My daughter recently purchased a house built in '60. The house was inspected and a few minor discrepancies were found and corrected. The insurer wanted to know if the electrical had been "updated". What does "updated" mean?

This typically means a new service had been installed, the original most likely being either a 60 or 100 amp , depending on the age, and replacing fuses with circuit breakers.

Insurance carriers usually frown on older smaller service ratings, and fuses. Those carriers that I inspected for always required 60 amp services and fuses to be "upgraded".

I suggest that before any layperson answers these types of questions that a qualified person inspect the system and offer the proper answers, and only answer the specific written questions put forth by the insurance carrier.

Replying without professional advice can be troublesome.

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Originally Posted by rkison

My daughter recently purchased a house built in '60. The house was inspected and a few minor discrepancies were found and corrected. The insurer wanted to know if the electrical had been "updated". What does "updated" mean?

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The house has 100 amp service to a circuit breaker main. All but two are romex with those two being "rag" romex. The electrical was inspected by a licensed electrician and found in order and stated that any increase in service was not warranted. Does this qualify as "updated"

"Updated" is a deceptively and deliberately vague term. It is also a B-S term.
It means whatever the seller, installer, etc, wants it to mean, in varying degrees of progress.

An updated service can mean the panel was replaced, or it can mean a complete service upgrade.

"Updated electrical" (the B-S term most used) can mean anything from receptacles and switches were replaced, to all wiring and devices were replaced, and anything in between.

Once again, it's who can B-S who the most and get away with it.