Why do we use fuses instead of circuit breakers? Like in cars or furnace circuit boards?
In: 7
One thing the other answers haven’t quite said:
You *expect* to trip breakers in a home. Breakers trip when you use too many appliances at once. It’s pretty easy for a toaster and a microwave to set off a breaker when run at the same time. So having something with easy to recover from like a circuit breaker, is good.
On a car, fuses only blow when something goes wrong. Normal operation should basically never result in a blown fuse. And when a fuse blows, there’s likely an actual repair that needs to be done in the electrical system. It’s not just unplugging your space heater like in a hosue. So quick fixes aren’t that as important there.
Also circuit breakers allow you to deliberately turn off power to sections of the house when doing repairs and upgrades. Without a circuit breaker, you’d need switches or you’d need to pull fuses out of a live circuit.
One thing the other answers haven’t quite said:
You *expect* to trip breakers in a home. Breakers trip when you use too many appliances at once. It’s pretty easy for a toaster and a microwave to set off a breaker when run at the same time. So having something with easy to recover from like a circuit breaker, is good.
On a car, fuses only blow when something goes wrong. Normal operation should basically never result in a blown fuse. And when a fuse blows, there’s likely an actual repair that needs to be done in the electrical system. It’s not just unplugging your space heater like in a hosue. So quick fixes aren’t that as important there.
Also circuit breakers allow you to deliberately turn off power to sections of the house when doing repairs and upgrades. Without a circuit breaker, you’d need switches or you’d need to pull fuses out of a live circuit.
In cars I suspect it’s simply a cost issue, fuses are cheap compared to the cost of a breaker and they don’t blow very often. I fly small airplanes (Cessnas and Pipers) and most of them (in fact everyone I’ve flown) use circuit breakers right on the instrument panel. Obviously if a critical circuit overloads you can’t just pullover and find / change a fuse.
In cars I suspect it’s simply a cost issue, fuses are cheap compared to the cost of a breaker and they don’t blow very often. I fly small airplanes (Cessnas and Pipers) and most of them (in fact everyone I’ve flown) use circuit breakers right on the instrument panel. Obviously if a critical circuit overloads you can’t just pullover and find / change a fuse.
One thing the other answers haven’t quite said:
You *expect* to trip breakers in a home. Breakers trip when you use too many appliances at once. It’s pretty easy for a toaster and a microwave to set off a breaker when run at the same time. So having something with easy to recover from like a circuit breaker, is good.
On a car, fuses only blow when something goes wrong. Normal operation should basically never result in a blown fuse. And when a fuse blows, there’s likely an actual repair that needs to be done in the electrical system. It’s not just unplugging your space heater like in a hosue. So quick fixes aren’t that as important there.
Also circuit breakers allow you to deliberately turn off power to sections of the house when doing repairs and upgrades. Without a circuit breaker, you’d need switches or you’d need to pull fuses out of a live circuit.
Latest Answers