San Diego
Electrical Service

Circuit Breakers and Fuses

Circuit breakers and fuses turn off power to the wire it is connected to for 3 main reasons:

1. There is a short circuit somewhere on the circuit. If your circuit breaker or fuse trips after you have recently plugged an appliance in, unplug the appliance, and reset the breaker. If the breaker or fuse stays on then there is a problem with the appliance. If the breaker or fuse stays tripped then there is a problem with your homes wiring and you should call your friendly San Diego electrician. This problem could be located in the main electrical panel, a switch box, an outlet box, a light fixture, or anywhere in between!

2. The circuit is overloaded.  Too many appliances or lights on the same circuit can lead to problems with your electrical system. Keep track of what appliances are turned on when your problematic circuit breaker trips so that you can best explain the problem when you call Mission Electrical Service San Diego.
3. The circuit breaker is broken. Circuit breakers wear out over time and need to be replaced. This can happen to any circuit breaker no matter what size or type. Check out our FAQ’s to read about circuit breakers brand names that are known to cause problems. Your San Diego Electrician will be able to replace the broken circuit breaker in a short amount of time.

Fuses
Fuses get old and wear out mostly because of age.  Fuses are built with a small thin strip of metal that heat up and melt if the circuit being protecting is overloaded. If a 15-amp fuse is on a circuit that occasionally draws 14.5 amps the metal strip will be heated to the melting point. Later when there is less current the metal will cool

Over the years the fuse strip will loose it’s strength and may fail prematurely even though it is not overloaded at that time.

Another problem is smaller fuses 15 amps, 20 amps, 25 amps and 30 amps all fit in the same size fuse holder. Using a 30-amp fuse on a circuit designed for 15 amps can easily be a problem. This will allow the 15-amp wire to carry twice as much current as it was designed to safely handle.

Even worse someone could put a penny behind the old style fuse-holder and totally defeat the over current protection. 

Mission Electrical Service
CA License #934069
1935 Oliver Ave, Suite #3
San Diego,
CA 92109
1-619-342-3367
info@MissionElectricalService.com