anyonme sell brand new main fuse panels\?>

[hallerb]

are they legal and does anyone still make them? no one around here sells them

[John Grabowski]

I don't know why you would want one, but it may be possible to have one made. In big cities such as New York I have found that there are fabricators that can put together a number of combinations and configurations. Check the Thomas Guide to locate a company.

[JGolan]

[dpb]

Obviously you've not been watching the sidebar thread on replacing existing fuse panel... :)

For Haller, as far as I know NEC has not "de-listed" them. Of course, local codes can and often do have their own additional restrictions.

I'm not sure if there are any manufacturers still supplying them for residential distribution or not; they certainly are available for industrial applications.

That they are essentially obsolete for new residential construction is, of course, yet another distinct issue from whether an existing panel requires replacement.

[dpb]

He doesn't, either... :)

You, too, have obviously not been following the thread on replacement. :) The point of the question was to try to get additional ammo for his gun that replacement is universally a_good_thing (TM) to the point of being essentially mandatory irrespective of anything else but that it is a fuse panel as opposed to a breaker panel.

[David Starr]

You can get 250 volt rated main disconnect panels, but I doubt very much that fuse panels for branch circuits are still available. Large electrical supply houses should stock them, of be able to get them. Brands are probably Square-D, GE, Cutler-Hammer, Allen-Bradley. Legality - I don't know.

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[maradcliff]

Why you would want fuses instead of breakers I do not understand. But, if you find an older electrician, he'd likely have some of them and be happy to part with one for a few bucks. Or find a demolition company and get a used one. Most do not go bad from normal use if they were not in a wet location. Paint the exterior and it will look new.

Of course you know the price of fuses these days are high. Replace 2 or 3 fuses, and you could have bought a breaker. Being and old timer, I have never seen where fuses were bad, as long as the proper size was used. Existing fuse boxes are fine as long as they are still in good shape, but why anyone would install one new, makes little sense.

The worst thing about fuses was that half the boxes in the world have oversized fuses. Not too long ago I did a little plumbing repair for a local store. I went in the basement and noticed that the fuse box had all green fuses. Yeah, 30amp fuses feeding all #14 wires. I mentioned this to the owner, and he said if they use smaller fuses they blow all the time. I explained to him the danger of fire, damage to the wiring, and other problems, I made sure he was aware of the dangers. When I finished telling him, he said he was not worried about it, because they have used 30A fuses in there for the last 50 years. So much for safety. Thats the biggest downfall of fuses. The fusestats were an improvement but they cost more and tended to get stuck at times. When the cheaper brands of breakers sell for less than $5 each, why even bother with fuses.

[hallerb]

=

Yeah EVERY friend of mine with fuses has those nice green ones on 14 gauge wire.

my point is that fuses are functionally obsolete and panels should be replaced whenever possible

[Tom The Great]

imho:

Probly not a market for them. Especially for residential market. Since the manufacturer would have to defeat the stupidity of some home owners using pennies. ;)

tom @

[gfretwell]

Fuse panels are legal but they have to be installed with type S adapters and that precludes pennies or oversize fuses

[Tom The Great]

imho:

The s fuse adaptors don't get added till actually wired. Since the manufacturer doesn't know what each circuit amperage is, just the overal rating of the panel.

So this could be a cause for abuse.

tom @

[me]

If they made 100A fuses, people would use them......

[CJT]

Those same people would replace circuit breakers, too.

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm remembering a post on alt hvac, years ago. Someone at the business noticed that a 5 amp fuse blew about once a week. he replaced it with a 30 amp fuse, figuring it would last six weeks. A week later, several components were fried instead of the 50 cent fuse.

[hallerb]

A bozo customer of mine trying to get more speed out of a mnachine I service went from a 5 amp glass fuse to a 30 amp and burned out 2 motors.

when I caught them I changed to a different motror control board that limited current to 5 amps no matter what they did:)

idiots are everywhere, apparently peopl;e are afraid to install over sized breakers|?