ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area I believe that fuses are far superior than circuit breakers!

House I am in now, 40 year old Federal Pacific fuse panel. Whole row of pullouts and 4 rows of the "idiot proof" fuses.

Dryer fuse would occasionally blow. 30 amp cartridge on 8 AWG wire. (dryer on the other extreme of the house).

Downstairs watching tv one evening and I hear a buzz coming from the panel. Little investigation and I find the dryer pullout too hot to touch and the buzz is the arc from the buss to the fuse.

I heartily agree that fuses being the once and done kind of machine, seem to more reliably open a circuit, as long as arc flash hazards are taken into acount. But the problem I have seen is that the infrastructure holding them in place might be at the end of it's service life.

The FP went in the trash and a Sq D homeline now lives in it's place.

TW

It kind of surprises me that so many of you are limiting this discussion to only houses, and beating the "Stablok/Zinsco dead horse" some more.

OK Scott I will get out of houses.

Many of our commercial customers specify fusible switch gear over breakers.

One of them has a strange policy of sizing the fusible switch one size larger than needed.

If we will be installing 40 amp fuses they ask for a 100 amp switch, 200 amp fuses would need a 400 amp position.

Every fuse we install in their gear has to get fuse reducers.


[This message has been edited by iwire (edited 05-20-2004).]

I think that this is a false debate. While the two products seem to address the same concern, there are clearly different circumstances that favor each.
CB's don't require the homeowner to find a hardware store open on Sunday night. Nor will one be tempted to go through a box of fuses while "troubleshooting." After a few trips, people tend to figure out that you don't run the microwave and air conditioner at the same time. With the installation of new CB services, homeowners are finally updating the grossly over-strung circuits that, in the past, they 'fixed' by over-fusing. Moreover, since it takes some time to trip, I can actually measure the current draw as I track down the problem.
Fuses do react faster- and for when things go real bad, fast is good. It's no accident, though, that fuses are typically used together with other overload devices. Even without other devices, fuses can often be sized closer to the desired level.
And, as others have posted, ther's more to 'safe' than fuses and CB's. GFCI's and TVSS have prooven their utility, and AFCI's may yet do the same.