Fuse Boxes Explained | Electrical Safety First (2024)

FAQs

Fuse Boxes Explained | Electrical Safety First? ›

It's important that you know where your fusebox is in case you ever need to turn the electricity off in an emergency. It contains three things – the main switch, fuses and/or circuit breakers, and Residual Current Devices. A) Main Switch – this allows you to turn off the electricity supply to your home.

The fuse breaks the circuit if a fault in an appliance causes too much current to flow. This protects the wiring and the appliance if something goes wrong. The fuse contains a piece of wire that melts easily. If the current going through the fuse is too great, the wire heats up until it melts and breaks the circuit.

There are two types of fuse boxes—Type-S and Type-T. The main difference between them is the base. Type-S fuses use a different-size base with a rejection feature that will only allow the right-sized Edison-type socket with an adapter. Type-T fuses have Edison bases resembling a light bulb base.

All homes have a fuse box, otherwise known as a consumer unit. It is our homes electrical hub as it controls and distributes the electricity around the home. Your fuse box is your first point of call if you need to turn your electricity off in an emergency. Or if the electricity in your house suddenly stops working.

Now there can be a situation where an unusually large amount of current is forced through the wire. In that case the electrons colliding with the atoms in the wire create heat and increase the wire's temperature. If sufficient current is forced through the wire, the temperature can get high enough to melt the wire.

Electric fuse works on the principle of the heating effect of electric current. It is placed in series with the device. A fuse consists of a piece of wire made of a metal or an alloy of an appropriate melting point, for example, aluminum, copper, iron, lead etc.

Fuse boxes are metal boxes that store fuses, which is an electrical safety measure that will shut-off power when the power is beyond that fuses ability to contain the power. Fuse boxes are very simple, yet intelligently designs devices that work by powering the electrical current through a piece of metal strip.

Why they're unsafe: Fuses aren't inherently unsafe. They work just like circuit breakers (except they can't be reset and must be replaced.) However, most fuse boxes in homes today are unsafe because they've been modified to try to serve today's energy demands.

Fuses offer circuit protection that is inexpensive, straightforward and fast protection. Their faster circuit protection time is perhaps their biggest benefit over circuit breakers. This is important when protecting sensitive electronic equipment. Circuit breakers provide better protection for three-phase applications.

Are old style fuse boxes still legal? ›

A fuse box doesn't just contain fuses but it will also contain the main switch and circuit board. While this isn't illegal if you live in a home with a traditional fuse box it may be worth replacing it due to general health and safety reasons.

It's a sign that somewhere in your property could be a faulty electrical appliance or wiring. When a current is too high and therefore unsafe, the circuit will break, preventing the flow of electricity. They protect appliances from being damaged and can prevent electrical fires.

Consumer units have been called many different names over the years, such as fuse box, fuse board and dis-board. They are typically installed in domestic premises to provide control, distribution and protection to the various final circuits within the installation.

Not sure whether 'on' means fuse box switches up or down? See if the majority are up or down and you'll have your answer. It's most likely to be the up position for 'on' and the down position if they've tripped. If any switches are down, move them back into the up position to turn them back on.

The ampere rating is almost always shown on the fuse and is usually expressed in amperes (eg. 10A or 0.5A), but it could also be expressed in milliamps (eg. 100mA). Sometimes the ampere rating is incorporated into the fuse part number eg.

Both panels protect from overheating and fires. Circuit breakers protect against short circuits, but fuse boxes do not. Fuse boxes offer fast protection from malfunction and overcurrent. Circuit breakers perform best in modern homes requiring increased amperage.

When an electric circuit gets overloaded or short-circuited, due to low melting point, the fuse in the live wire gets heated up and melts which in turn produces a gap in the live wire, so the current cannot flow through it, hence further damage will be prevented and the appliances will be saved.

Fuses are always connected in series with the component(s) to be protected from overcurrent, so that when the fuse blows (opens) it will open the entire circuit and stop current through the component(s).

Safety Fuze is used in demolition work where a delay is required to give personnel time to retire to a place of safety before the charge detonates. Safety Fuze is often used in conjunction with an L1A2 Non-Electric Detonator crimped onto one end of the Safety Fuze which in turn is placed into the main charge.

To prevent this damage, a fuse is used in the LIVE WIRE. The fuse wire gets heated up to the extent that it melts, a gap is produced in the live wire and the circuit becomes incomplete, no current flows and the appliance is saved.