5 Reasons to choose circuit breakers over a fuse
Before the introduction of circuit breakers, fuses were used as protective devices in electrical distribution. Fuses would protect the equipment and people against circuit overloads, short circuits, and other types of electrical faults. After a period of using the fuses, circuit breakers were introduced and have the capability of offering more advantages over the fuses. In manufacturing and processing operations, guarding motors is essential to maintain high and efficient production. You can shop at nriparts.com for your circuit breakers as they are much better despite the low cost of fuses. In comparison to a fuse, circuit breakers help machine manufacturers during facility management to achieve the best initiatives. Below are reasons why circuit breakers are more beneficial than fuses.
- Greater power to function
Circuit breakers are enhanced with more functions, for instance, ground fault protection. Circuit breakers can provide more power while carrying out their functions. Also, they allow system coordination between its breakers, for example, cascading and selectivity. Having the most advanced and the newest circuit breakers will offer a wide breadth of capabilities in a close-pack size having flexible designs that allow filed-upgrading. Add-ons of the circuit breakers include status indication and remote control. Auxiliary contacts, alarm, energy, and power measurements are benefits of circuit breakers. There is advanced circuit breaker development that is the thermal-magnetic and magnetic motor. Such circuits protect the shorter circuits and any overload in a machine.
2. Consistent production
Performance in the production of fuses can degrade due to them getting old really quick or being old fashion. Because of the fuses aging, it may cause them to open on normal conditions. Circuit breakers do not age fast since they are long-lasting. Moreover, there is no exact current that you can use to test a fuse to know the cause of its opening during normal conditions. But, when having the circuit breakers, they are testable during manufacturing. In addition, during the operation of the circuit breakers, it is good to carry out some testing to ensure that their maintenance is high performance.
3. Increase in protection
Under an overload condition, a circuit breaker can trip too many times faster than a fuse. The breaking capacity of a circuit breaker is better than an equal number of fuses. Modeling circuit breakers are in a way that provides safe and better services than fuses. Some circuit breakers will deliver exceptional fault current limitation. Back in the day, the fuses would limit current, but it is not as powerful as the circuit breakers. This capability only offers reliable protection and reduces asset aging. It also enhances the extension of service life. When dealing with circuit breakers, it breaks all three phases of a motor in an industry simultaneously, thus, protecting an entire machine.
4. Cost savings
The price of a single fuse is cheap to the cost of a circuit breaker on considering the total cost of installing and maintaining a fuse. It is so because, unlike a circuit breaker, fuses lack an inbuilt switching capability, leading to the need for an upstream switch. Moreover, for a three-phased circuit, three fuses each needing cost of a fused band. Due to the heat dissipation, fuses will always need a larger enclosure. Lastly, when one of the three fuses opens, the replacement is done to them all and not only to the one in bad condition. Therefore, when dealing with fuses, an expensive replacement stock of fuses should be kept at hand since the total cost of usage is greater than that of a circuit breaker.
5. Safety improvements
Replacing the fuses due to the exposing conductors can be threatening to unskilled persons. Therefore, using of fuse is always said to be a safety risk. Connections of circuit breakers are found behind a device, making it easier to start a repair operation. Therefore, when dealing with circuit breakers, it becomes safer for also unskilled workers to handle them. Replacing a fuse with the wrong rating, model or wires, will lead to fire issues in the environment. Such mistakes rarely occur in breakers since they often do not need replacing after tripping. In addition, the fuse takes more time on simple reclosing after a trip.
