Fuses have been around since the beginning of electricity in the 1880’s and were used in homes until the 1950’s.
Some great things about fuses:
- They turn of the electricity faster than residential circuit breakers when there is a short circuit
- They don’t malfunction and create a shock hazard
In the 1950’s circuit breakers began to appear and they had some significant advantages over fuses
- They could be reset after they were “tripped” unlike fuses that had to be thrown away
- Unlike fuse replacement the homeowner is not exposed to any energized electrical components when “resetting” a circuit breaker
- It was not possible to accidentally screw-in the wrong size fuse
- No more trips to the hardware store looking for fuses
- No more putting a penny in the place of fuse just to get the power turned back on “in a pinch”
There are many many homes in the Seattle area that have fuse panels like the one pictured above. We recieve calls for upgrades for various reasons:
- It is time to sell the house and an old fuse box hurt the homeonwer’s chances of getting top dollar
- The other day the homeowner told us that State Farm insurance was requiring the electrical upgrades to be performed within 60 days of the home purchase
- There is a home remodel and no more room in the old fuse box
Whatever your reason may be feel free to contact us for more information or with any questions you may have.