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The insurance inspector came today.
He found nothing that should disqualify us from getting our insurance renewed.
Except...
We have a fuse box instead of a breaker panel.
Apparently some companies freak out about that.
I think we're grandfathered because of the build date of our house.
I hope you get that ruling about being grandfathered in writing from somewhere. Around here (MI) I had the eminent pleasure (not) of finding out that because I added on to the original structure, magically, all systems had to be brought up to code. Yep, I had the fuse panel, worked just fine and never had a problem with it in the 5 years before the construction of the addition. Being handy (and an engineer), I did the code research, bought a new breaker panel of correct size and all the necessary breakers, then called in an electrician friend to do the wiring (I could have done it, but am not licensed and the township protects the trades). In any event, buying my own material and paying for an hour of labor/service saved me quite a few bucks. Oh, and the township forced me to remove all my battery smoke alarms (perfectly functional) and replace same with hard wired units. Think about it, if the power fails and a fire occurs, only 3 units have battery backup (code) where before ALL 11 units did and did not require shore power. Go figure. That I did myself, running 16 gauge romex everywhere in the attic and basement was SO much fun (not). Also, the alarms have to have their own non shared breaker on the aforementioned panel.Sigh! Yeah, yeah, basement? What is this thing you speak about. Heh.
ReplyDeleteIt's not hard changing it out if you have to.
ReplyDeleteIIRR the entire new panel at Lowe's was about $250.
You'd probably need to get with your power company depending on where the secondary main cutoff is.
Making exception to unsigned comment.
DeleteThe panel we need is $400 plus the breakers to populate it, another $200-400.
The problem is we have to have the power company cut us off then an electrician come verify our work before the power company turns us back on.
Another $300-500 for that and at least a day without power.
Doable, but very irritating.
That was me, I forgot I had to put y name on it...
DeleteThat 200 amp panel came with the breakers.
I keep forgetting that I live in the country with a good Co-op electric.
They installed their new (250Amp) panel at the pole and I just trenched to the house so I could get rid of the old panel and go underground to the house.
I put my new panel on the house and used the old on as a junction box.
And THEN- when I reran my power to the well, I found out why I was always having so much trouble with that breaker. Whoever ran the new septic hit the underground Romex and made a direct short to clay, just enough amps to burn one leg of the 220 feed.
Will they accept screw in circuit breakers that replace the fuses or do they require a replacement panel. These were around in the 70s when we bought an old house.
ReplyDeleteThey're likely going to accept the panel as is. The house was made in 1969 and our box is rated above the minimum required back then. There's strong evidence the original owner was an electrician who nitpicked the electrical during construction.
DeleteWe have my inlaws house two doors down to compare with and our wiring is MUCH better than theirs. Well, it was, we've had electricians out a couple of times to fix things up.
I think that if they refuse the panel, they will mandate a complete replacement.