fuse box help

[dankohzee]

Jeeze, I really don't want to have to call an electrician. I blew something in my fuse box. I have a fuse box and a circuit breaker box. There are no breakers kicked in the box. The round fuses in the fuse box appear to all be working, but what about the cartridge fuses? I have 2 60 amp cylinder fuses which appear to run "everything else" in the house because when I pull them out, everything that isn't already out, goes off (sorry, really tired and trying to make sense). I also have 2 30 amp cartridge fuses. When I pull these out, nothing goes out that isn't already out. To me, this means the cartridge fuses, or one of them anyway, is blown. I don't have a voltage tester.

 

[joe fresh]

hey bud i was gonna help you out but those old systems got me messed in the head so i dont wanna give you bad advice...


for best and accurate info i would PM rives or iron lion...they would help you for sure both sparkys, so thats your best bet


Edit:...in my area houses that have those type of boxes are old, and so is the wireing, usually the "old wiring" that is acompanied with those boxes in my area are of poor insulation(like a paper insulation) and are made of aluminum and not copper(copper is much better, more efficient and does not heat so much), so might not be good for continual load(at least not enough to trip breaker or pop a fuse imo).....just a heads up....

 

[blazeoneup]

If you don't have a voltage tester to test out whether or not there's a voltage coming from the suspect cartridges then all you can do is what you have done.

If you've disconnected the 30 amp cartridges and nothing changed or went off that wasn't already off then I would start by replacing those cartridges. I'd expect one of those 2 cartridges are your problem.

Have you tested the dryer? One of those 30 amp cartridge fuses should be for the dryer, If one of those are for the dryer you wouldn't have noticed anything shutting off unless the dryer was turned on when you disconnected the cartridges.

I would try and follow the line from those 30 amp cartridges and see where they go. One probably goes to your dryer if that is the case, make sure the cartridge is hooked back up properly and check your dryer to make sure it's working. This should help narrow down which one of those 30 amp cartridges went bad. My guess is only one of those are bad. If you can verify one of the cartridges go to the dryer and you can verify the dryer works when the cartridge is connected in the panel, that will rule out that cartridge.

It would be worth the money spent to just go purchase a voltage tester and find out exactly which cartridge fuse is bad. That would be the quickest way to find the problem.

Joe fresh brings up a good point.

 

[dankohzee]

Yes, its something I need to have around, but I had just gotten back from wally world to get fuses and forgot to pick one up. So I ran back to the wally world and got one, along with the 30 amp cartridge fuses. I changed them, and nothing. WTF.

 

[joe fresh]

man i really really really am hoping its not melted wires in the wall, causing short...happened to my dad back in the day, wire in the ceiling overheated and insulation melted, the wire frictioned on something and short out the wire, we had to change out the , this was one of those aluminum paper insulated wires....


i would def pm rives and ask for him to look at this thread... here is his profile page https://www.icmag.com/ic/member.php?u=136396

 

[blazeoneup]

Yes, its something I need to have around, but I had just gotten back from wally world to get fuses and forgot to pick one up. So I ran back to the wally world and got one, along with the 30 amp cartridge fuses. I changed them, and nothing. WTF.

If you picked up a voltage tester I would start testing and find out where you lose voltage at.

First test the main and make sure the panel is getting proper voltage. After verifying you are getting proper voltage at the main I would work my way down testing each circuit.

If you get proper voltage through-out the main panel and cannot find a loss in the panel you may want to think about hiring an electrician to trace down the problem. You can do it yourself if you felt the need but considering the situation and the fact your asking for help I would assume your better off hiring an electrician to find the problem.

As stated by JOE old panels are usually indicative of older lines which may have less quality insulator. Either way I would check the panel for proper voltage, if you can verify that the voltage is good thru-out the panel I would think about hiring an electrician to trace down your problem.

 

[dankohzee]

Thanks for the help guys. The thing that was throwing me is that the cartridge fuses on the one pull out weren't hooked to anything. I had to have my electrical guy come over and he got me squared away and taught me how to use a voltage tester to test fuses. I'm having the entire box upgraded as soon as they send me an estimate. Whats happening is the breaker panel has no main switch. Instead, the old fuse box is used as the main switch--at least, thats how I understood his explanation.

jOE, you're right about what you said in your rep comment. I need to spend much more time around here.

Preciate your help too blazeoneup. I ended up running back to wally's and getting a voltage tester, only to find I didn't know how to use one, hahaha! Jeeze! Enrolling in a basic electricity course ASAP!!!! YOur advice was right on and if I had known how to use my voltage tester, your input would've put me back on line in no time.

 

[blazeoneup]

Thanks for the help guys. The thing that was throwing me is that the cartridge fuses on the one pull out weren't hooked to anything. I had to have my electrical guy come over and he got me squared away and taught me how to use a voltage tester to test fuses. I'm having the entire box upgraded as soon as they send me an estimate. Whats happening is the breaker panel has no main switch. Instead, the old fuse box is used as the main switch--at least, thats how I understood his explanation.

jOE, you're right about what you said in your rep comment. I need to spend much more time around here.

Preciate your help too blazeoneup. I ended up running back to wally's and getting a voltage tester, only to find I didn't know how to use one, hahaha! Jeeze! Enrolling in a basic electricity course ASAP!!!! YOur advice was right on and if I had known how to use my voltage tester, your input would've put me back on line in no time.

Cool glad you got it sorted. I was about to post a little guide to help you test the voltage. I wasn't sure you needed that kinda help because your initial post mentioned you not having a voltage tester or multimeter to use for testing. I made the assumption you knew how to use one.

Glad the electrician sorted the problem for you and showed you how to use that voltage tester or multimeter.