How safe are fuses in a house?

Answer 1

As long as the fuses are the proper size for the circuit they serve, there should be no problem. The advantage to fuses (at least the glass ones) is that you can diagnose a problem when a fuse blows. When a short occurs, the window turns black, when an overload occurs, the thin strip slowly melts away.

Unfortunately, fuse panels do not offer too much in the way of adding new circuits, most fuse panels are not very big and usually do not have empty spaces to expand.

Answer 2

If you are comparing a fuse to a circuit breaker - for single pole (110-120v) circuits, the fuse is much safer. The circuit breaker, though more convenient, has mechanical parts - which although rare, there is the chance for it to fail.

You would think the fuse would also be better for double pole (220-240v) but through experience, I don't think it is. We had a stove wire that shorted out on us, and it popped one half of the double-fuse setup, but not the other. And with the shorted wire, this built up heat and started a fire. If it were the double-pole circuit breaker, it would have broken both legs of the circuit and probably saved it.

The thing is, most houses with fuses were made long ago enough that the wiring is old and a mess at the circuit panel. The old and dangerous wiring is really what you have to worry about when it comes to fuses or circuit breakers.

But I do like circuit breakers better even though a fuse may be safer on certain occasions.

Answer 3

Sitting on the shelf, or actually in service?

As long as you do not oversize the fuses (put a 20A fuse into a 15A circuit - NEVER DO THIS) - fuses are safe. They're just a pain cuz you have to replace them when they blow. And they don't cut an overload quite as fast as a breaker. We're not talking a huge amount of time, but they're not "instant" like a breaker.

The one exception to that is for bathroom, kitchen and outdoor circuits. For those, you can't beat a ground fault interrupter (GFI or GFCI). If you have fuses, then replace the actual receptacles on those circuits with GFCI receptacles. Make sure your wiring is correct and well grounded, or they won't work.

The above comment about only blowing half of a two-pole circuit is true. If one leg of the circuit draws too much and the other leg does not, this will cause only one of the two fuses to blow, leaving one leg live. This can cause overheating problems, or in the case of things like motors (AC, blowers) it can damage equipment.

The other comment about fuses being in old houses and old houses having horrendous wiring is also true. Your wiring may be a mess, who knows, but you asked about fuses.

Answer 4

Fuses are perfectly safe. It is people who replace them with oversize fuses or pennies that cause a problem. You can get time-delay fuses if you have one that is continually blowing out due to a heavy start-up load (like a refrigerator) or you can get screw in circuit breaker adapters. My guess, however, is that you have 60 amps as that was usually standard on older wiring that used fuses (really old used even less) and you might consider upgrading to at least 100 amps.

Answer 5

depends what kind