I have an old 50's to 60's style circuit breaker and I lost power to half my house tonight.

[Eko]

I believe one of the main fuses in the main breaker may be bad so half of my breaker is working and the other half is not. Can you just pull the big square main breaker out and replace them without needing the power company turning off the power?
Thanks for any help!
Eko.

[sunflowerseed]

1. Yes, you could put the working one inplace

Of the broken one to make sure that is the problem, take the broken one to the hardware store to make sure u get the right one.

[gay texan]

2. Federal Pacific? N/t

[Eko]

5. Yes, it says that on the box.

[gay texan]

19. get rid of that box NOW

Get it changed out as soon as possible. Those boxes are known for starting fires

[Eko]

20. Thanks, Ill call an electrician.

[OAITW r.2.0]

24. If you have a 60/70 entrance, I'd definitely upgrade to a minimum 100Amp Service (or 200Amp) if you have future expansio

The costs between 100A and 200A services are small. Bigger physical box that allows more branches. Do an audit on your typical power requirements now and, say 5 years from now. Will anything change? If not, a 100A box with circuit breakers or GFI circuit breakers are the way to go. Worth the investment.

[RainCaster]

3. Yes, but...

I've done things like that many times, but I have a lot of experience. Not an electrician, just a home owner with 40+ years of electronic design background. If you're not comfortable doing this, get an electrician.

[rubbersole]

4. Could be you've lost a 'leg' of power coming to your home from the power company.

Call the power company customer's service line. To get the 110 volt power to the dark side of your house, turn on the oven (if electric). That feeds power to the half of the panel not getting it now. Nothing 220volts will operate. There will be no problem when power is restored.
It could be your main breaker, but that's kind of rare.

[Eko]

6. One of the GFI's blew on a outlet in the kitchen

Pushed it back in then the light over the sink worked but started flikering and the whole house flikered so I cut it off.

[rubbersole]

7. What happens when you turn the oven on?

(I'm a retired electrician.)

[Eko]

8. Was afraid to try it and lose all the power.

What I have I can get by until tomorrow morning when it's daytime. I've got some of extras of the big big fuses for my main fuse I can pull it tomorrow and replace.

[rubbersole]

9. Good luck 👍.

[Eko]

10. Should I try the oven tonight or just wait till tomorrow?

Cant even get in my car and drive as my garage has a electric garage door. I can get it open but its dang hard.

[rubbersole]

15. Try it in the morning when you're ready to replace your main fuses.

It can tell you if you have a 'short' that's causing the fuse to blow. If all your 110v stuff seems to operate normally, your problem is usually at the main fuses or power company side.

[OAITW r.2.0]

11. Sounds like you might have Bussmann fuses protecting the power legs.

pull the block out of the panel....Probably separate fuses for each of the 110 legs. that create your 220V source. Approx 3" by 3/4 in dia tubes. If 60's or 7o's, they can be easily replaced and probably should be. Replace all of the power fuses. I assume your entrance has 15-30 amp glass fuses for the branches?

[Eko]

12. Correct.

[Eko]

13. That makes sense some,

Garage door, fridge, those could be 220 correct? So those are out. The right side of the box seems dead so prob the fuse for one of the legs is blown?

[OAITW r.2.0]

14. Doubtful. Probably on a branch circuit.

If you have a blown fuse, anything that runs on 220V (stove, water pumps/heaters) will be undervoltage or run strange, if at all.

[Eko]

16. My drier seemed to want to work

It would hum but not turn on.

[OAITW r.2.0]

17. That's a 220V source, for sure.

If it's humming, I think you have a fuse problem on 1 of the 110V legs. It's getting 1/2 the power that it needs to run.

[Eko]

18. That is what I was thinking looking at the schematic.

The leg that powers the 220 also powers the things that are out and its the entire right side of the box. Ill pull the main fuses tomorrow and replace them.

[Eko]

21. pulled the mains and replaced them,

turned on the kitchen light, it and fridge came on for a moment then went out.

