that seem to each control different parts of the house. 

Would you think the one in the bathroom could still be flipped to outside of house?


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## nealtw (Feb 24, 2015)

The power company will have to pull the meter, so I don't think it should be touched until you are ready to have all the electrical fixed up.


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## applebear (Feb 24, 2015)

That's a given, I was just asking if it was a possibility to flip in general. Fusebox will require city involvement [inspectors, power cut, wire ran, etc], permits, etc...so no worries there.


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## nealtw (Feb 24, 2015)

So until that is done, anyone doing anywork on the house has to know that there are wires in the house that are not protected with steel pipe and fuses and the path they will follow thru the house.
That would be the wire to that fuse box and the one in the basement.
People damage wires all the time and cause all kinds of problems but with these wires a mistake could be deadly.


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## slownsteady (Feb 24, 2015)

The reason I had asked about the fuses is because if you are comfortable enough to replace fuses, you should be able to map the circuits in the house. I don't know the scope of your electrical knowledge, so I apologize if I over-explain.
By pulling one fuse at a time, you check to see which lights and outlets are affected. Hopefully, each light and outlet is protected by a fuse (it will likely be several for each fuse). That would also tell you (and us) if one fuse box is upstream of the other. [((it's handy to think of electricity as flowing - like water - from the power company downstream to each light in your house))]. If one box loses power when the fuse is pulled from the other box, then we know which one is the master. It's possible that both fuse boxes work independently of each other, so that is something that we also want to know.
This will help anyone who assists you with electrical matters.


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## hornetd (Feb 24, 2015)

applebear said:


> That's a given, I was just asking if it was a possibility to flip in general. Fuse box will require city involvement [inspectors, power cut, wire ran, etc], permits, etc...so no worries there.



Since the fused disconnect in the shower is a National Electrical  Manufacturers Association (NEMA) Type 1 (Indoor) enclosure it cannot be simply moved to the  outside wall.  It will need to be replaced with a NEMA Type 3R Raintight enclosure.  The best remedy here is to replace the fused panel board in the basement and the fused disconnect in the shower with a single Lighting and appliance panel board that is suitable for use as Service Equipment.  That would be located on the wall in the basement and would replace both of them.  In that way all of the service entry conductors will be on the outside wall of the house until just before they enter the Service Equipment Enclosure and there would be very little chance of there getting physically damaged.  When anything goes wrong there would be only one place to check and since the new equipment would contain circuit breakers rather than fuses there would be no chance of installing too high a fuse rating on a circuit.  

If the house is on well water you may want to consider having customer owned pedestal or yard pole mounted Service Equipment installed so that the home can be de-energized without cutting off power to the well pump that you would need to fight a fire until the fire department can reach you.  That is a very important precaution in rural properties that are not served by a water utility.  A garden hose off of a well pump's pressure tank will knock down a lot more fire than any fire extinguisher that you could afford to buy.  

--
Tom


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## applebear (Feb 25, 2015)

The shower fusebox controls the 2 back bedrooms and one wall [the side that was torn out]. Which I always found odd, as they are on total opposite sides of house.That's about all I know off hand. I assume the other box covers everything else, but couldn't tell you which controls which or if at all.

From my understanding Hornetd, that was kind of along the lines of what was going to be done. I don't understand electrical stuff much, it took me awhile to understand you can't simply 'just get rid of the shower box and tie everything down to the basement one." Though I was told you could at least make it so it all could be controlled from the bottom one, if I was understanding right. The shower box was going to be put it a weather box regardless of being flipped or not, because well...it's in the shower. 

Now I have no clue how things will be done, other than I plan to print off some replies here and talk in more detail if that point ever comes and I can replace it. I hate it's in the shower, especially in it's present condition. It's very loose, and poorly connected as it is. I am really disappointed in myself for not just sticking to who I had choose out in the first place to do the job, I let the contractor give me a lot of hope and in same breath take it away.

I have a fire hydrant directly on my property, no wells and water should work from home with no power.


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