On Sun, 6 Dec 2015 18:06:06 -0500, "Ralph Mowery"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .

A fireman told me I probably saved that building, and possibly the
tenant too. A few more minutes it would have been in flames. I never did
find out what was done, but I'm sure the inspectors made them rewire
that whole building. (Or condemned it). That wiring was a disaster.
Amazingly, that ONE fuse was ALL the power for that entire apartment.
The other 30A fuse apparently powered the lower apartment. That's all
there were, TWO 30A fuses.


The wiring almsot sounds like a duplex I lived in for a while. It was nice
but built before ww2. It had 2 fuses in , both rated for 15 amps. There

Reminds me of where I lived for 10 years, in Brooklyn. Also 2 fuses,
both 15 amps, but both supplied from a 20 amp fuse in the basement.

For a 6-room, 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom apartment in what was, before I
got there, a luxury building, built in 1930. Cedar closet in every
apartment, parquet floor in the living room, 9 or 10 foot ceilings,
dumb-waiter going to the basement from every apartment (with doorbell
style bells to call the concierge or for him to call you), and there
had been a doorman, switchboard operator, elevator operator, and
concierge.

were 2 bed rooms ,a living room and kitchen and bath.
Just had to be careful what I had on at a time. Did not have any of the plug
in things like toster ovens or a coffee pot as I did not fix coffee there.

I was able to run a full-size washing machine (and probably could have
run a gas dryer if I had one) and eventually I got a small AC that ran
okay at night, when the tv's were off, and I used an electric
rotisserie a few times, but not when washing clothes or using the AC.
I used to use a small electric broiler all the time, that is just
before dinner, so it never bumped into the other devices.

The landlord had put in Fustat sockets so that the only fuses which
could be inserted were the ones he wanted, 15a upstairs and 20a in the
basement.

I only blew the basement fuse about once a year, and after the new
landlord put a lock on the basement button in the elevator, I removed
the 4 brass screws holding the big brass escutcheon on the wall of the
elevator, ran lamp cord parallel to the key switch, so that the cut
edge of the cord just reached the bottom edge of the escutheon. When
I wanted to go the basement, I'd push the basement button while
holding a quarter or any coin against the end of the wire. I only
did this when none of the neighbors would notice.

Half the time I was there, the LL was a slumlord, and didn't provide
enough heat. I would unscrew the hasp that locked the furnace room
(which wasn't put on correctly or the screws wouldn't show) and check
out the furnace room. Then I'd put the hasp back on, spit on my
fingers and wipe the screws, so they woudl rust by morning and any
scratches my screwdriver made wouldn't show.

When I checked 10 years after I left, the hotwire for the elevator had
been removed.

I moved out in '83 and I think it was rewired after 2000, maybe around
2010, after a new landlord took over.