On Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:45:27 -0700 (PDT), Evan
wrote:

On Oct 29, 9:32Â*pm, wrote:
I'm thinking mabee it's time to replace my old fuse panel with a
breaker panel.
Â*Problem is, the new panels are not even a close match to the old
panel. The existing panel is surface mounted with the main switch/fuse
on the left, with the power feed coming in from the back in the lower
corner. All the "load" wires come in the top. They come out through
the plywood service board and then enter thepanel within inches. This
does not allow much flexibility.

The closest I've found so far is a Schnieder StabLok panel, but I
would need to mount it sideways. No problem with the main breaker as
it would be oriented on up, as required by code. The feed would need
to come in through an elbow through the bottom of the box instead of
the back as the new panel is significantly smaller.
Â*I can make all this work - but then half of the load breakers are
upside-down. Don't know if that is an issue here in Canada - aparently
it is not allowed in the USA. I guess I could always restrict myself
to half capacity (use a 40 circuit panel as a 20)

The only problem I can forsee is some know-it-all home inspector
seeing the FPE on the panel and demanding a future buyer replace the
dang thing because early FPE StabLok breakers got a REAL bad name in
the USA (rightly or wrongly). We will likely be selling in the next 5
years or so (which is the MAJOR reason I'm even thinking about
replacing the panel in the firstr place.

It is clear that this project is beyond your skill level...

Au contraire my friend

First you are looking for a panel with an identical layout to the
one you have installed now... -1...

Second you had not thought at all about removing your present
fuse box guts and using it as a junction box, extending all of
the existing wires through conduits to a new circuit breaker
panel installed next to the existing one, then obtaining a piece
of sheet metal of the proper thickness to correctly cover
the old fuse box...

Not an option Not enough space, and besides that it would look like
heck as well. Would sure turn off any future buyer.

Then there is no fusing around with any of the old wiring
removing them from the old panel and installing them into
the new one, old wires sometimes lose their flexibility and
it would really suck to have to trace circuits back and
install new home runs or have to work with many junction boxes
out and away from the panel...

Not a chance. The wire is in VERY good condition. And I've done a LOT
of this work in the past. Used to work wit my dad, who was an
electrician, and actually wired this house back in the early
seventies.
Call an electrician to do this for you...

~~ Evan
Even if I decided to get an electrician to do the job I am the one
choosing what goes in and what it is going to look like when it is
done. I know there are lots of ways this can be done that would be FAR
less than optimal. Anything less tha RIGHT, it will stay the way it is
- because there is nothing WRONG with it the way it is. In 30 years
the only fuses I've had to replace have been from jamming the table
saw or starting the compressor when it was too cold and stiff.

ANd it DOES still have 2 spare circuits available.

I do know, however, that any half-assed home inspector hired by a
future buyer would flag the fused panel. And I've never met a home
inspector that was anything better than half-assed - period. They pick
on small unimportant stuff and miss the big expensive important stuff.

"you don't want this house, there's no dish washer, and the switch
plate in the bathroom is cracked" and they don't catch the bad grading
that causes water to flood into window wells in heavy rain, or the
blistered cast iron drain stack, or even the extention cords, or even
telephone wire, used to wire the rec room. Went through that before we
bought this place 30 years ago without an inspection. I checked this
place myself and no problems I wasn't aware of. I knew the windows
were cheap contractor windows that would eventually need replacing,
along with the roof - I replaced the roof 7 years later, and the
windows starting after 15 years, finishing this year.