[OAITW r.2.0]

22. I think you should probably get an electrician to check your entrance.

Does the stove/dryer work? If so, your problem is now isolated to the branch circuits that control the lights and fridge. While the fridge is usually on a separate branch circuit, it's possible that both are on the same branch. Are there labels for the circuits in the entrance? check for blown fuses; replacing the bussmann fuses may have generated a surge that's blown the glass fuse (If it's a 15A, I'd replace with a 20A glass fuse).

If no joy, a electrician will probably be needed to remove the entrance cover and check the wiring in the box.

Please note, I am not an electrician. I've added lines that required opening the entrance cover to mount circuit breakers, but it's easy to get a shock if you are unfamiliar with the equipment.

[Eko]

23. Yeah, no joy.

[Wonder Why]

26. Garage door openers and refrigerators are not 220V. I have never seen one that was or advertised as such.

Washers - No
Electric Dryers - yes
Gas dryers - probably no
Electric oven - yes
Gas ovens - no
Whole House A/C - yes
Room A/C - no
Wall A/C - possibly
Fridge - No
Standalone home Freezer - No
Most small kitchen appliances - No
Garage Door opener - No
Dishwasher -No
Sink Waste Disposal - No
Electric water heater - yes
Gas water heater - No

[Eko]

27. Thanks, it was more of a problem that anything that took a lot of wattage wouldnt work.

Or voltage? Anyways we got it fixed it seems like.

[Eko]

25. Update on power problems.

Finally got it fixed all the way yesterday. We replaced the fuse box in the house and were still having problems. We ended up replacing the line coming from the power meter and everything seems fine now. Almost a month with very little power. Been using a ice cooler the whole time lol. Thanks everyone for helping!
Eko.

[marble falls]

28. A home electrical system, particularly one out of code, is not a location for on the job training ...

... this is how seriously your local building code officials feel about it: if you use a licensed electrician, he's required to replace it.

If it's a simple thing like replacing a box, if the wiring is more 60s than 50s - it should cost around $500 or so. It'll make you glad you did just in knowing your residence is code compliant electrically, and just knowing you failed the learning on the job aspect can be a medical emergency and/or a visit from the fire dept.

My dad has an irrational lack of fear with electricity and I've told him he is in a casual relationship with electricity. About 20 - 25 years ago I was helping him move the fountain in the back yard. The soil around it was damp/wet. When he reached for the wiring in the box, I asked him if he had de-energized that circuit. He said, "if you don't touch both wires, you'll be OK!"

I said, this is AC and all you need to do is ground it and you'll know how wrong you are. He touched his wire and yelped. I flipped the breaker.

A little later we went into the house for lunch. "Guess what happened to me", he asked my mom.

"You got shocked."
"Who squealed?"
"You did, I heard you clear upstairs."

[Eko]

29. Yeah, paid an electrican and got it inspected.

I work on guitar amps some and know enough to get myself in trouble and am smart enough not to do it.
Thanks!

[marble falls]

30. I've been a Machinist Mate in the Navy, Safety Officer with several companies and production engineer ...

... what I know about electricity is I don't know about enough electricity past "de-energizing" and locking out.

Good man, I really wanted to read more from You!

[Eko]

31. I grew up in a huge Navy town,

Was going to join myself (half of my block and my family was in the Navy and I took NJROTC) till I figured out I liked skateboarding and guitar a bit more and they didn't let you do much of that. Mom didnt like that much. Worked out alright as I get paid from one of them alright now but I still wonder sometimes. I met some awesome and sometimes scary people especially in the 2000's. I also saw a lot of the guys come home from that boondoggle and some that didnt. Met 2 guys that had just gotten back on a boat that I wont name and was selling them some gear, asked them where they were and they said Somalia. They were fit, small and sharp as shit. I know what they were. Not many Navy goes into Somalia on land. Got to be friends with them for a long time. Good guys. Memories, memories, anyways thanks for chiming in!

[marble falls]

32. The two largest air forces on the planet by a long lead? USAF and the USN.

[Eko]

33. Yup, chuckled at that.

[4dog]

34. How can you talk about breakers and fuses in the same device?

I thought they were apples and oranges. Sorry for late entry, just encountered.

[Eko]

35. My bad, I had a fuse box with fuses in it and now I have a breaker box with breakers in it.

They both do the same thing so I would say oranges to tangerines but you are correct. They are not the same thing.