Post #240,785
1/8/06 9:08:13 PM
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The fuse box in a house.
Person wants to blow out their fuse box "accidentally" so that they can upgrade the whole thing, since the wiring is 30+ years old.
When somebody asks you to trade your freedoms for security, it isn't your security they're talking about.
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Post #240,790
1/8/06 9:19:33 PM
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The whole purpose of fuses is to blow before the wiring does
If I understand what you're saying, it shouldn't be possible.
Hypothetically:
If one wants to demonstrate that he needs a larger feed into the house, well one needs to connect things to all of the available circuits so that the main fuses blow without blowing the individual circuit fuses. (It's a good idea to have spare fuses around in case one's successful.) About a dozen 1200+ W hair dryers should do it (assuming the house has a 100 A "service" into the house, 100 A / (1200 W/120 V) = 10 hairdryers. Scale up the number of hair dryers as required for more current fed into the house.
It may be, though, that most of the 120 V outlets are limited to just a few of the smaller fuses, so that this technique may not work by itself. In that case, turn on the oven and electric clothes dryer too.
I wouldn't recommend actually carrying out such an experiment myself. If he wants upgraded house wiring, he should pay the piper and do it right, not build up a contrived circumstance.
HTH a bit.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #240,792
1/8/06 9:20:47 PM
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A fuse is easy
The box is not. Shorting at the 240 in is a definite fire hazard, especially with 30+ year old wiring.
I suggest you not offer assistance, unless of course the sound of the word "arsonist" appeals to you.
If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. Fudd's First Law of Opposition
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #240,793
1/8/06 9:22:26 PM
1/8/06 9:22:41 PM
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Define blow.
And define it in such a way it does not start a fire or explode.
Edited by broomberg
Jan. 8, 2006, 09:22:41 PM EST
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Post #240,797
1/8/06 9:26:57 PM
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Oh, that's what he wants to do.
That's gonna be a Federal case. You've got 3 phase wiring coming in that's heavy enough to fry everything in the house. The box has to meet strict codes so it's generally well designed so arranging an "accidental short" on the input side isn't easy, and there's a heavy ground wire to drain off errant voltages.
Anything you do elsewhere will simply blow a fuse or breaker. If you do the old trick of packing a penny under a blown fuse, you'll most likely cause a fire at some circuit box in the attic if you overload the circuit. If it's a breaker box not a fuse box the problem is worse - those things protect themselves too.
You could get some breakers from another box, damage them, and replace good breakers with them (the breakers are often "plug'in" devices). Of course a savey super will just replace the breakers. Damaging the box (short of a lightning strike or truck impact) is hard.
If you damage the meter, that's a plug in unit and property of the electric company. They'll get pretty pissed if the damage looks deliberate and may charge you to plug in a new one.
The most practical method would be to shoot the box with a heavy caliber rifle and blame it on nearby gang activity.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #240,801
1/8/06 9:33:15 PM
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ICLRPD (new thread)
Created as new thread #240800 titled [link|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=240800|ICLRPD]
--
Steve
[link|http://www.ubuntulinux.org|Ubuntu]
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Post #240,808
1/8/06 10:40:41 PM
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The notorius Bedheads shot up my fuse box!
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Post #240,831
1/9/06 12:28:34 PM
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Right, won't be participating nor aiding and abetting.
Although the "shoot up the box and blame it on gang activity" is easy enough - the place is a block away from one of the worst crime zones in Seattle. :P
When somebody asks you to trade your freedoms for security, it isn't your security they're talking about.
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Post #240,805
1/8/06 9:45:22 PM
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if you are a renter and want the wiring upgraded
move because the only way the landlord will do it is when they rebuild after the place burns to the ground. If it is an owner who wants to get a co-owner to agree to replace everything, create a few dead shorts in lamp fixtures. Even if the wiring is 30 years old, unless it is aluminium its okay. Wire is pretty dumb if you stick current up its ass and its eyes light up its fine.
thanx,
bill
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 50 years. meep
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