Fuses Vs Circiut Breakers?

Hi,
Iam looking at buying a couple of 3 family homes in mass for rental
income.Some I've looked at have 60amp fuse panels for each unit?
Others have circut breakers.What are the disadvantages of fuses vs breakers,and how expense is it to change over to breakers?
Are fuses safe to have?These homes are all around 1920 or so?
Thanks

 

I see no one has jumped on this one so I give it a try. It can be an endless subject and there was a thread very similar not to long ago. There is nothing inherantly wrong with fuses. They are fine and still used in some new applications but not often in homes. People can install the wrong fuse by using bigger one instead of finding the problem. The biggest problem is that service size limited and with the growth of modern appliances electric usage has risen so fast that it has become overloaded. Air conditioning wasnt in huge use, no microwave, entertainment centers, hair dryers and any other unlimited appliances you can envision. If the homes have gas appliances that takes huge loads off of the system. Water heating, range and cloths drying are large consumers of electric. I have friend that still has 60 A fuse box for service but he has gas everything. If you see fuse panel hooked to fuse panel to panel chances are that you are at the max. Doesnt mean its not safe, just that likely there has been stuff mercilessly added and there certainly isnt room for more. That isnt really a black and white answer, but there isnt one.

 

if you plan to finance the purchase, the banks will want the electricity upgraded to at least a circuit breaker panel with all new breakers...

i know because when i bought my house i found that the prior service was 60 amp fuse and all the cheap sellers did was upgrade to breaker service... they couldnt even go to say 100 amp service... why i dont know, they could have gotten more for the house if they did..................

this is in new york..........i dont know if banks out of the city practice the same rule, you would have to call your bank and find out.......
good luck.......

 

NJ is the same, 100Amp minimum circuit breaker upgrade for the major insurance carriers.

 

Yes, I didnt adress the bank or ins people in the post,,, and it you going to upgrade might as well not do it twice,,, go to 200 right off and be done. That really adds to resale also.