Circuit breakers vs fuses

[Mark Forest]

I have acquired a house with screw in fuses.  There is a large difference in premiums with the insurance company if I convert to circuit breakers.  From reading on the internet fuses seem perfectly safe.  What am I missing? 

[Jeremy Pace]

You are half correct.

Fuses are not unsafe, but there are some related conditions that are indicated by the presence of a fuse box.

1) you haven't lived until you've found a penny behind a torched fuse.

2) generally speaking houses that have a fuse box also have non-code-standard wiring (gen one and two knob and tube) and non-code-standard things means extra money from you to insure them.  even if you look around in your basement and you see some romex, often times the knob and tube is still hidden behind the walls where it's much more difficult to detect.

2ish - 3) knob and tube wiring is much more difficult to safely ground, if you look around the unit, you'll likely notice many two-pronged outlets, and a strange lack of GFCI outlets (or no outlets at all) anywhere near a water source.