Fuse Box Mess

So until that is done, anyone doing anywork on the house has to know that there are wires in the house that are not protected with steel pipe and fuses and the path they will follow thru the house.
That would be the wire to that fuse box and the one in the basement.
People damage wires all the time and cause all kinds of problems but with these wires a mistake could be deadly.

The reason I had asked about the fuses is because if you are comfortable enough to replace fuses, you should be able to map the circuits in the house. I don't know the scope of your electrical knowledge, so I apologize if I over-explain.
By pulling one fuse at a time, you check to see which lights and outlets are affected. Hopefully, each light and outlet is protected by a fuse (it will likely be several for each fuse). That would also tell you (and us) if one fuse box is upstream of the other. [((it's handy to think of electricity as flowing - like water - from the power company downstream to each light in your house))]. If one box loses power when the fuse is pulled from the other box, then we know which one is the master. It's possible that both fuse boxes work independently of each other, so that is something that we also want to know.
This will help anyone who assists you with electrical matters.

applebear said:

That's a given, I was just asking if it was a possibility to flip in general. Fuse box will require city involvement [inspectors, power cut, wire ran, etc], permits, etc...so no worries there.

Click to expand...

Since the fused disconnect in the shower is a National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) Type 1 (Indoor) enclosure it cannot be simply moved to the outside wall. It will need to be replaced with a NEMA Type 3R Raintight enclosure. The best remedy here is to replace the fused panel board in the basement and the fused disconnect in the shower with a single Lighting and appliance panel board that is suitable for use as Service Equipment. That would be located on the wall in the basement and would replace both of them. In that way all of the service entry conductors will be on the outside wall of the house until just before they enter the Service Equipment Enclosure and there would be very little chance of there getting physically damaged. When anything goes wrong there would be only one place to check and since the new equipment would contain circuit breakers rather than fuses there would be no chance of installing too high a fuse rating on a circuit.

If the house is on well water you may want to consider having customer owned pedestal or yard pole mounted Service Equipment installed so that the home can be de-energized without cutting off power to the well pump that you would need to fight a fire until the fire department can reach you. That is a very important precaution in rural properties that are not served by a water utility. A garden hose off of a well pump's pressure tank will knock down a lot more fire than any fire extinguisher that you could afford to buy.

--
Tom

The shower fusebox controls the 2 back bedrooms and one wall [the side that was torn out]. Which I always found odd, as they are on total opposite sides of house.That's about all I know off hand. I assume the other box covers everything else, but couldn't tell you which controls which or if at all.

From my understanding Hornetd, that was kind of along the lines of what was going to be done. I don't understand electrical stuff much, it took me awhile to understand you can't simply 'just get rid of the shower box and tie everything down to the basement one." Though I was told you could at least make it so it all could be controlled from the bottom one, if I was understanding right. The shower box was going to be put it a weather box regardless of being flipped or not, because well...it's in the shower.

Now I have no clue how things will be done, other than I plan to print off some replies here and talk in more detail if that point ever comes and I can replace it. I hate it's in the shower, especially in it's present condition. It's very loose, and poorly connected as it is. I am really disappointed in myself for not just sticking to who I had choose out in the first place to do the job, I let the contractor give me a lot of hope and in same breath take it away.

I have a fire hydrant directly on my property, no wells and water should work from home with no power.