Home Electric Service?

[Little6pack]

Just looking at my fuse panel is there a way to tell if I have
200 amp or 100 amp or 60 amp service?

Or should I go out to the electric company meter & read the stats?

The outdoor meter has 200 amp stamped into it? would that mean my sevice is 200 or maybe 100??????

 

[DavzGN]

Go to your breaker box, and see if the Main breaker is 60, 100, or 200 amp. Normally it is at the top of the breaker box.

If you have fuses, you would have to check for the main fuses

My old home had 60 amp service but a 200 amp breaker box. the Main came into a normal 70 amp breaker instead of the 200 amp main breaker at the top of the box.

 

[whitehot84]

It's very unlikely that you have a 200amp service with fuses. Most likely a 100a. Probably no main either.

 

[turbot2112]

if you have fuses it might even be a 60 amp service. how old is the house.

 

[Little6pack]

The main box has 3 large dark plastic inserts above the fuse panel. The very top one has a handle.

The house was built in 66

I called a few electricians seems like nobody gives free estimates anymore. $89- to come out to look & quote a job.
Boy I am in the wrong buisness!

 

[whitehot84]

That's whack. Pretty soon you will have to put a depoit down on a new car before they will tell you the price.
I've been an electrician for 35 years. I'm still going to tell you to go to HOME DEPOT and get a new panel set. It will have breakers and everything with it. You will have to pull the meter to cut the power but then all you do is change the box. Keep track of the wires that go to the fuse and the ones that go to the ground/neutral bar. You should also run a new ground wire to your water line.
I will emphatically deny that I said any of this and this thread will self destruct in 15 mins. Good luck.

 

[salvageV6]

Most fuse panels were 60's unless it's a big house or was upraded at some point.

How many fuses total are there? How are they laid out in the box?

If you upgrade to 100 or 200 amp. service with breakers the electric company will most likely have to rewire your feed line from the pole to the outside of your house.

Don't pay for an estimate.

Usually word of mouth is a good way to get someone to do a decent job at a fair price.

Won't be cheap if you hire someone that's for sure.

 

[Little6pack]

I count 16 fuses 8 in each row.

Yeah I called the electric company to ask them to check my account to see if my house was ever upgraded with new line in from street. Broad said we can give that info. I said what if I need to upgrade. She said an electrician would know by looking at it.

I do see 2 electrician company tags affixed to the box. I called one & no longer in business.


As for doing it myself & I FU_K it up then my insurance company won't pay a claim if I mess up.. But if a licensed guy does it then they have possible recourse.

 

[Bweavy]

Take the load off the panel.In other words turn everything off.Go to the fuse box with a flash light.There should be a metal handle & plastic that plugs in up top.Pull straight out.There will be fuses behind it.2 of them to be specific."Normally" they are the original & will be 60's max.If you look on the box itself it will have a UL listing to tell you the max amps of the panel.
The Meter amps just tell you what the meter is rated for.No need to upgrade unless your blowing fuses or adding an electrical load to your house.They've been there since 66 with no problems so far.If you do upgrade the service panel you will need to get the local utility company to upgrade the service loop (feed). In Md you get caught installing a larger panel without a permit or tamper with BGE's meter or service you can get a $5,000.00 Fine.
Just remember what you can't see can hurt you LOL!

 

[Little6pack]

Originally posted by Bweavy
.No need to upgrade unless your blowing fuses or adding an electrical load to your house.They've been there since 66 with no problems so far.

bweavy, That is exactly how I feel. I have been in house 2 years & blown 1 fuse.
Everything otherwise works fine.

I am worring about all this because of stupid insurance coverage.

Lawyers & insurance people I would like to flush them all down the toilet along with realtors

 

[turbot2112]

as far as being safe fuses are a lot safer than a lot of the older breakers out there(federal pacific). at least when its suppose to blow it does. damn i wish i could get paid to do estimates up here. like bweavy said, dont worry about it unless your doing work on the house like an addition or kitchen or something. youre probably looking at 1280 to 1480 to upgrade to a 200 amp service, at least thats what i get here in jersey.

 

[Little6pack]

Because the market is WHITE hot up here the phone estimates 1500 to 2k.

If I have had to do an addition I would sell & move less hassel than having construction debris & crew around for months.

My bro just did an addition to his house. He kept telling me
it was only gonna be 60k YEAH RIGHT.
30k more later his house still suks.

 

[Pronto]

What do you expect with your brother's house? Him + lazy wife and the sage advice of the Big Toe= loony bin. As far as the electrical issue did you call other agents to see what they have to say? Easiest thing is to switch insurance. I'm glad I got rid of the fuse box when I did my addition years ago. It added to the total cost of the project but now I'm much safer in reguard to electrical fires potential.

 

[turbot2112]

1500 to 2000, now thats what it should be down here.

 

[Drew L]

Electricity is not a hobby. Hire a proffesional. Good luck. Drew

 

[Sleeper]

I just had a friend go through this, and his insurance company were not going to renew his policy if he didn't upgrade. (They are getting very strict {here anyway} about code for fire regulations. (Bedroom Arc fault breakers and kitchen bathroom GFI stuff. Properly grounded receptacles, No knob and tube, no Aluminum, etc)
He went to the city for a permit, I did his service (I used to work as an electrician) had it inspected, and the insurance company came by and approved it. It basically took us a Saturday morning to do the service, and a few hours a day, here and there, to do some changes. (Plug and light wise)

My advice is to try and find a retired Electrician who is willing to do it for cheap. (They usually enjoy the company, teaching and a good lunch ) and you buy all the materials, do all the running around and grunt work.
You can sometimes find these old "sparky's" in Home Depo, chewing the fat with the electrical guy, or ask the electrical guy if he knows of anybody who works for cheap.
Just spread the word around. Somebody will come out of the woodwork.

Paul