Anyone know what these are called?

Ninja said:

So what will people think of today's building codes 50 years from now? "

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Wireless power transmission is gaining traction in demonstrations as the technology advances and improves efficiencies. We already use many more low power devices and the ability to eliminate or at least minimize batteries can lead to convenient wireless devices of all kinds.

Induction cooking ranges, charging pads (coil) are common place today.

Just need to drop in my personal nuke power plant in the back yard and I'm ready to go off the grid!

Wilderness Woody said:

Just need to drop in my personal nuke power plant in the back yard and I'm ready to go off the grid!

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LOL, reminds me of a Star Trek Voyager episode ("Time and Again") where a planet used polaric energy for household use.

Someone had an issue with a power line and destroyed the planet as a whole.

Tablet computers and 3D "additive" manufacturing and many other things followed the Star Trek "Wow, that's cool" factor"

....I'll pass on the back yard Nukes.

Thank you to all who contributed.

I'll be back to the old house this weekend and I'll tinker more. Last time I tried opening the metal fuse box to see if I can shut down the power if and when I'll do the upgrades but the fuse box door has rusted in place. I may need special tools to pry it open and see what's inside.

Richard Regalado said:

Thank you to all who contributed.

I'll be back to the old house this weekend and I'll tinker more. Last time I tried opening the metal fuse box to see if I can shut down the power if and when I'll do the upgrades but the fuse box door has rusted in place. I may need special tools to pry it open and see what's inside.

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You ought to also check the power source coming from the transmission line to the building. If the building wiring is this antiquated, there is a strong probability the local feed is as well. If possible, I would consider solid tubing for the wire courses instead of armored cable, but then I'm a Captain Caution from way back. Most modern houses (because of so many appliances) have 100 amp service minimum (circuit breakers rather than fuses) and most of the McMansions in my area have 200 amp service minimum with several 220 volt lines (air conditioning, electric clothes dryers, electric car recharging stations.)

Use to have these ceramic electrical insulators at my home. These pictures bring back childhood memories.

Yes, as mentioned its knob and tube wiring. Fortunately it isn't carying the power in my 110 year old house anymore. At this point its generally easier to cut all power to it and run brand new wire and breakers to code although I'm sure not cheap. If your house is that old it likely has many generations of "excitement" in it. Knob and tube, paper and brittle tar wrapped wires, aluminum wires, etc.; all of which are potential fire hazards. I'm no electrician and it isn't cheap but in the end you'll be better off and safer to just pot in a new main box and run new lines. If you can't even get into the fuze box then that wouldn't make me real comfortable.

Good luck,

David

These are the fuse boxes that have latched shut with rust. I ain't touching these. I'm gonna let a professional electrician tinker. I don't have a BCP in place for this.

Richard Regalado said:

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These are the fuse boxes that have latched shut with rust. I ain't touching these. I'm gonna let a professional electrician tinker. I don't have a BCP in place for this.

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This isn't a big deal. Pull the power switch. If IT is rusted open, THEN you need a pro to cut off the power into the building.

I imagine you only want to see what is in place.

Once power is off, use a block of wood as a fulcrum and just lever the box open with a pry bar.

In any event, you should ultimately replace this box with one with breaker switches versus fuses and probably add a lot more separate circuits than you now have. It will be a lot larger than the space for this one.

Although I know how to do all this work, I don't do it myself any more because I'm getting too old to crawl through attics and crawl spaces running conduit and pulling wire. My community does require a licensed electrician to do the final hookup to the power company feed.

If this were my building, I'd run all new wires and install new grounded outlets with strategic ground fault interrupters and bring to a new box before pulling this one. My circuit breaker box looks like this photo

Knob and Tube wiring... Very Dangerous !!! Fire!!!

Richard Regalado said:

These are the fuse boxes that have latched shut with rust.

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Nasty stuff. Look at the connections, upper left; lower right; and barely visible, lower center and upper right. Dangerous if the wire insulation is embrittled.

As to the "pry the box open" suggestion, note that the enclosed switch and fuses only protect downstream. The upstream supply line will be just as old and possibly embrittled. You don't want to risk accidentally applying significant force to that line due to something happening to the rusted box that you didn't expect, i.e. you pry the whole box off the wall before the cover breaks open. You really don't want to rely on the feed-line overcurrent protection provided by the power company. It might be at a much higher current value than a short through the steel box would flow, resulting in unlimited heating and a fire.