Fuse Box Question
I recently found this in the fuse box of a condo we are purchasing. It looks like the line on the left side was overloaded at one point. I know basically nothing about electricity. So, any suggestions on next steps (if any) would be very much appreciated. Many thanks!
I recently found this in the fuse box of a condo we are purchasing. It looks like the line on the left side was overloaded at one point.
I know basically nothing about electricity. So, any suggestions on next steps (if any) would be very much appreciated.
Many thanks!
The reason for the burnt feeder is for one reason and one reason only. LOOSE The work was done very poorly and obvious the electrician didn’t care. Yes its dangerous change it.
Nice pictures. I likes it. However, I found http://wireguys.ca on the internet that provides communications and security products.
One thing to never mess with is electric. Get a licensed electrician to look at it. Make sure to have an inspection done, this will surely come up as something that needs to be addressed.
maybe a couple of grand to do it right, but you are going to be hard pressed to get credit for it unless you argue that it is a subcode violation ..if you want me to look at it, give me an email @ errol832000@yahoo.com, since i am a contractor as well as a brownstone owner (more like a rowhouse}
eman1234 — thank you. Is this an expensive repair? Just wondering if it is even worth bringing to the seller’s attention before closing and requesting a credit.
i just noticed that it is a chase box,with wiring passing through it to the next floor…nix cutting in a splice box…just cut back the wire and bug on a new sction…a really crappy job…i can only imagine how bad the basement service looks
it looks as though the original installation was shoddy…the lug nut on the left phase was probably not tightened enough, causing the connection to arc and the wire to carbonize… the box will probably have to be replaced or regutted, if you want it done right…in addition,you will probably need get a splice box cut in below the panel so that a new riser section can be spliced in to replace the carbonized section of wire…while you are at it get rid of the wire nuts and replace them with bug nuts, since wire nuts in the panel box is a code violation
thanks. I was a bit concerned about the cable on the left that attaches to the bottom of the box. It looks like it had melted at one point and it is secured with a different type of bolt. At any rate, I will have someone qualified look at it.
This is called an electric service panel, and from what I can see you have 12 double-pole breakers. The set of 3 cables coming from the bottom knockout on the bottom-right (the hole) is called the service entrance. In other words, these are the cables through which the power comes from. They comes directly from the utility companies electric grid.
Now, in modern electric installation you have 2 phases (aka hot cables) and 1 neutral cable. To simplify, the hot cables are for the incoming current, and the neutral for the outgoing current. This way the current has a way to come back to where it comes from.
The 2 cables from the service entrance going to the bottom of both columns of breakers are your hot cables, and the one on the right-hand side with the white tape is your neutral. In my opinion the white tape was put to identify this cable as the neutral cable, since neutral cables in an electric installation are usually white.
There is no traces of sparks, or black marks in your service panel, and if a something is overloaded that would be the hot cable, not the neutral. So it’s unlikely that there was any instance of “overloading” here. Although marks can be cleaned up, mind you…
Anyway, It’s hard to tell from a picture, but I wouldn’t be overly concerned at this point. Yet, you may want a closer inspection done by someone familiar with electrical installations; just to be safe.
Good luck