Neutral Blank fuses

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Alden

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Near Ann Arbor, Michigan
Hello all!
I'm currently working a VERY old job in Detroit (soon to be museum--think Model T's). All the panels are fused for branch circuits. One of the things I found was fused neutrals. I would like to change that and was wondering if something was available (besides copper pipe stubs) that would fit in the fuse holder, was listed, and had no overcurrent protection on it. The hot wires are getting 250 volt/ 20 amp fuses. I was not looking to drill and tap a neutral bus for my stak-ons. This is a very old bull dog /park electrical system helped put in by Thomas Edison himself for his buddy Henry Ford.
Thanks!
 
Check 240.22 for OCD in grounded conductors for the requirements. This will also send you to 430.36 for motors (corner delta) with additional requirements. Drilling and tapping the buss may be the lesser of the work (rather than change the panel), since this sounds like an old panel with fuses and exposed bus, common in the early 1900's. 240.22 requires all poles to open together (including the grounded).
 
I'm not sure you'll be able to find a standard (market ready) product for this application. Many moons ago when I worked on fire alarm systems in NYC we were required to use 3-pole fuse cut-out boxes (H-N-H orientation) single phase, 3-wire 120/208 where the center post was neutral, to feed the alarm panels. Some of the fuse cut-out manufacturers made removable neutrals with pieces of copper pipe and had a phenolic handle attached to it for easy removal. Good luck trying to find one of those.:)
 
goldstar said:
I'm not sure you'll be able to find a standard (market ready) product for this application. Many moons ago when I worked on fire alarm systems in NYC we were required to use 3-pole fuse cut-out boxes (H-N-H orientation) single phase, 3-wire 120/208 where the center post was neutral, to feed the alarm panels. Some of the fuse cut-out manufacturers made removable neutrals with pieces of copper pipe and had a phenolic handle attached to it for easy removal. Good luck trying to find one of those.:)
Click to expand...

They still make them, incl the City spec standard with the Yale #47 key... I think the brass lock cost more than the entire rest of the whole gammit...
 
Wow! Awesome posts..I was at the wholesale house looking through the bussman catalog and didn't find a thing, but Augie's post shows there is! Chris Kennedy had a good link but @ 15.00 a pop, I'll just wrap my 6.00 20 amp frn fuse with tin foil!!( But the guy at ...big box store...said I could!)
Unfortunatly, I am not able to change the panel out, (historic building etc). I've done several auto museums ( Dearborn, Mi, Auburn, In and others) but this one wants to keep everything as close to original as possible. Artists follow our pipe crew to paint, faux paint, and distress paint our pipe when we are done. You really can't tell the difference between our pipe and pipe put in 90 years ago! (Even though it drives the inspector nuts trying to follow our work.)
 
Alden said:
This is a very old bull dog /park electrical system helped put in by Thomas Edison himself for his buddy Henry Ford.
Click to expand...
PLEASE take some pics and post them!
buttrock.gif
 
090426-1511 EST

Alden:

Are you working on the Piquette plant? That would put us back to 1908 or so. Was this originally DC or AC?

What work did you do at Greenfield Village? Originally everything was in tunnels. When the infrastructure within the village was redone a few years back the use of the tunnels was eliminated. I never spent any time in any of the tunnels, but some of my classmates did replacing burned out bulbs. Some others at times would sneak into the tunnel from the Chapel to Scotch Settlement just because it was an interesting challenge.

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Yes, GAR, this is the piquette plant http://www.tplex.org/ .The building, if it was ever D.C., shows no signs of it. I also was going to check with one of the historians for this info before you even mentioned it! The work we do at Greenfield Village is primarily substation support of their new system ( about 15 years old.) breaker calibration, testing etc. But, some of their D.C. system, installed probably at the time electrons themselves were invented, is still, to this day, partially used with old style knife switches mounted all in the open ( now in a secured area with limited and guarded access.) The tunnel work is something I've done before, HOT HOT HOT (as in high temp, due to the fact the tunnels are also steam tunnels) did I mention HOT?
I see you are not too far from me. P.M. me if you would want to meet at Piquette some time for a private tour!!
 
Well, the city inspector came through 2 days ago and we got the thumbs up on our install. (Of course it might have helped that he is a retired Ford person who loved the history involved!) As usual, he was a very sharp man and knew his code inside and out. City politics around here are usually fodder for late night talk show monologues, but the electrical inspectors are always top notch. Our solution to our neutral blank fuses ?? Copper pipe with a very close tolerance to the fuse O.D. :D
 
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