My Water Heater Burst Open (help)

[Spongebob]

You ain't seen janky til you seen my house...

Originally a whopping 30 amp service... A whole 2 glass fuses. A combination of individual wire and tar braid casing. Wired in 1939 by a high school student.

I have redone it - 400 amp service into the garage - then the house is a 100 amp sub-panel - and the kitchen, bath and utility room is a 100 amp sub- sub panel.

The barn and outbuildings are a separate sub- panel from the garage.

At least now we can run the air conditioner and the microwave at the same time.

Yeah that's a problem with lots of older construction.  Electrical codes are much better these days.  I know it gets on some people's nerves having to "meet code" and all but it really does help prevent house fires, especially with the addition of GFCIs and AFCIs.  A relatively new home burned in our town last year.  It was only 10 years old.  FD determined it was bad wiring to the oven/stove which caused an arc flash.  I'm assuming they didn't have an AFCI or that wouldn't have happened.

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That's some janky electrical you've got there.  Your stove should be on it's own breaker as well.  All big appliances should have their own breaker.

It kind of does have its own beaker, but in the breaker box, the switches are "doubled up" (connected by a piece of plastic). I can't switch the one without switching the other as well.

I might try to install the thing myself. It'd be a learning experience for sure, as I'm not all that handy. But it may also be a financial necessity. I've looked up guides online, and it doesn't seem incredibly difficult.

That a double poll breaker that services appliances using 240V.  It's a single breaker that connects to both "hot" supplies from the transformer.  Each wire is 120V, so the "skinny" breakers are only 120; the fat ones are 240.  Each big appliance should have it's own 240 breaker and I recommend and AFCI breaker.  It is designed to detect arc flashes and shut off power before it causes a fire.