What is the purpose of a fuse in an electrical circuit?

Answer 1

The purpose of a fuse is to open an electronic circuit when current flow exceeds a certain amount, determined by the rating of the fuse. Opening a circuit under high current conditions can save electronic components from damaged and prevents overheating, which could cause a fire.

Answer 2

A fuse places a limit on the amount of current that can be drawn by an electric circuit by opening (blowing or melting) when the current exceeds a preset limit. This protects the circuit and the surroundings from fire or damage in the case of an overload or short circuit.

Answer 3

A fuse is designed to blow when a certain current is reached. It protects the circuit from being exposed to such an over-current condition which could cause a fire, destroy expensive components or generally cause a safety hazard.

Another answer

Fuses are designed to blow if the current exceeds the rated value of the fuse over a very short period of time. The fuse it there to protect the wiring from overheating and causing a fire.

Answer 4

The main breaker limits the overall current to the building. Most buildings have many branch circuits that sum to more current than the service is rated for. This is not a problem as all the branch circuits are not used under high current draws at the same time. The main breaker protects the main wiring in the meter and to the transformer, and the transformer itself, from heavy current loads. It also protects from shorts in the main distribution panel.

Answer 5

circuit breakers are designed to cut off power to an electrical circuit when too much amperage is drawn through the wires. different size wires are used to carry more or less amperage. for instance, 14 guage wires are usually set with 15 amp breakers. and 12 guage wires are usually set with 20 amp breakers. pulling too much power through too small of wire will cause the electricity that is supposed to be going to your appliance to turn to heat energy in the wires and is the #1 cause of electrical related house fires. breakers protect you in the event you are drawing too much power through a single circuit.

Answer 6

A fuse serves two purposes it protects the device that the circuit is powering and it protects the wires from burning and causing a fire.

it basically is sized to "burn out" before the wire or device "burns out"

Answer 7

Fuse is a metalic wire having charecterstic of "Low melting point" connected in series with the live wire of electric circuit to protect the installation from high current due to short circuits

Answer 8

A fuse protects your circuit from spikes in current, which could seriously damage it. The fuse is placed before the sensitive electronics in a way such that if a large spike of current was to enter the system, the fuse would "blow" (literally break the physical connection), and the circuit would be protected from the spike of current. Fuses need to be replaced once they "blow."

Answer 9

The main breaker is there to act as a fallback main circuit breaker to shut off the electric current automatically if a fault condition arises such that any of the other circuit breakers fail to operate. It can do this because the main breaker feeds all the other circuit breakers in the panel with electrical current.

A second - and equally important - reason the main breaker is there is to allow anyone to quickly and safely stop electricity from reaching all the other circuit breakers that protect the flow of electric current to lighting circuits, power circuits and any other branch circuits for electrical appliances. All the other circuit breakers are connected so as to receive their current from the main breaker.

The main breaker is situated on the main breaker panel which is situated close to the incoming electrical service entrance of any home, office, shop, factory, site, etc.

Answer 10

A fuse is an important safety factor that prevents fires being started by electrical faults.

Electric power is supplied at a near-constant voltage so that under fault conditions a high current can flow, enough to heat up wires until they set light to a house. The fuse is a short length of wire that is thinner than the normal wiring, so that if an excessive current flows, it will melt and cut off the power in a controlled manner.

In practice the fuse wire is enclosed in a fireproof container and is made of metal with a relatively low melting-point.

In the UK each appliance has a plug with a fuse in it, with fuses about one inch long and ¼ inch diameter, fitted in a sprung fuse holder. Plug fuses are normally rated at 3, 5 or 13 amps.