Can i plug pc on this apartment with older fuse box?

[sew333]

Hello. I will be buying new apartment to live. But fuse box is older. Not the newest.

And my question. It will be fine to plug pc in this new apartment with that fuse box,i think it is aluminium,right?

PC WILL BE: Rtx 4090,14900K,1600W PSU

It looks like this ( screen from internet ). Looks like this,not sure i dont take a pic from there. Can i plug pc with that one?

screen of this:


room:




Someone said this to me.

1

"I would get advice from a local electrician that you trust. Nobody here can tell you if the wiring / fuses / whatever in that apartment are safe for use with any given load.

This is particularly important seeing as you are buying the apartment. Never mind "can I use my gaming PC" - is it safe / do I need to budget for some electrical work would be higher in my thinking (impressed with your priorities though! )

You should be having an inspection done anyway before buying, which ought to include the electrical system, but presumably if the fuses and wiring are rated for the usual 15A/120V in the US (or whatever it is wherever you are) then it will support whatever normal stuff you plug in, just like anything with newer wiring. I'd definitely have a good UPS on important stuff, and surge suppressors on less important things.

So that's towards the ragged edge of what a 15 amp circuit can carry if you hit the PSU maximums. Thankfully the 4090 isn't as peaky as the Ampere generation cards, but the CPU is a big and constant power draw on that system. You probably need an electrician to ensure that not only are the fuses safe, but that you know how many circuits you have, how big they are and where they go. 1800w is probably a realistic maximum for not overloading a 15 amp circuit, so PC + monitor + speakers etc. is likely fine if you have a 15 amp circuit just for the computer area, but if you try putting another high wattage device on the same circuit-- like a microwave, heater, air conditioning, air fryer, etc. you'll risk blowing the circuit and the fuse and that's Not Good. Old places might even have 10 amp circuits and that's also something you'd need to be very careful about.

If you can see problems like that in an old building, that may be the tip of the iceberg as in the early days of electrical hookups, they did a bad job of anticipating just how much the need for power in the future would be and you can run into strange situations where circuits are shared across places you might not expect. Hopefully it's at least copper wire and the ground actually goes to ground..."

So plug pc on this apartment or look for other apartment?I living in Poland.
Seller of apartment said that electronics was updated 15 years ago. So in 2010 year. But still fuses are old btw.


Also i will be using on only pc and laptop. Other appliances like microwave not.

[petehall347]

looks very antiquated to me . i dont have a clue what them white things are and needs updating to include rcd and mcb .or rcbo . and possibly new wires and sockets .

[CapLeaker]

It's an old 70's euro fuse box. They may have upgraded recepticals and light switches in that apartment, but guaranteed the wires and the fuse box are untouched. Depending on which country, but where I came from they were all copper wires even in those old style boxes. The usual 10A 230V there would provide more juice than a regular 15A 115V here in North America. So for the sakes of a computer, I would have not any problem plugging a high end system in there. The only grumble is that each time the fuse blows, you need a new one, so keep some in stock.
Where I would suggest a wire upgrade is if you see the old cloth covered wiring. Pull a receptical or light switch and look what the wires are.
You can get resettable fuses for this fuse box like the first pic, first fuse on the top row, right box.

[redwire]

WHERE IS THE GROUND? Don't give us old fake pictures with half the box, where is the real one?
PC's have some ground leakage current and with no PE ground you will get a small shock.
Electrical Codes - Apartments in North America must have all wiring inside metal conduit. This is also the ground conductor in older buildings.
No idea what you have for wiring. You should ask for a discount on the apartment price to pay for upgrades.

[CapLeaker]

Using this picture, ground goes from the main fuse entrance on the very bottom up then to the right. There should be 3 phase at 380v in the bottom fuse box. 3 big main fuses.

These old fuse box wiring goes from the bottom up, not from top down like it is here. Very common wiring for houses that are mid eighties and lower. Mid eighties and after the automatic fuses or breakers were a common scene then.

[sew333]

This is screen with room with another apartment but with new electrics and new fuses( with gas heating too ). I added arrows there are wall sockets.



What should i choose. That apartment with older fuses or that one with newest fuses and electronics but with kitchen in room?

[CapLeaker]

Dunno… I would go for location, size and price.

