80A Breaker installed

[brkaus]

is it ok that there is no obvious breaker at the meter?

if not, is a load calc good enough? Or does one need to make sure the sum of the top 6 breakers cannot exceed 150a (assuming the wiring is rated to the same level as the panel).

 

[Dmagyar]

The last picture supplied by @Chef Brian showing the dead front of the panel details how unsuitable that suspicious “fused disconnect” is for this panel. Normally you wouldn’t have to “modify” the dead front of a panel to mount a c/b or disconnect. I do thank @eprosenx for supplying the similar buss detail, as I was further wondering where the buss did split and possibly if that fused disconnect was supposed to act as a “main” of some sorts, but that’s mute at this point.
Thanks for the mental exercise, I would further offer that just as there are sub optimal mechanic’s, electrician’s and probably even doctors out there practicing, the public is best served to rely on some type final inspection to ascertain that they’ve gotten the full value of what they think they’ve purchased...Noting that local inspectors are fallible also, and not liable for what someone calling themselves an “electrician” has done...

 

[eprosenx]

is it ok that there is no obvious breaker at the meter?

if not, is a load calc good enough? Or does one need to make sure the sum of the top 6 breakers cannot exceed 150a (assuming the wiring is rated to the same level as the panel).

Yeah, on these split bus panels there is no single main disconnect anywhere (not at the meter, etc...).

You do not have to keep the top six breakers under 150a (or whatever the service is rated at). It is all down to the load calculation. I see them with more breaker capacity than service capacity all the time (in fact, a friend just installed a Square D panel with two 200a breakers and two 125a breakers off a 320/400a service feed this week at his new house - should pass code without issue).

 

[eprosenx]

The last picture supplied by @Chef Brian showing the dead front of the panel details how unsuitable that suspicious “fused disconnect” is for this panel. Normally you wouldn’t have to “modify” the dead front of a panel to mount a c/b or disconnect. I do thank @eprosenx for supplying the similar buss detail, as I was further wondering where the buss did split and possibly if that fused disconnect was supposed to act as a “main” of some sorts, but that’s mute at this point.
Thanks for the mental exercise, I would further offer that just as there are sub optimal mechanic’s, electrician’s and probably even doctors out there practicing, the public is best served to rely on some type final inspection to ascertain that they’ve gotten the full value of what they think they’ve purchased...Noting that local inspectors are fallible also, and not liable for what someone calling themselves an “electrician” has done...

Wow, I totally missed that someone brutalized that deadfront cover to get that fuse thing in there. That is totally not right.

After looking at your pictures again, the bottom right two slots might actually be usable slots in that version of the panel. The sticker on the deadfront slots say something different than the one I was working on. We really need to see the stickers that are *inside* the panel on the sides for this specific panel to draw any conclusions. Perhaps I should not have posted those pictures of a similar panel since the details might be differenent. ;-) (but the split bus configuration I suspect is the same)

 

[brkaus]

@eprosenx Between the breakers tripped when the WC was used, the plastic spacer that can be seen on the bus bar, the loop of wire on the upper left, and the 6 breaker rule, it's pretty fair bet the wiring is the same as the label you found.

The label says range for that strange fuse holder thing. Nothing really odd about that type of load. I remember those pull outs as a kid. But the box I remember also had twist out glass fuses (the kid people replaced w/ a penny). Someone tried hard to make that fit.

How old is the house?