I thought about this for a while and it's possibly that the flickering is not just in your house, but on the whole local circuit. At night, the power companies continuously adjust the system and you might be seeing the effects of those adjustments. I say that based on the fact that all lights are flickering, not just the one on the bad fuse circuit.
-- Bobby G.
Maybe it happens in Canada. Very doubtful in the US.
Fuse elements on power systems burn a gap when they open. The fuse elements are almost always quite rigid and can't vibrate back together. I really don't think UL would like that behavior.
In many years in the industry I have not seen a fuse "just fail". Maybe you could buy bootleg fuses from the US.
Dang fuses were "made in USA" And they don't know if they are in Detroit or Windsor. The fuse may fracture when cooling off with no load - "the light worked last time I tried it" - no arcing, no melting, no sign of failure.
They burn a gap when they "blow" Rigidity of the fuse element causes fatigue from repeated cycling.- right at the soldered joint to the shell.
As far as the UL is concerned, they don't really care because it is NOT a safety issue. Can't cause a fire or any other damage
But bro, you're a *Canadian* (-: They've always d
So while you and others may have them, fuse panels are definitely on their way OUT.
That site also goes on to say:
only replaced 2 fuses in 29 years. One of which was DEFINITELY a
Gack! You've got TWO items that are no longer considered codeworthy. Aluminum wire and perhaps the last fuse panel installed in Canada. (-:
I don't doubt that, but most panels I've looked into don't.
No, I don't think so. If fuse panels were as safe and reliable as you've been portraying them, then why aren't they allowed in new service? It's because they have serious safety issues compared to breaker panels. "Safe and serviceable" is hard to evaluate without seeing the box but we already have good reason to believe there's something very wrong with it since a new fuse didn't cure the flickering.
I also base my comments on the fact that I've never seen a screw in fuse panel in all the new homes I've every looked at and I bought my first house in 1984 and my parents bought several houses before that. The NEC decided against fuses, and I'll bet those reasons are safety related. I assume the primary reason is that fuses are too easy to bypass with higher-than-proper rated fuses, pennies or foil. I assume a secondary reason is that when they are unscrewed you can get shocked a lot more easily than when a breaker trips. A tripped breaker has no potential exposure to electrical current. More reasons? Fuses may not be screwed in completely and thus make intermittent contact.
We know none of those things. Another site says this about fuse panels and why they've disappeared from new home wiring:
Well, our OP certainly has experienced the flickering lights part.
Source:
Well, explain why they're no longer going into new work if what those sites are saying is true. The NEC wouldn't abandon a successful technology for absolutely no reason, would they? (-:
As I am researching this, I keep seeing comments like this:
If the guy had flickering lights throughout the house, there's good evidence the panel isn't working properly.
Those are Type S fuse receptacles that used different threads on each value of fuse, making it impossible to substitute the wrong size. I had them in this house when it had a 60A fuse panel. Different color fuses, too.
Since we're now >>>>>> six quotes in, we're just kicking the football around now. It will be interesting to see what the final resolution of the problem will be, but I am betting it's going to end in a panel upgrade.
It really seems that I am not the only one who believes that fuse panels should be replaced with breakers. Apparently the people that have to pay out for electrical fires do, too.
-- Bobby G.
You probably have an intemittent connection. Because messing with the fuse fixed it once I'd suspect that area first. Your electrician should be able to tighten all the connections where the wire enter and leave the box. If that doesn't solve it then the problem may be in the meter.
Maybe you are thinking of CSA.
You think UL has no concern about fuses opening in ways they are not designed to open? Arcing at an alleged fracture point? Protecting people with a connection that is intermittent?
I haven't seen it. I spent years doing residential, commercial, industrial service work.
Breakers can explode under extremely high overload. They can cause the same arc flash and burn down.
If you have a solid short at a panel, the current is the "available fault current". (For a house service it is likely 5,000 - 10,000A).
Electrical apparatus, particularly fuses and breakers, has a rating for the "available fault current" of the source. If you use a fuse or breaker (or motor starter...) at a point where the available fault current is higher than the rating for the fuse or breaker it can explode.
Fuses are readily and cheaply available for circuits with available fault currents of 200,000A. Breakers are not readily or cheaply available with that rating.
If apparatus is applied within its rating - current, voltage, available fault current - it doesn't explode. The NEC requires apparatus be used withing its rating - including available fault current. I expect the "site" knows nothing about this.
They want them to open to clear a fault.
The arc is very tiny and totally enclosed - definitely not a safety issue
GENERALLY the connection fails totally open. If it is interupting a fault it fails totally open. Like anything man-made it CAN fail in unpredictable ways - but a fuse will ALWAYS blow to clear a short or heavy overload.
I've seen a few - more in low voltage DC automotive fuses than mains or branch circuit fuses - but I have had 2 plug fuses fail in my own house over the last 29 years that were NOT overloads or shorts.
Can't rmember for sure, but I think both were either Buss or Gould
UL also does not want fuses to fail in hazardous ways Arcing and intermittently being open are hazardous.
The size of the arc is determined by the current. Arcs can generate a lot of heat. And cause fires or deteriorate nearby connections.
So for power wiring we are only talking about plug fuses. Allegedly only 2 have failed.
OK Bozo - if there was any amount of current involved - read that as anything aproaching even a fraction of the current the fuse is rated for, it would NOT be intermittent - the fuse link would "fuse" - which means melt - and open completely from the heat of the arc.
And in a cartridge fuse,(mains) the arc extinguishing filler would look after it in short order. In automotive fuses it is MUCH more common because of the vibration issue. As a mechanic I found DOZENS of fuses that had simply fractured - and MANY of them were intermittent.
Absolutely no way it could escalate into a fire safety issue.
You are just being an ass - admit it.
2 have failed in MY panel over 30 years.I can remember my dad mentioning several situations when he was working as an electrician where the fuse had "failed" - not "blown" and the neon testers used widely in the day to check for power showed power - but a 15 watt bulb would not light. His recommendation was if you found one fuse failed in that way in a customer's panel, and all the fuses were the same brand - and looked to possibly have been installed at the same time, to replace them all. He figured a bad batch. I suspect it was temperature cycling/vibration or whatever, possibly combined with a bad batch
Just responding to your dubious posts.
UL is not going to like the fuses you describe.
I carry a neon tester in my shirt pocket. On a 120V circuit it draws somewhat less than 1mA. That is around the edge of what you can feel as a shock. It will light up at much lower currents. One of the reasons I carry it is you can hold one of the test leads and touch the other lead to a wire. If the wire is hot, the neon lamp lights up dimly. That is with the capacitance between me and the 'world' as part of the circuit.
Neon testers can have the same problem as digital meters - they can indicate when there is no real voltage. If my tester indicates there is voltage, if it is not bright I know the indication may not be real.
What is the leakage current for a fuse that is blown - with vaporized metal.
I don't buy that the fuse was "failed - not blown"
Must be a Canadian thing.
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