Electricity?

Question

What are the differences between a fuse and a circuit breaker?

Answer 1

Once the wire temperature excedes the fuse limit ( they come in various values) the fuse will " blow." this means you have to go and physically take it out - throw it away - and replace it with another fuse for the circuit to function.

a circuit breaker - once the wire temp excedes the limit ( each breaker is also designed for a specific value) you have to go there and fip the switch to the on position for the circut to continue - generally it is wise to disconnect what caused the breaker to " trip" before resetting the breaker.

The difference is " cost" over time the fuse will cost more because of the replacement cost. The breaker will have a higher selling price but there will be no additonal cost for it to operate or for the circuit to function.

A fuse also has the disadvantage that it is user dependent. Which means, it says what size fuse to put into the " fuse holder," however, if the user decides to put a fuse of a higher value in ( so the fuse won't blow as often) this could lead to a major fire and there is little that can be done to prevent this behavior. Also, serious damage to the circuit under protection can result, but again the only way to prevent this is to use a breaker.

Fuse requires replacement breaker requires " resetting"

Answer 2

a fuse can only work once, the fuse is just a wire and it burns out when the energy is higher than the set limit
a circuit breaker is like a spring that disconnects when when energy is higher than the set limit. it would go back when it's cooled down