New electric in co-op
My 1930’s co-op in Brooklyn Heights uses fuses. The bathroom, living room and bedroom are all on one 15 amp fuse. The kitchen is on another fuse. There are two other fuses that don’t seem to be in use. At least I can’t figure out what they are for. I know not to use the…
My 1930’s co-op in Brooklyn Heights uses fuses. The bathroom, living room and bedroom are all on one 15 amp fuse. The kitchen is on another fuse. There are two other fuses that don’t seem to be in use. At least I can’t figure out what they are for. I know not to use the hair dryer or iron when the A/C is on but lately I have been blowing the fuse even when not much electric is in use.
The kitchen fuse is 30 amps. Can I put a 30 amp fuse where there is a 15 amp now? I don’t want to burn down the place! If I want to have the whole apartment rewired do I need board approval?
maybe you need landmarks preservation approval.
Thank you for all the great info.
You will need to replace all of the wiring within the apartment much sooner than later. Board approval is not an issue. Cost, living through the work, and so on are more important. Hopefully you didn’t invest too much in other cosmetic work and then discover your wiring is at least 40 years obsolete. Sadly I run accross that a lot.
Most of those 1930’s apartments had between two and six fuses in use. Often the fuse panels only came in four and six space configurations, and that might explain your two mystery fuses. If you have a one bedroom chances are only two fuses are in use.
Since the wiring is usually all #14 and rarely #12 the largest fuse you should have is a 20A. Probably whoever lived there before you got tired of the kitchen fuse blowing and put in a 30A. That is dangerous as the wiring itself is now the weakest link.
For now you can remove the existing fuses, insert S-type bases into the Edison sockets and install resettable fuses by BUSS or equavalent. They act like mini-circuit breakers and eliminate the need to replace fuses until you are ready to upgrade to circuit breakers.
Finally, the biggest issue might not even be the wiring within the apartment, but the size of the service to it. You probably have a 20A or max 30A service which will need to be upgraded as well.
Most building that went co-op in the 1980s had to go through the adequate wiring program to get financing. That resulted in new 40A services, breaker panels and usually two or three new dedicated circuits per apartment. Your building sounds like an original co-op or early convert which is why the wiring is untouched.
Here’s a good primer on the fuse box…
http://homerepair.about.com/od/electricalrepair/ss/fuse_types.htm
If you have the newer “S type” fuses, you can only screw in the appropriate amperage. If you have the older ones, I would make sure what amperage is the maximum or you are likley to start a fire.
Yes, they usually are but it has been a long time since I’ve seen a fusebox!!!!
What kind of wire does it use???? cloth covered, plastic covered or metal sheathed??? Also, is it aluminum or copper wire?
15 amp uses 14 gauge wire
20 amp uses 12 gauge
30 amp uses 10 gauge
If its aluminum it goes up one…15 amp uses a thicker 12 gauge wire. It’s easy to read the gauge off of the wire if it’s fairly modern plastic but I suspect it is not.
Thanks Dave. Are the sockets labled as to whether it’s 15, 20 or 30 amp? Maybe someone put a 15 amp fuse in a 30 amp socket?
Do not put a 20 or 30 amp fuse in a 15 amp socket. You will most likely cause a fire.
You need the recommendation of an eletrician to assess what you are able to do but your coop will likely require a licensed & insured electrician and permits.
It sounds as if the building requires a much larger service and I suspect most of the wiring is not up to code. It won’t be cheap if it’s more than 2 units and requires bx cable.