I've still got part of my house utilizing the old screw-in Edison fuses (the kitchen and garage are on breakers). I should update it, but it's just not in the financial cards right now because the wiring to those rooms should also be updated at the same time as it's knob-and-tube and I'm not comfortable doing that myself.

They're only 20amp fuses and they rarely blow. But the issue I'm having is one of the insulator discs in the base has degraded. It's like a heavy duty non-corrugated cardboard but I would imagine it's a specific material. The other sockets all have newer "discs" in them, for whatever reason this one base didn't. I don't want to take a chance by replacing it with the incorrect material.

I'd like to replace that disc but I don't know what it's called and haven't had any success locating a source, or even know what the material is so that I could cut my own. I understand that it should be completely upgraded and will be next year, but I've got to get through the year first. I've left the fuse out of that base so the lights and outlets in three rooms are not currently functioning. There is one hardware store in the south end of Hartford that does a lot of business with the old rental houses so I'm holding out hope that they might just have some. There must be enough people still using those old fuses since they keep making them, maybe that's how they encourage the upgrade to circuit breakers by making repair parts unavailable? Or at least hard to find?

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)