1955 electrical 1

Told by the sellers that this is a 70 Amp service. There are two breaker panels, one in the stairway to the back door, the second mounted in the ceiling in the basement. The first one I have seen before, usually converted to a subpanel as it is my own house, after upgrading. The second is new to me. There are two breakers, in it, one labeled 40 Amps and the other 30 Amps. Trying to figure out how it all works.

Looks like #6 coming in, have more pics, see next post
TIA

More pics, round base and inside the panel with two breakers, white wires look like #6 (hard to see) red wires #8

Looks like a 40 amp service to me … Roy

Right off the bat I see FPE which I always recommend replacement. Second the panel in the ceiling is not allowed as its not readily accessible imo.

Do the conductors from the meter feed this enclosure? Do you have a photo showing the inside?

http://www.nachi.org/forum/attachments/f19/78068d1412559264-1955-electrical-1-inside.jpg

Another picture of the inside, I could not tell where the wires were coming from as the basement was fully developed. There was nothing in the basement that required 40 amps or 30 amps other than the dryer, which had a breaker in the first panel. Ungrounded wire up, some grounded wire in basement.

Another picture of the inside, I could not tell where the wires were coming from as the basement was fully developed. There was nothing in the basement that required 40 amps or 30 amps other than the dryer, which had a breaker in the first panel. Ungrounded wire up, some grounded wire in basement.

Firstly, turn off the breaker in the panel closest (not sure which one) to the meter location. Since the panel in the ceiling is a GE their is a chance they remodeled the basement at some point and possibly tapped into the Service conductors…not saying that is the case just speculating right now.

Turn off the power to the one in the ceiling and see if it kills power to the FPE panel?..if not do the same with the FPE panel and see if it kills power to the GE panel…

Thats where I would start…