[sew333]

Prize is the same between two apartments. It doesnt matter. But that one with older fuses , room is bigger than that one with kitchen ( screen up ). But have older fuses.
This one have older fuses:

[CapLeaker]

Then look at the costs for heating, condition of the windows, age of the building and other monthly charges.

[sew333]

Yes but just wanna safety place pc.

[CapLeaker]

The power coming out of the old fuse box won't be any different than a new breaker panel. There is a ground, a neutral and a phase. You can buy automatic breakers for this old box. Only thing is you don't have a GFI in the kitchen or bathroom. As for safety of the PC, depends more on ground or earthing of the whole power entrance. New fuse boxes can be bad too… Any purchase like this you should consider an electrician or a buddy that knows electrical wiring,
But if that old fuse box checks out, isn't rotten or damaged due to high humidity or damaged inside somehow, keep using it. But all this can happen to a newer breaker panel too. Sometimes breakers get stuck open and you have to exercise them to get them to work again, Just happens to me at my work place. Shure you can upgrade the panel, but knowing there is an older panel equals price reduction in the purchase price…

[redwire]

Where is the stove? The wall with mural painting has an electric stove outlet maybe? Then a fridge is also in front of the painting on that wall. YUCK it's a trick lol.
Heating looks like hydroponic (hot water radiator). I am looking at what has been added over the years, for electrical loads.
What are the old breakers, I don't know old Euro parts.

[petehall347]

best thing you can get for the pc is a ups . i have been using one for years . its a boat one and am using a large car battery that's on an automatic charger . if the power goes off i have a long time to shut the pc down like 2 hours or more . surge protectors can be a good thing if well made

[CapLeaker]

redwire
adding or changing electrical wires is very simple with the brick and mortar or concrete construction. There is a machine almost has a housing of a belt sander that has cutting wheels like a dado kit for a table saw inside to cut a slit. The euro wires are round, not flat like here. So you make that slit in the wall or ceiling, put in the wire nail it down with these holders and put mortar or plaster over it (like crack fill). It's much easier to do that over there than it is over here with the wood frame construction and drywall.

There is something I call like the first generation breaker panel. The breakers are a bit bigger. Same here too. My breaker panel is now 20 years old and has much smaller breakers than the 40 year old ones at work.

[redwire]

My only concern for OP is where the ground wire is and that the outlets have it. I don't see a bus bar and those Bakelite boxes look at bit like add ons. OP must use electric heating to have so many fuses and 3-phase no less.
I have total 4 breakers - stove, kitchen, bedroom, living room. Federal Pioneer breakers, you know the ones that never have tripped after a building burns down. They jam with old age, I think the grease/oil fails after many decades.
I'd take those fuses as better lol.

[sew333]

What should i choose. that apartment with older fuses and bigger room or that one with newest fuses and electronics ( painting in room ) but with kitchen in room?

[CapLeaker]

Take someone to inspect wiring and the fuse panels at both places. If the old fuse panel and the wiring checks out, lowball the asking price due to the older fuse panel.
Like I said, if the old fuse panel and the wiring is o.k., don't be afraid to use it. Spending less money for a bigger apartment is always a plus. Hopefully the other monthly charges aren't that bad. Better yet if the apartment is a middle unit, where others heating the space around you, bottom, top, left and right. Then the heating cost is much lower. Been there done that in a different lifetime. Does the older apartment have a mini kitchen in a separate room? For me I would want the kitchen to be separate.

redwire
every house entrance has 3 phase 380v over there. Their electric kitchen ranges are 380v. Remember, where we use 240v over here, they mostly use 380v over there. Like electric hot water. Dryers were a mix between 240v or 380v. Also the fuse box shown is not the one in the building, rather a picture pulled from the internet.

[sew333]

That one witch kitchen on screen, is with newest fuses and i guess newest wiring. So i just ask which is better to choose from both apartments?
This is screen from apartment with newest electricity and fuses:

[CapLeaker]

You can't really go by what's better only due to wiring age. There are other factors to consider. To be sure, you got to open the panel cover and look so you see the bus bars and wiring.
I've seen fuxed new wiring and an older wiring that is in prestige condition, yet 50 years old. All depends on the installer(s) (non) fuck ups. No one can guarantee anything until that panel cover comes off.
If you don't want to to this, then just pick one…

[sew333]

Oki so nothing will happen when i plug pc to that one with older fuses?