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Cousin has an issue in her old house. 60 amp plug fuse panel. The 'fridge, and kitchen light, plus the laundry room ceiling light flicker, then go out. Nothing else in the house is affected. I pulled the 20A plug fuse last night and a continuity check showed it was good. I temporarily installed a 15A slow blow plug and everything was still not working. Reinstalled that 20A plug fuse and that stuff lit back up. Although there may have been an occasional flicke3r, all was well until tonight when it flickered a few times and it went out again. While the fuse was out last night, I did a voltage check from the center pin to the outer thread cup in that fuse panel and read 36V! This is old and has enough coats of paint on it that it just about hides the panel cover edge! I suspect it may be a loose terminal screw inside the box. I'm reluctant to mess with it now in the winter time. At least the furnace is working! (And the tv....) Although there is a main for an electric stove, there is no electric stove. So the six plug fuses in there supply the rest of the house. There has been no known problems with anything else in the house. How should I approach this? My thoughts are to razor knife the paint around the panel cover to free it. Would the protector plate around the plug fuses come free with that panel cover? Again, I suspect a possible loose terminal behind that one plug fuse position. I would check all connections for snugness once in there. Anything else I should check for? Of coarse, I'll pull both mains (buss, I'm sure...) before I remove that panel cover.
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flickering lights
why not just change the whole service entrance>?
the cartridge fuse service is way outdated. -
Nobody in the family has funds for that capital investment. They live a bit over a hundred miles from me. Helping them out as much as I can. They both have an extremely limited income. Since the cold weather has hit us here in Michigan, shutting down the house for as long as it would take for a changeover of that magnitude is not feasible right now. At least she has the rest of the house working. Hoping for as safe a fix as I can get at this point. If I can't easily find what the issue is, I'll pull that one plug fuse for now and transfer the 'fridge' to a circuit that's less used. I'll keep away from the3 furnace circuit and the washer/dryer one, too. One back bedroo0m and, presumably the bath, too, may be on their own circuit and I could use that. Will check it out and see just what is on each circuit and go from there.Comment
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entrance
yeah, I know I sounded like an idiot when I suggest that, but that's the way to go!
anyway, getting down to a fix.
the main panel has two pullouts. the one set on the left is the main 60 amp, the right side is the range 35 or 40.
pulling the left one disconnects the whole service and included buss-work.
depending on the type of panel, you could have two plug fuses on the bottom left and two plug fuses on the bottom right.
between these two pullouts is another "sub-lug" screw, one in each center configuration. I'll draw a pix of it.
and the neutral is the bar on the bottom.
use a screwdriver and tighten the center screw of where the screw in plug fuse goes. maybe it'll tighten, maybe it won't. there's a square nut behind the porcelain and below the pitch that insulates the backside of the porcelain.Comment
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panel
here's a diagram of a typical old entrance. upon reading your posting, I saw you have six branch circuits. my drawing only shows four branch circuits. go it accordingly.Comment
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Yes, Hayzee, except for the smiley faces in the center and that there are eight plug spaces, it is the same!
And as for sounding like an idiot....not by a long shot. You share too much to ever be thought of that way.
Of the eight positions in this panel only the lower center two are empty. I will follow your suggestion and snug all I see in there after I get that panel lid off. I did not notice if the center lug of the plug socket had screwdriver slots. But I did see the questionable socket did have what appeared to be evidence of arc. I'll be checking it out in about two weeks when I'm back out there.
I was also considering something else. Since it's only the one circuit, and that it affects all that's on that circuit, it could well be either the hot or neutral wire anywhere from the main to the first outlet on that circuit. It could be as simple as a loose connection in the wall. Is this possible? That there was only 36V when I checked that plug fuse socket got me concerned. Hence the reason for pulling that fuse to not allow use. Nothing important there anyway.
Thanks, HayZee, for the help you always provide.....Comment
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entrance
all well and good Bob, but those "smiley faces" are not smileys. They are the bail handle you use to pull out the "pullouts!"Comment
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Ahhh...my humor got lost in the typing......Comment
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