Thread: Hi from Ohio Question on Copper fuse panel

I just registered, new to the site. Looks very informative . Well I am an insurance inspector, independent contractor. I have some areas of the state that have very well maintained older homes, and have inspected them for about 6 years. I took the attached picture yesterday, and this is a new one for me.
I was told by the owner it is an electric panel, but is copper fused and quite large. There is a normal breaker panel and a small fuse panel also in the home. Does anyone have any familiarity with this type of copper fuse panel? I would like to clearly represent it to the insurance company and learn more about it.

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How old is the house - from the 20s, 30s or maybe as new as the 40s?

That is an O-L-D fuse panel, and there is another not-quite-as-old fuse panel at the upper left, looks like Edison base fuses which would be safer with Safe-t-fuse adapters and fuses, and another old knife switch on the right (probably also fused), with something else at the upper right.

Was there a deadfront cover behind that door, or is what is shown in the photo exposed when you open the door?

If insurance companies there are like they are here in Florida, they will not insure that home until the fuse panels are replaced with new panels.

This thread has a similar panel in it
http://www.inspectionnews.net/home_i...isconnect.html

Very old by today's wiring standards, but relatively clean for that age. Fuses are good protection, but come with challenges later addressed by codes. Today 240 volt circuits have common trip circuit breakers where that panel could loose one side / leg / hot while the second leg remains hot. Another change is the grounding which was virtually non-existent then and a mandate now. The other problem commonly found w/ old fuse panels is the increased demand for more and more power induced over-fusing and illegal tapping to get the power not legally available in those older panels.