Fuses And Circuit Breakers

If you have an older home you may have a fuse panel. Most homes these days have circuit breaker panels. Both serve the same purpose; to protect the branch circuits from overloads and to trip in the event of a sustained short circuit. Some common fuse and circuit breaker sizes you'd find in your home are 15 amp, 20 amp, 30 amp, and 40 amp. Generally speaking a 15 or 20 amp circuit breaker protects your normal branch circuits containing lights and receptacles. Clothes dryers are normally protected by 30 amp breakers while ranges are protected by 40 amp breakers.

You will find that older homes have few branch circuits where everything seems to run off of one or two fuses which creates the problem of tripped breakers or blown fuses. You may think that the solution to this would be to simply install a larger circuit breaker or fuse. This can create dangerous overloading of branch circuit conductors. Conductors are rated by how much continous current they can safely carry. A #12 cable can carry up to 20 amps while a #14 cable can carry 15 amps. By installing a 30 amp breaker or fuse on a 15 or 20 amp branch circuit you will be exceeding the rating of the cable.

A dangerous situation may occur if a cable carries more current than it's rated for. Large cables, with less resistance, can carry more current than smaller cables, which have more resistance. It's like a garden hose, the larger the diameter the more water it can carry. The smaller the diameter the less water it can carry. When a circuit is overloaded the conductors will start to produce heat which in turn can melt the insulation covering and cause an electrical fire. Rather than installing larger fuses and circuit breakers, do it the right way by breaking up reducing the number of outlets on overloaded circuits.

These days houses are wired much differently with circuit breaker panels housing 32 to 40 branch circuits. The big advantage of circuit breakers is that they can be reset where fuses have only one life. To reset a circuit breaker first turn it all the way off and then you can switch it back to the on position. When a fuse blows you have to replace it. It's a good idea if your home has a fusebox to keep 1 or 2 spares of each size fuse right beside the fuse panel so that you can find them easily when needed. It is highly recommended that you replace your old fuse panel with a circuit breaker panel. A qualified electrician and an electrical permit will be required for this.

If you happen to sell your house, one of the main concerns a prospective buyer, or home inspector, has is the electrical wiring and breaker panel. Old overloaded fuse panels will definitely be a major issue. Replacing your fuse panel and updating any unsafe wiring will go a long way when and if you decide to put your home on the market.

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