Fuse Box Mess

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applebear

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It was suggested I share these pictures on this thread [original thread http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18716]. I had a contractor that was suppose to have an electrician lined up to replace my fuseboxes [and flip the one in shower to the outside of the home], but he bolted before the jobs were done. I am told it was probably a blessing he did from the 'work' he did do, even though it's hard to see now.

The people here have been very kind and generous with helping me try to fix my mistake on who I hired, and I am open to any suggestions or ideas. The contractor tried several times to say he would do the work and have this mysterious electrician sign off on it [I don't know anyone who would do that], but I said no every time and he eventually showed his true motives.







 
My question is, can anything be done here to these boxes with out updating.
Anybody want to donate some supplies?
 
Christmas in April, Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, or some similar organization would assist with supplies once the need was verified.

--
Tom
 
I am located in NW Iowa Hornetd...probably not near you, but thank you, the thought is very generous. I haven't heard of most of those organizations you mentioned, but will look them up and see if any are in area. We tried habitat of humanity...got a hold of one branch that said we had to contact the one that covers my area, and can not get their attention at all.

We do have habitat of humanity stores a couple/few hours away, not sure what they carry.
 
I am located in NW Iowa Hornetd...probably not near you, but thank you, the thought is very generous. I haven't heard of most of those organizations you mentioned, but will look them up and see if any are in area. We tried habitat of humanity...got a hold of one branch that said we had to contact the one that covers my area, and can not get their attention at all.

We do have habitat of humanity stores a couple/few hours away, not sure what they carry.

Yes that would be a bit of a commute from Maryland.

--
Tom Horne
 
We do have habitat of humanity stores a couple/few hours away, not sure what they carry.

People donate used building materials and contractors drop off extras left over from jobs. All kinds of stores will clean out old inventory or when the go out of business the donate. To bad it's so far away, sometimes you can meet people that will trade work for something they need help with.
 
It was suggested I share these pictures on this thread [original thread http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18716]. I had a contractor that was suppose to have an electrician lined up to replace my fuseboxes [and flip the one in shower to the outside of the home], b

The picture of the main wire coming to the house, Is that the bathroom and could it be that the wire goes to the box in the bathroom first?
 
If I'm understanding your question right, that wire is leading down into a box and then a wire leads down from that into the house somewhere [I assumed basement but I can't swear to anything]. It doesn't appear to go into the bathroom box, as the window it's by is the room behind the bath.

 
Perhaps you can make a rough sketch of the floor plan of your house. You mentioned earlier that the bathroom was on an outside wall. So this box would be around the corner from the wall that the bathroom touches? On the floor plan, show the location of the boxes.
 
Perhaps you can make a rough sketch of the floor plan of your house. You mentioned earlier that the bathroom was on an outside wall. So this box would be around the corner from the wall that the bathroom touches? On the floor plan, show the location of the boxes.

My concern is the box in the shower is a switch, is that the origanal main. Those two fuses are not enough to power the other box. There are two wires coming from the meter box outside. So the question becomes, how much wire is running around the house without fuses or breaker to protect people and house.
 
I will go get a shot of the entire backside of the house tomorrow and see if I can draw in some arrows and/or lines to give a better idea how things are laid out.
 
Ok got a picture of the back of the house. The bottom fusebox is directly to the left of the cellar door when you walk down...it is free hanging off a beam, which I remember the guys who came to look, saying it wasn't really suppose to be like that and were going to try to build a base for it against the wall.

I 'assume' the shower fusebox lines up pretty close to that one, though I don't know for fact. I measured approx 16 inches from that big window [above cellar door] to the wall, and directly behind that wall is the shower and fusebox [which is sitting on the wall facing outside].

 
So, if I understand correctly; the bathroom fusebox is directly (more or less) behind the meter. Would it be the same height as the meter?

Neal, it looks like the main line goes to the basement first, which would be good, I think. But is it possible that it goes to the BR fusebox first?

Applebear; have you ever had to replace any fuses?
 
Slow, I *think* it's close, but maybe not exactly behind. I'm not really sure how to determine that...could see if I could borrow neighbors tape measure and see if it can be worked out by bathroom window from both inside and out.

I have had to def replace fuses in the shower fusebox, and believe we have on the bottom one before too. It took us a long time to figure out there was even a fusebox in the shower, as the box was painted shut and I never had the courage to mess with it until a couple/few years back when we couldn't figure out why we couldn't get power back on to a back room and one part of the house [it's like it wires two different sections]. I had always just assumed it was a crappy box they stored shampoo in. hehe

Neal, there are literally two fuseboxes if you look at the first pictures...both have fuses in them that seem to each control different parts of the house.

Would you think the one in the bathroom could still be flipped to outside of house?
 
The power company will have to pull the meter, so I don't think it should be touched until you are ready to have all the electrical fixed up.
 
That's a given, I was just asking if it was a possibility to flip in general. Fusebox will require city involvement [inspectors, power cut, wire ran, etc], permits, etc...so no worries there.
 

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