Teardown of an old British Wylex electrical fuse box. (with bare fuse wires)

Having looked at a modern home electrical distribution unit (called a consumer unit in the UK) I thought it would be interesting to take a look at an old fuse box.
This one dates back a long way, but was still available up until about 10 years ago. It's a very robust and reliable unit with fuse holders that can be fitted with new bare fuse wires.
The main issue with fuse boxes like these is that people can use incorrect fuse wire and risk damaging the wiring in their home. They also lack the integrated earth/ground fault detection that is common in new circuit breaker based panels.

For reference the tinned copper fuse wire sizes are:-
5A - 35 SWG
15A - 26 SWG
20A - 25 SWG
30A - 22 SWG
You can buy rolls or cards of bare fuse wire.


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