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Posted by Don Young on November 9, 2007, 10:40 pm
> The house I was raised in as a child in Niagara Falls, NY was built in
> 1928. NO K&T wiring when we moved in in 1941, but I believe there
> might have been. Screw type fuses in a box going down into the cellar.
> Electrical boxes, IIRC, were octagonal steel. There were a few of the
> screw type outlets with a little metal flap. I stuck my finger into at
> least one! Switches were dual push button type. Original service
> couldn't have been more than 50 amps. I believe it was upgraded to 100
> amps at one point when we lived there. Only major early electrical
> appliances were an electric stove and refrigerator. Later, we added a
> washer and dryer, which I remember required additional wiring. That
> might have been when the 100 amp service was added. I have been back
> to the house recently, and they have 200 amp service, and a LOT of
> rewiring has been done.
>
> My grandmother's house in Kansas, built in 1903 was K&T, later
> refitted to armored cable. The house was fitted with gas lights, and I
> assume some of the pipes might have been used for electrical conduit.
>
I worked as an electrician for an appliance store in the 50's. Common job
was replacing 120V service with two plug (screw-in) fuses and a knife main
switch (no main fuses) with a "main, range, and four" or "main, range, and
six" panel and 240V service. This was done when the customer bought an
electric range, usually. The main fuses were commonly 60A and the range
fuses were commonly 40A. Four or six fuses were usually 15A, although there
were some 20A circuits feeding kitchens and dining rooms.
Incidentally, knob and tube wiring was preferred for quite a while in areas
subject to flooding, particulary in riverside and lakeside cabins and
boathouses.
Don Young
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