"Extra" box on my Power Board

[Xare]

There is an unused box wired up to my power board called a Water Heater Control Unit.

Its a 60 amp box that uses the old style glass fuses. All the wiring in this house is old, and I think this box was used for a previous electric water heater. The water heater is run on gas now, so this box is just sitting there.

Tonight I went down in the basement to check and see if it had power using a test probe.

Its Live


Iam a noob when it comes to electrical wiring but I guess this is a 2 circuit box.

The power comes in from the main box and is screwed into the box at Point A, I tested with a probe here and it light up.

And old wire is coming out of the box at point B, I think this is the old water heater wire. I tested it and its dead, no power.


Here is a drawing of what the box looks like and what I as a noob would do to get power to my room. It only hooks up one circut from the box this way, seems easy for me to do tho.

But if somebody can explain to me how to wire both circuits that would be great.

 

[TFL1]

You can probably use the power from the box but first I would make sure that you have a hot and neutral that ISNT being used by anything else.It would be a very good idea to buy a cheap circuit tester or DMM to find what you really have there.If the box has power in it and it was for an old water heater it may have 220 in it.Like I said buy a cheap tester that will tell you voltage and find out what your working with first. Hope this helps alittle

 

[Xare]

Ya I had the same thought that it might be 220 because it was for a water heater. I will take your suggestion and get a proper tester before I wire it up

It has been sitting for years with no fuses in the sockets. No wires are connected to the box other then the ones shown.


The tester I have now is only a single light, this one I just found should work fine - under 4 bucks.

http://www.globaltestsupply.com/test_equipment/Meterman_VT102_Voltage_Tester.cfm

 

[TFL1]

Also
If you have power in the that old panel/disconnect there is probably a fuse or breaker protecting it and it sounds like it is still on. If you go to your main panel and see an old 2 pole breaker chances are it may go to that. The best thing to do is to buy a cheap tester and start checking for power.With the test leads from your new tester test the metal where you see the wires connect to the box and see if you have 220 or 110. I know that you are going to mess with it anyway and that is why im helping. I would rather help you out then you hurt yourself or burn down your house. Once you buy a tester and you have a day that you can turn power off in your house, you get one of your friends to stand in front of the main panel while you are holding the tester in that box and just keep turning breakers off intil there is no more power in it(use a cell phone to talk to each other).Once you kill the power COMPLETLY then go aroung the house (INSIDE AND OUT)and make sure everything else is still on.By doing this you will find out if someone has used power from the box or not somewhere else in the house. If everything in the house is on is off and the power in the box is off then you know that you have a dedicated circuit still going to the box.Once you get to this point let me know.I will help you along some more.TTYL

 

[Xare]

My main box does not have the flip type breakers.

It has 4 more glass fuses and 2 square boxes that pull out with a handle.

kinda like this one in the attached image:


When I get my tester I can shut off power to the house with the main switch box.

Then test the "hot" wires at point A in the box to make sure they are off.

Then unscrew the 4 fuses from my main box that powers the house and turn the main switch back on.

And test the hot wires again to see if the tester lights up.

If it does come on I would then know that the Box is Independent of the rest of the house.

 

[TFL1]

Did you get a chance to do some testing in the j box?