fuses keep blowing

[gia]

i have an old house and one of my fuses blows the minute i replace it even though i have unplugged almost everything on the circuit. they are plug fuses, type S 15. help!

[I-zheet M'drurz]

Uhhh, that's tellng you something is wrong. Since you don't even know that, how could anybody give you any advice other than to contact somebody who does???

[Nehmo Sergheyev]

- gia -

- Nehmo - You have to figure out what is causing the fuse to blow. First, find a circuit breaker to replace the fuse. You can find a circuit breaker that screws-in and has a button on top. Next, experiment with _everything_ - not "almost everything" - on the circuit unplugged. Report back.

[Toller]

Last time that happened to me it was because a mouse had chewed a wire inside a cabinet and shorted it out. The shower of sparks everytime I (very stupidly) reset the breaker was pretty dramatic. It was a lot of work to clean up the vaporized mouse, but I am very lucky it didn't ignite the paper products in the cabinet.

Don't be stupid; stop playing with it! Find someone who knows what they are doing to look at it.

[Charlie Bress]

Almost everything unplugged is not everything. You cannot tell if you have a wiring fault or a bad item still connected.

As an aid in finding the problem here's an idea. If the plug fuse has screw threads that are the same as a standard light bulb, replace the fuse with a low wattage bulb, say a 15 or 25 watt one . If the fault is still present on the line the bulb will light. It will present an adequate load on the line to prevent a high current flow. With the bulb lit you can investigate everything on the troubled line. When the problem is discovered and fixed, the lamp will go out.

While working on finding the problem, always bear in mind that that circuit is live and must be treated with respect. If you can't fix it with this technique, remove the bulb from the fuse socket and call a professional.

Charlie

[Anthony Diodati]

[CBhvac]

If you cant figure out you have a short, then you sure as hell dont need to go looking for it. Call someone that knows what he is doing to investigate and repair.

[Toller]

"

Thats an interesting idea; the bulb limits the current to less than an amp, which presumably is not dangerous at the short.

Is this legal? However clever, it just sounds wrong.

[Thund3rstruck_N0i]

gia spilled my beer when they jumped on the table and proclaimed in

You have a short somewhere. Assuming everything really is disconnected on that line, you have a problem with the internal wiring. Judging by your post here it would probably be best to get a professional there to fix it for you...

NOI

[Anthony Diodati]

[John Hines]

Doesn't work if the circuit has one of those "no-tamper" inserts, which only allows the correct sized fuse to be installed.

[John Grabowski]

It's an old electrician's trick for facilitating the location of a short. It is only used for troubleshooting. You must use caution with this technique as you could have current flowing where it shouldn't be. I don't recommend non-professionals use this. You are working with a live circuit.

For circuit breakers I use a rubber pigtail socket. One end on the breaker and the other spliced to the circuit feed. If the line is clear of a short, the bulb should go out unless some current is passing through an appliance or lamp.

What I generally do is have someone stand by near the bulb while I go look at each affected switch and receptacle. Maybe give them a light tap with my finger. If that causes the light to blink, I would open up that particular receptacle or switch.

If I didn't find anything suspect on my initial inspection I would open up each device and check the wiring. There is current flowing through the wires while this is being done. I would check for loose or broken wires. I would try disconnecting all of the wires in the receptacle box to see if that causes the light to go out. This step would be repeated until the cause for the short is found.

If it wasn't found after that, it will be time to open the walls and look for the problem.

John Grabowski

[barry martin]

NS> > i have an old house and one of my fuses blows the minute i replace it NS> > even though i have unplugged almost everything on the circuit. they NS> > are plug fuses, type S 15. help! NS> You have to figure out what is causing the fuse to blow. First, find a NS> circuit breaker to replace the fuse. You can find a circuit breaker that NS> screws-in and has a button on top. Next, experiment with _everything_ - NS> not "almost everything" - on the circuit unplugged. Report back.

These fuses will only fit a standard fuse base. Years ago I wanted to replace the glass fuses with the "circuit breaker fuses" and could not as a previous occupant had installed adapters in the fuse sockets to use the smaller-based fuses. ("Standard" is about 1¬" dia., "small" is about 3/4" dia. base.)

The problem of course is a short somewhere. It's that somewhere that makes things interesting! I would try to trace the wiring, opening junction/switch/outlet boxes to find the problem.

- ¯ barry.martinþATþthesafebbs.zeppole.com ®

• Practice safe government . . . use a kingdom.

[Tony Berlin]

everything_ -

[Anthony Diodati]