ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area When did they quit using fuse boxes n US residence

OK, back down memory lane, I can't recall if the mini-breaker was edison based only, or came as a S-type.

Working within the older inner cities, fuses used to be 'king'. One EC I worked for back in '70s had barrels full of edison base fuses, with the majority being 30 amps.

Fused resi is for all intensive purposes gone in the twp I work in.

John,

I too use to have buckets full of 30 amp fuses. I could never give them away fast enough. In my 1 town, I haven't seen many fuse boards around, however the other town I have still has lots of them.

the 'ol main, range & 4 wadsworth

i wish i had a nickle for every one of these i've changed out here.

and there's a world of 'em still tickin' along here too!

sometimes i think i'm doin' biz in the land time forgot

~S~

crap, image won't post....c'mon, that's a thing of nostalgic electrical beauty , kinda like those old Ridgid calendars.....~S~

{Steve, you got the original image?
If so send me a PM with a link to it, I can sure post it up.}

You are right...after doing some research I found this is indeed a 60 amp fuse box as indicated inside. Those black bakelite boxes pull out and there's cartrige fuses in them. Underneath 2 of the 3 cartridge fuse holders are 4 edison screw in fuses.

As I later learned this is actually now a sub panel for the house, as there's a breaker box outside the home that controls the water heater, dryer, stove, a/c, furnace, etc....and this fuse box inside controls all the wall outlets and ceiling lights.

I bought a house built in 1971 that had a 200a fuse panel with S adapters in it. (aluminum wire too)

I was young and dumb, the cheap price blinded me. I didn't even notice the fuses until I blew one. Fortunately the sparky left a couple spares.

1970's electrical catalogs had fusible panels listed, when they finally disappeared I cannot say.....

i don't think the farmers out here have quit....~S~

There is nothing in the code that prohibits installing a fuse panel or aluminum wire today as long as you use the new alloy wire CO/ALr devices and S adapters in the fuse box.

Getting an insurance company to cover it will be another deal.

Where are you going to find AL NM cable? From what I have heard nobody is manufacturing it & although one can find stashes of NOS (New Old Stock) AL NM, it's not 90 degree C insulation so it could not be be used IMHO. I would think that AFCI requirements would have made a fusible panel a no-go in residential applications.