Letter 22009

Replacing fuses with circuit breakers  

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I want to replace the old fuse box with an update circuit breaker electrical box; question 1 is: at the present time the power from the meter goes to the 100 amp fuse and from there to the house service fuses. Do I have to do the samething? What I mean by that is if I have to have an 100A breaker before going to the service breakers. Thank You.

Franco C.
- Franklin Park, Illinois, USA

We hesitated to print this question because it doesn't seem to have much to do with metal finishing. But then we figured that some operators of finishing shops might be doing the same thing you are, and we didn't want you to burn your house down waiting for an answer, so we printed it :-)

The answer is you must retain the "main" breaker for two good reasons. First, so you can turn everything off without fooling with a whole panel full of breakers; second, because you must protect the wiring to the breakers.

This is a good job for an electrician rather than the homeowner for several reasons, but consider this: if the fuses are not blowing, there is no convenience advantage to circuit breakers, so save your money. If the fuses are blowing, there is a problem with you wiring--and circuit breakers are absolutely not the equal to fuses for protecting your house from the dangers of bad wiring.

Ted Mooney, P.E.  finishing.com Brick, New Jersey

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