I live in a 32 year old house with a fuse box with 3 "main" fuse blocks, each containing two 350a cartridge fuses. After a recent lightning storm, the insulation on the wires running from 2 of these blocks has a short length slightly swollen and blackened, but not melted off at all. I could just snip off a couple inches of the wire and restrip it, but I can't shut off power to them because one of the fuse blocks will not come out. I have yanked fairly hard on it, but it only moves 2-3 cm. I can wiggle it sideways a bit, so it isn't absolutely welded in there. I don't remember when I had this block out before, so I can't say for certain the condition was caused by lightning. The stuck block feeds two 10/3 round cables, with the two red leads attached to the screw on one side, and the two black on the other side. The lightning also caused shorts in 3 of the plug fuse circuits, and I'm not sure if they run off the stuck fuse block, or not. I don't have a main shut-off lever; I might have to pull the meter, or get the utility company out. I would appreciate any advice on this. Thank you.
- posted
20 years ago