Trying to figure out this installation

[Stephen Lagueux]

Trying to get my head around this installation. The 2 upper right boxes are no longer in use. the other 2 are connected together.....Looking at the black and red wires going from the fuse box to the bus bar in the other box...On top of the ground/neutral bond and the double taps, I just can't make heads or tails of it. Either way, a master electrician is needed in this house.

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[John Kogel]

Ah oui, Stefan. The 2 25 amp breakers are for baseboard heater circuits, 'plinthes electrique', no?

So if they are receiving power from the fuse panel on the left by way of the heavy gauge conductors, then the fuse panel has grossly undersized feeders supplying it, and they are double tapped with the larger ones. And we have serious grounding issues as well.

Or the breaker panel is recycled, mislabeled and supplying the fuse panel with 25 amps, 240 volts, no ground.

You are right, it is a mystery, what was he thinking?

[kurt]

He was thinking?

[Marc]

I can't figure where the power is coming from...and I'm actually thinking.

Marc

[Stephen Lagueux]

... I kept going back and forth from pic to pic for at least 30 minutes this afternoon. I guess the easiest way to write it up, along with other issues in the house will be to have a master electrician look at the entire electric system

[kurt]

When confronted with this sort of clusterfxxk, I have on occasion said something just like what you wrote.....

"I inspected the electrical service equipment, and honestly, I don't know what the installer was trying to do. It's so messed up it's not worth figuring out. Get an electrician to take it all out and reinstall new equipment."

[Charles46]

This is one of those where I would say we have undersized wire feeds, grounding issues, double tapped circuits, that these are considered safety issues. I would recommend these and any other problems that an electrical contractor may discover while performing repairs need correcting. Then I would recommend a licensed electrical contractor inspect further.

[Douglas Hansen]

This is the first time I've seen 25-amp FPE breakers.

This whole installation looks like a hall of fame candidate. I'm fairly confident that the power is coming in to the black cable at the top of the fuse panel, and I am mystified by rest of it. Can it be that the other three cables exiting the top of the fuse panel are all 240-volt? It looks that way, but ????