Fuse box

[rhiOrion]

Mods- not sure if this is better off here, family safety, or in TAO... feel free to move it if you think it's better elsewhere.

My DH and I are trying to buy a house, and we just found a house that we like, but we're concerned about the electrical system. The house is from 1961, and still has a fuse box. It does have a breaker box under it, that we assume powers the bigger items such as the new HVAC unit.

None of the outlets have the third hole, though my realtor says they may still have grounding wires and would be a simple fix.

I was just curious what you BTDT types may think of this. Who still uses a fuse box? Do you feel safe with it?

My grandparents house burned down when I was little due to a wiring issue, so I tend to be pretty paranoid about these issues!

TIA!

[SleeplessMommy]

Find an independent home inspector. Take pictures of the wiring situation (fuse box) and talk with a good local electrical contractor. You will want to check for aluminum wiring, upgrade to modern breakers and grounded outlets. Find out what that will cost you!

[MissMommyNiceNice]

We've put lots of three prong outlets into our home. The ground wire is there, just the people we bought from thought that using thousands of adaptors & extension cords was way safer than actually replacing them. For like $1 each.

Get someone out to look at it, it could be an easy upgrade, or a way to talk down the asking price b/c you want to replace it.

[Tizzy]

DH (Electrician) says you can plan on having to re-wire the house. A lot of insurance companies will not issue a new policy with fuses (and clearly no proper grounding) and possibly aluminum wire. Even if they did insure it, they will want the wiring replaced - and for good reason.
Depending on the cost of living, it could cost anywhere from $10k and up.

If you really want this house, do spend the money on an inspection and make sure they know what they're talking about. Some inspectors will only look at what you see at the panel and just "assume" everything else that is behind plaster/drywall. When in reality, somebody could have spliced everything and "updated" the service/panel but left old deteriorating wire in the walls.

[rhiOrion]

Ahh, very good to know. Aluminum wiring was definitely a concern of ours. This house is at the VERY top of our price range, so I'm thinking we shouldn't get our hopes up about it. Too bad, too, since it was walking distance to a great interactive museum, a huge park with a dog park, and a rec center with an indoor pool!

A few months ago I would've been sad, but after months and months of house hunting, I'm starting to get used to it!

Thanks guys!