Generally, a majority of homeowners never give much importance to the fuse box till at the time of installing light fixture, ceiling fan or an outlet. Even during the blowing out of the fuses they think it is a vital electrical component for their home.
Apart from regular checking of its condition by the licensed electrician, you should also have some basic idea about the functional ability of the fuse. It can save you from huge monetary expense for the repair of the fuse box. It’s a smarter idea for sorting the circuits on your own so that you can come to know which switch control which components.
But if you own an old home, then you may find a circuit breaker instead of the fuse box. It was widely preferred then due to the utmost safety in comparison to that of the fuse box. During the circuit fault it leads to breaker trips open which can be reset later. On the other hand, with the fuse box, fuses get heated up and blown out completely.
As a result, you have to buy again a new fuse or should consider the replacement. Fuse box installation in London can be performed on your own. Even, you find that there is any risk it is always advisable that you should hire an experienced electrician to get the job done.
In case, there is a fuse box in an old home, it must be substituted with the circuit breaker panel to improve the safety. Continue reading this blog if you want to know more about the safety of circuit breaker panel and fuse box respectively.
Importance of installation of 3 wires in the residential property
Most of the people notice 3 wires come out from electrical poles to electric meter of the house. Widely, they are represented as ground, positive and negative!
Actually, there is a neutral line and 2 110-120 V AC power mains. These are connected to the electric meter and later extend within the home with the help of connecting wires to circuit breaker or a fuse box equipment. The neutral wire gets connected to ground/neutral bus bar.
Even a metal clamp is installed to connect with the pipes or the outside copper-plated rod which is fitted 8-10 feet underground. After attaching the 2 mains with the circuit breaker each one of then again will be attached to the metal bar which runs either side or back of the panel.
Therefore, after completing the fuse box installation, it will look like the cross connection of the left main to that of the right main.
Know about Ground in details with its significance
Round prong is known to every amongst the three-prong plug? It is the ground connector. Though, no electricity is passed through the ground wire yet it is considered as one of the important parts of the fuse box. It ensures the safety of the fuse box. Let’s look at its way to perform:
In the residential wiring, you can find 3-wires are there- white- neutral, black- for loading and copper- as ground wire. In the panel of the circuit breaker, the neutral wire connects to ground/neutral bus bar from poles. Although you may find both white and copper wires connect this bar from the household cable yet they perform in varied ways.
White neutral wires help in connecting the appliances and electronics with electrical power. It plays an important role in completing the electrical current flow along with the tendency of electrical resistance to some extent only.
Meanwhile, ground wires are usually connected to the metal circuit of the electrical appliances, motors and light fixtures but never carry current. If during a load voltage event (also known as ground fault), it somehow contacts the metal circuit of the appliance, shock will be experienced on touching the appliance.
During any other fault, current should be flown for opening and interruption of the circuit. As ground wire possesses the minimum electrical resistance, most voltage of the fault streams down via this wire for broken trip the circuit breaker. Though it only lasts for a few seconds or fractional seconds yet it saves someone’s life.
Safety tips of Circuit Breaker
Some tips are discussed here for your preparation for breaker trips or during performing any electrical repair in the home:
- The flashlight should always be kept with the fresh batteries and placed close to the circuit breaker panel.
- Clean the circuit breaker panel access.
- Panel information must be kept up-to-date with the help of post of the breaker directory on the interior of panel door. As per the national Electrical Codes; Every circuit modification and circuit should be identified legibly as evident, clear and specific use of purpose.
- Number must be written on inside of each switch faceplate and outlet by a marker. By this way, during performing any electrical work, you will be sure for turning off the exact breaker with the help of the breaker number on the faceplate.
Hopefully, this type of introduction to the fuse box is proven to be helpful. It will also reveal in better understanding of crucial electrical components of the home. But if there is any safety hazard, you can get in touch with the Electric Works London. Our team of domestic electricians are experienced enough to deal with any sort of electrical repairs and faults in your home.