Electrical Enthusiasts Will love this: I just started a new state contract that involves some very old homes in Pasadena, Calif.
In one I looked at today the main fuse panel was recessed into the wall with a glass front door.
Inside all the buss bars, fuse folders & KNIFE SWITCHES are mounted in the open on a beautiful piece of marble ! All wireing enters & exits through holes in the marble. (Yep, knob & tube)
This is one of the neatest things I think I've ever seen. Will try and get a picture of this beauty to put on my site.
Have any others ever ran across something like this ?
Regards Mike b. (AKA Byter)
Posts: 1052 | Location: Sun Valley, Calif. :^þ | Registered: 06-03-02
That is beautiful workmanship. While an old one I saw was build on bakelite, it had lead wire fuses between binding posts. Thanks for the picture. Like the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words."
Do you own it now or is it still on site Byter?
Posts: 1587 | Location: Cleveland, OH. US of A | Registered: 06-03-02
I have been in the electrical busineess since I was 18-years old. That was 56-years ago. I have seen lots of power panels but this one is a beauty.
This power panel must have been in a mansion or close to it, if it is in Pasadena. I noticed, however, that there is no Main Fuses. Strange!
Even stranger, there are 28 fuses which means it was about a 200-amp panel. That was unusual for its day, However, if it were a large mansion, anything would be a available at a cost.
If you are rewiring the house, which is why I assume you are there, in the first place, I would most assuredly cut this out from the wall & save it for posterity, probably in a museum where everyone could see what a beautifully piece of art it is.
It must have taken a great deal of time making this beauty with Marble & have cost a bundle in its day when it was installed.
[This message was edited by donaldekliros on 02-05-03 at 06:54 PM.]
Posts: 696 | Location: St. Louis Missouri, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
To Don: Currently this panel is being fed from a newer 125A Service panel on the exterior of the house. The old weather head is still in place next to this so there was probably some kind of main disconnect there. (Gone now ) While you're correct about 28 fuses, actually this equals 14, 120Volt circuits that center buss is the neutral. (Fused neutrals ! ) My company is just doing routine maint. This bunch of homes that sit on a freeway Right-of-way. The State has been blocked from building the freeway because so many of these homes have "Historical Signifignce"
To Dwight: Knob & tube is a wireing method where the open wires are mounted to insulators fastened to the frameing members of the building. (KNOBS) Where the wires need to be ran through a wall or whatever, a porcelain tube is inserted through a drilled hole & the wire ran through this. (TUBE) Re. the eyes, I stole them myself from a site that WOW posted somewhere. So you're more then welcome to them as far as I'm concerned.
Regards to all, Mike b. (AKA Byter)
Posts: 1052 | Location: Sun Valley, Calif. :^þ | Registered: 06-03-02
I do not know that it would be any harder to get insurance for a house that has good Knob & Tube wiring than any other wiring, however because of its age, your insurance would probably be more expensive.
Since Knob & Tube wiring was installed in houmes in the 1920's, the wire obviously would be brittle or carbonized over the 80-years that the wire has been installed, due to age & the heat in the attic where most of the wiring was done.
KNOB & TUBE WIRING TODAY WOULD DEFINITELY BE A FIRE HAZARD.
I would advise you, if you have a house with Knob & Tube wiring, to have it removed & install some modern wiring.
Posts: 696 | Location: St. Louis Missouri, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
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