subject: The Best Way To Change a Fuse on a Fuseboard [print this page] The Best Way To Change a Fuse on a Fuseboard
Every house should have a modern electrical fuseboard fitted. With the UK it is known as an RCD unit or Residual Current Device. It protects the complete electrical system against all electrical faults including an overload. The fuseboard usually consists of a mains switch, circuit breakers and several fuses. Every circuit breaker or fuse matches up to a certain area of electrical wiring within your house.As an electrical fault happens the circuit breaker will without doubt shut off or 'trip'. In an older style fuseboard the fuse will 'blow'. The electricity source in that certain piece of your house will be cut off, this protects against fires breaking out which is stemming from electrical overload. The drawback of a fusebox over a circuit breaker is that when a fuse blows, it has to be changed, but when a circuit breaker trips, you just need to reset it with the flip of a switch. Changing a fuse in an older style fuse board is what we will be writing about here.Naturally, safety is an important thing to think about when changing or doing anything on your electrical system. Shut down the mains lever at the board before changing a fuse. Shut down the lights and unplug any appliances which are supplied by that particular fuse. Always, when you are changing a fuse, be sure to replace it with the exact rating. A fuse with a higher rating will permit too much electricity to run through the circuit which may cause a fire due to an overload.In cases where a fuse keeps blowing, get a qualified electrician in. Possibly it is time to replace your switchboard with a modern RCD unit. Fuseboards are usually labeled so you can see which fuse protects which part of your house. However, in case your fuseboard does not have any tagging, have an electrician label it for you the following time he is at your property. This information will certainly make it less difficult for yourself in finding a blown fuse the next time it occurs.Changing a blown fuse is quite simple. Follow these steps when changing fuses:1. Turn off the master switch on the switchboard.2. Turn off all of the lights and unplug any appliances inside the affected section.3. Check the labels on your switchboard. Remove the particular fuse that relates to the region in your home that ran lost power.4. If your switchboard does not have any labelling or if you have problems in pinpointing the blown fuse, you will need to pull out and check every fuse until you locate the blown one.5. The blown fuse will likely be quite obvious because the wires inside will certainly have seperated after they burned out.6. Make sure that your fuse is the right rating. You can as a rule see the rating printed on the fuse itself. Ratings of lighting circuits range from 5 amps to 10 amps, 10 amps to 15 amps are for socket outlets, and ratings which are above 15 amps are for power hungry appliances like cookers.7. Replace the fuse and switch the main switch on.8. Test all of the lights and appliances inside the affected area of your home.Finally, Congradulate yourself, you will have successfully replaced that fuse.I have always had properties that I own looked after by the same electrician london company and through the years they have saved me a great deal of money, just by giving me some very useful advise.
