Originally Posted by
Jerry Peck
The main thing I see which would need to be checked and verified would be that what used to be "service equipment" and is now just a "fuse panel" needs to make sure that neutrals are isolated from ground.
many of the old fuse panels which were designed as service equipment had no way of isolating the neutrals from ground (no need to when it was "service equipment").
That's a good question. I made the assumption that there was originally a fused disconnect ahead of that fuse panel, which is what we'd normally see here. I don't test for isolation of the neutral except by visual, and would you take a resistance reading for that?
Sure, I would recommend replacement too, that's what home inspectors do.
Write up what is wrong (and check the neutrals in that old-but-no-longer service equipment fuse panel) and recommend replacement to correct everything and put everything in a nice new enclosure where it can all be taken care of properly. Besides, if insurance companies up there are like they are down here, your client most likely WILL NOT be able to get insurance with that breaker panel, which is the kicker to kick start the replacement of it all.
I was inspecting for the owner in this case. We had a long discussion about this, and he admits he should have done diff, but just didn't know better. Yes, it will all have to be upgraded for the new owner, unless they pay cash and skip the insurance.