Auburn Knob and Tube replaces screw-in fuse boxes and early breaker panels in older Auburn homes, planned together with knob-and-tube removal so the new equipment and the new grounded circuits fit each other. We look at what the box protects, how each circuit is fused today and which runs are still original before anything is ordered.
We offer fuse box replacement with knob-and-tube rewiring in Auburn, WA and nearby communities, including Puyallup and Enumclaw, where homes from before 1950 may still have original or early service equipment.
The oldest boxes take round, screw-in plug fuses with the same base as a light bulb. Every rating up to 30 amps fits the same socket, so a fuse that kept blowing was easy to swap for a bigger one, leaving thin wire protected by far more current than it was meant to carry. When we open one of these boxes, the fuse ratings compared with the wire sizes behind them are the first thing we check.
Type S fuses fit a rejection adapter that only accepts the matching rating, which stops oversizing. They were required for new installations from November 1941. Where insulation is to surround remaining knob-and-tube, Washington’s rule names either Type S fuses or breakers as acceptable protection, so an adapted fuse box is not automatically ruled out; it rarely leaves room for the new circuits a rewire adds, though.
A breaker panel on the basement wall says nothing about the wiring behind it. Many houses had the fuse box swapped decades ago while knob-and-tube branch circuits were simply landed on new breakers. We follow each breaker out to its circuit, note which are original, and check that the breaker sizes suit the wire they protect.
If some knob-and-tube circuits remain after the panel changes, the electrician sizes each breaker to that wire under the code in force when the permit is issued, and the inspector checks it. Where insulation will surround those circuits, Washington makes protection a condition: breakers or Type S fuses sized to the 60°C ampacity column of the code table the rule references, which for the small copper of that era is often a lower rating than owners expect.
A rewire adds circuits: separate lines for kitchen counters, a bathroom, laundry and other loads the original house never had, each with a grounding conductor that has to terminate properly. Whether the existing service can carry that, and whether the panel has the spaces, is assessed for each house rather than assumed, so a larger service is never a given.
Inside Auburn city limits, panel replacement and rewiring are permitted and inspected by Washington L&I, not by the City of Auburn. Some Auburn mailing addresses actually sit in Federal Way, which issues its own electrical permits, so we confirm the jurisdiction from the street address first. Whoever does the work buys the permit before starting, and inspection comes before anything is covered.
Changing service equipment can also mean a planned power shutoff arranged with the electric utility serving the house. That is part of scheduling the job, and you will know the plan before the day.
We found no general Washington rule that forces a working fuse box out. The reasons to replace one are practical: oversized fuses, damaged equipment, no room for new circuits, or an insurer or lender who asks for it. A rewire usually tips the balance, because the new circuits need breaker spaces.
Yes, provided each breaker is sized to the old wire under the code in force when the permit is issued; if insulation will surround the wiring, Washington also requires breaker or Type S protection sized to the 60°C column. Whether a particular circuit should stay connected is a separate question about its condition, which the electrician answers after tracing it.
No. The fuse box is service equipment; knob-and-tube is a branch-wiring method. Houses can have one without the other, which is why both are checked separately.
The panel size the house needs, whether the service entrance or meter base changes, how far the panel moves, how many old circuits are reconnected or replaced, and wall repair around the new location. We give a price once those are known rather than quoting ranges.
If the house needs to stay occupied, the panel change is often the first step of room-by-room rewiring. For the full picture of knob-and-tube removal, see the Auburn Knob and Tube homepage.
Let us know whether you have plug fuses, Type S adapters or an early breaker panel, roughly how old the house is, and the street address so the permit jurisdiction can be checked. We'll get back to you soon with an estimate or any questions we have. Estimates are free and there's no obligation.
Call (253) 285-1913