a post on electrical - turning this house into a joule

Hello again.  As promised from the June post, here is everything we have dealt with electrically (so far, at least).  I wanted to make a separate post because it is a unique task compared to everything else in this house.  Electrical was one project where we had the help of a contractor; sadly, this turned out to be the second time dealing with a slimy bastard so we will be doing the remaining work ourselves with the help from some friends.  It will take longer but that is the way it is.  To start off, I will show some pictures of what was:

This is the original outside panel connected to the transformer.  It is a 100 amp fuse and likely original to the house from 1956.  Give it a good yank and as long as the fuses are not sticking, it will shut off power to the house.

The inside panel.  The big fuse on top is the main and the littler ones below are 15 amp screw-in fuses.  They make a fun arcing noise when removing them.

The panel to the hot water heater.  They are the same screw-in fuses.

        Here is the original master bathroom.

So there it is.  The plan is to update the inside and outside panels to 200 amp service with breakers.  Additionally, we will be replacing all two-prong outlets (standard 50s shenanigans) with three-prong (and add grounds and/or GFCIs where we need to), adding light fixtures to the bedrooms (Hayley posted on this), new lights to the kitchen and living room, add smoke detectors, and a complete re-work of the kitchen wiring.  The big changes have happened already and here are some pictures:

New 200 amp service outside the house with breakers.

The old panel was removed and thrown away.  This new location is perfect for hiding the dead bodies.  Wait, what?

This is the new location of the breaker panel.

The location of the new breaker panel is in the master bathroom temporarily.  Our plumber had a great idea to swap the master bathroom with the original utility room.  In the end, everything house-related utility items will be located in one room.  The water heater, water softener tanks, electric panel, furnace, filters (water and furnace), water main, and anything else we can think of will be located in this one room.

When the smoke detectors were being installed, I took a picture because I thought it was funny looking.  The original is on the left and I added eyes to the one on the right.

Next is the kitchen rewiring.  That shouldn't take too long and will be nice when it's done.  Then some minor stuff like fixtures, switch plates, etc.  It's nice having the big stuff done, though.  Soon, we will have a nice little jewel of a house to live in.

By the way, a joule is the SI unit of electrical energy (or work) which came from James Prescott Joule in the mid 1800s.  One joule is equal to one watt-second - the energy released in one second by a current of one ampere through a resistance of one ohm.  One joule has the power to illuminate one watt L.E.D. for one second.  And now you know.

Until next time.

-K