What amperage is this service? And is this correct?

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Erico

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Sister in law asked me what would be involved in an upgrade to breakers so I had her send me a picture of what is there currently.

This sure doesn't look kosher to me the way it is set up currently. Namely the 30 amp fuses. Those should be 20s or 15s no?


I can't make out the writing on the mains but this looks like 60 amp service with a sub panel for the a/c and dryer. I can't make out the breaker sizes on the sub either.

She's been there for 10 plus years so anything, including fuses, were installed by previous owner.

The goal would be to upgrade to 100 amp service and consolidate to one box.

But the immediate concern is those 30 amp fuses with what looks like 12 and 14 nmc exiting the box.

Should I be concerned or am I missing something?
 

Tjbaudio

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I think your gut felling of those 30's being way to big is spot on! Years ago I had bought a house that had a similar fuse panel except only 4 of the screw in fuses. 60A service, the two big cartridge fuses were 60A main and 40A stove. The 4 small ones had 20's and 30's. Only 2 of the small fuses were wired in and they had 30A on 14 awg aluminum. One 30A fuse was running the entire house other than the stove. The wire on that one was burned BARE 3 inches back! I found other wiring faults that haunt me to this day!

Typically the wire was rated for 15A and had the right fuses. Over the years they blew fuses, put a bigger one in. Or even worse put in a penny under the fuse. Wires burned up, modifications happened, things got worse.

I can't tell from the pics what is really going on. Need a wider shot and better info on where the "big wires from the meter" are and what the breakers read. Also need more info on the dwelling. Looks like an open meter socket to the right. My gut says the original construction did not have AC and when the AC went in so did the breakers. Too many possible combinations to figure out what is the main breaker and what else could be a fire waiting to happen.

My advice is fine a good local electrician and have the existing system inspected, labeled and diagrammed. Based on that info have the service replaced with the largest main panel the existing service wires will support or larger if the load calculations warrant it.
 

Stuff

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Most of these small pull out main boxes were 60 amp but a few were 100 (60 on main paralleled to 40 on range pull out). Meter box and cables feeding it probably need replaced as well.

Agree that getting a real electrician on site to review is best option. Get three quotes.
 

Jadnashua

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Depending on what is in the house, even 100A may not be sufficient. If there's a plan to eventually remodel the kitchen, that can require numerous new circuits. Same idea with a bathroom, you can no longer 'share' the circuit in the bathroom with other rooms in the house, so new circuit(s) may be required. It's best to have enough space in the new panel to accommodate those things so you don't have to redo it again at a later time. Unless the utility has done some upgrades over the years, the drop into your house probably would need to be replaced with a larger gauge cable. Also, keep in mind that redoing this means bringing up the panel, at least, to current codes, and that means GFCI and probably AFCI.
 

Erico

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I think your gut felling of those 30's being way to big is spot on! Years ago I had bought a house that had a similar fuse panel except only 4 of the screw in fuses. 60A service, the two big cartridge fuses were 60A main and 40A stove. The 4 small ones had 20's and 30's. Only 2 of the small fuses were wired in and they had 30A on 14 awg aluminum. One 30A fuse was running the entire house other than the stove. The wire on that one was burned BARE 3 inches back! I found other wiring faults that haunt me to this day!

Typically the wire was rated for 15A and had the right fuses. Over the years they blew fuses, put a bigger one in. Or even worse put in a penny under the fuse. Wires burned up, modifications happened, things got worse.

I can't tell from the pics what is really going on. Need a wider shot and better info on where the "big wires from the meter" are and what the breakers read. Also need more info on the dwelling. Looks like an open meter socket to the right. My gut says the original construction did not have AC and when the AC went in so did the breakers. Too many possible combinations to figure out what is the main breaker and what else could be a fire waiting to happen.

My advice is fine a good local electrician and have the existing system inspected, labeled and diagrammed. Based on that info have the service replaced with the largest main panel the existing service wires will support or larger if the load calculations warrant it.

It looks like it might be 100 amp service. I've never seen one like this.

It appears to be 60 on one side and 40 on the other.. Not sure where the "range" side goes as she has a gas range. The push button fuse is the furnace - that appears to be the #12 romex (wont be sure till i can open the box). Everything else looks like #14 .

I'm thinking of changing the box out myself. I would pull a permit and have it inspected. The power company will pull the meter.

Demo the old meter socket. Consolidate the a/c and dryer to the main box. Maybe pull a few more circuits where possible (for the refrigerator and one for the microwave ).
 
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Stuff

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Pull the cover off and look. The range pull-out is most likely feeding the 2nd panel.
 
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