Thanks!

Interesting. Am I right in assuming that there are no 240V circuits on this panel? It looks as though it's just six single-pole breakers.

Looks as though the feeders here continue to another panel as well.

i thnk that the top 2 are supposed to be for 240 & the insie 2 on the bottom are same case. i may be wrong but have seen panels like this, just hope they were better than the new ones!

Another thought: When did NEC article 240.81 come into effect?

This panel has no 240V loads, just 6
120V circuits. The two on the top are
20A, the other 4 are 15's. There's a
panel in the basement that feeds this one,
and then in turn feeds another upstairs.
Theose other ones have the 240V breakers
for the range and such.

Air tripped eh?

So this is a 70 amp service?

I seem to have heard at one time homes were only 30 amp services...when did they go from 30 to 60? I've heard of 60 amp services....

I believe 60 amp services started coming in during the 1920's when they started grounding the neutral and prohibiting fusing the grounded leg.
I have seen a 100 amp round meter socket, deeper and larger lugs than the 60 with two 60 amp panels connected to it. This was installed right after WW II when alterantive materials were not available.
The 1959 NEC was the first edition to require 100 amps based on calculated load, and / or number of circuits.
There are still twelve 120 volt 30 amp services in operation in my city.
(and I know where they are )
Alan--

Yeah I've ran into a few old abandoned houses out in the country that I think still have their older model fuse boxes....one in particular I think was maybe a 30 amp service....I took a pic but I don't have access to it at this time...but the fuse box was located outside on the front porch just below where the meter once was...I want to say it held 4 fuses, the round light bulb glass style fuses...but I didn't look to see which legs were fused and which were not.

Were homes equipped with 60 amp service centers before the days of electric ranges and electric dryers? Is that when/why the 100 amp came out....because of electric ranges and electric dryers being introduced?

Our old place was wired in 1952, has a 4+range fusebox, 50A main on the pole. Its original wiring is mostly intact. Over the years a range was added (to the pull), and four pony boxes (two pole edison fuses + switch), each for water pump, dryer, water heater, and a baseboard heater (500W though).

1940 NEC:

Minimum Size. Service entrance conductors, including the conductors of underground services, shall not be smaller than No. 8 except for installations consisting of a single branch circuit, in which case they shall not be smaller than the conductors of the branch circuit and in no case smaller than No. 12.

Rating of Service Switch. A service switch shall have a rating not less than that of the fuseholder in series with it. Except by special permission, a 30-amp. switch shall not be used for any two-wire service supplying more than two 15-amp. branch circuits.

(FPN) It is recommended that a service switch have in all cases a rating not less than 60 amp. and a service circuit breaker not less than 50 amp.

A few weeks back, I retired a two-wire service with #8 conductors. It had Stab-Lok equipment, so I assume it dated to the '50s.

[This message has been edited by yaktx (edited 11-03-2006).]