58limited
Well-known member
I haven't had time to read all of the responses, so I'm responding to the original post. I had similar problems in college. I rented an old run-down farmhouse that had a whopping four fuses (not counting the 230V breakers for the stove and water heater), but I was able to work around that and rarely blew one. There was a small fuse box inside that had two push breakers, when one blew you just pushed it to reset. The other two were modern breakers located in a box outside.
My current house, built in 1936, has the old screw-in fuse panel as well as an extensive breaker box in the garage, obviously an upgrade - a 70 amp breaker powers the original box and the rest of the breakers power anything that was added at a later date. I have dropped several outlets and phone lines down the walls myself, adding a few more breakers. The main breaker outside is 200 amp. The original wiring should be replaced, it is cloth and falls apart if messed with too much, but it is in conduit so as long as I don't have to disturb it I plan to leave it alone for now. When I decide to change the light fixture in the guest room, I'll have to replace the wires in that room - I looked in the ceiling box and it will be a mess to disturb. The ceiling boxes are the junction boxes for each room, if I have to rewire one I'll have to rewire the entire room. I've already had to rewire the breakfast area. I'll rewire the house some day, just not in the near future.
My current house, built in 1936, has the old screw-in fuse panel as well as an extensive breaker box in the garage, obviously an upgrade - a 70 amp breaker powers the original box and the rest of the breakers power anything that was added at a later date. I have dropped several outlets and phone lines down the walls myself, adding a few more breakers. The main breaker outside is 200 amp. The original wiring should be replaced, it is cloth and falls apart if messed with too much, but it is in conduit so as long as I don't have to disturb it I plan to leave it alone for now. When I decide to change the light fixture in the guest room, I'll have to replace the wires in that room - I looked in the ceiling box and it will be a mess to disturb. The ceiling boxes are the junction boxes for each room, if I have to rewire one I'll have to rewire the entire room. I've already had to rewire the breakfast area. I'll rewire the house some day, just not in the near future.