On Tue, 04 Mar 2014 22:43:37 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 04 Mar 2014 15:35:04 -0500, dgk wrote:


I have a 1950 era rowhouse, with 100 amps and fuses. New York City. I
haven't had any issues with the power and all the fuses are 15 amps.
There is on 240 volt circut for a large AC unit which is just two of
the 15 amps combined somehow.

Is there any need to upgrade the electric before selling the house?
I've had some people tell me that 200 amps and circuit breakers are
now required. I've hardly ever blown a fuse but can do so by running
the toaster oven at the same time as the microwave. Not always, but I
avoid doing that. In fact I replaced that fuse with a circuit breaker
dressed up as a fuse, which screws in but doesn't need to be replaced
if it pops.

There are two 100 amp fuses in the fuse box (big guys), so perhaps
there is already 200 amps coming in and just 100 are in use?



There is nothing wrong with fuses. In fact I could build a house
tomorrow morning with a 100 amp fuse box as long as I put S type
adapters in each socket.
Your real issue is that you only seem to have one 15 amp circuit
feeding the kitchen. That is far more than simply swapping out the
panel.
If you are in an old neighborhood with a lot of houses wired like
yours, list it and see how it goes. If you need to upgrade to sell the
house, think about it or just discount the house based on a couple of
estimates that you lay on top of the deal. Most people think they can
beat an estimate if they shop around.

The funny thing is that husband in the family that owned the house
before me (childhood friends of mine) was an electrical engineer and
didn't trust circuit breakers!

Next stop is to clean the place up and invite a broker in for a chat.