On Nov 2, 4:08*pm, "John Grabowski" wrote:
Our 55 year-old house still runs on fuses . We have never upgraded to
a circuit breaker . We hardly ever blow fuses (it's been years
actually). We even run our heater and air conditioner off an
individual fuse box installed 25 years ago. We have an electrician
coming out to give us an estimate to upgrade to a circuit breaker, but
since we've made the appointment we've heard from two people who say
fuses are better and why bother spending the money if we don't have
any problems. *Thoughts ?

*Circuit breakers are more convenient to reset than fuses. *You may have
limited space for additional electrical circuits. You can install ground
fault or arc fault protection in a circuit breaker panel. *The perception
that the electrical system is old and faulty by potential buyers. *Even if
you have no immediate plans to sell, at some point your house will be put on
the market if not by you then your heirs. *If no improvements have been made
over the years the property may just be purchased for land value only and a
new house will be erected.

A house built in the fifties may not have a grounded system of wiring. *Two
prong receptacles are very outdated.

I replaced the only fuse in my 50 year old house with a pushbuttton
fuse. It is in a little box on the power feed to my furnace, right
above the actual furnace. My local hardware store had pushbutton plug-
in breakers to replace various size fuses. But, I agree that unles
you are planning to sell your house, I would leave the fuses alone,
they are safer in my opinion.