Blow This Fuse – Old Switchboards

It's Amazing How Many Houses Still Have Ceramic Fuses on Their Switchboards

This old-school technology has been around since the dawn of domestic electrical supply. Wire is wound around a pair of poles and when the circuit overloads it melts. The temptation is to replace the wire, rather than locate the problem.

But it isn’t just a piece of copper wire, but a special copper fuse wire with different sizes for the various circuits and their loads. So if a heavier grade of wire, or a non-electrical copper wire installed, you run the risk of a switchboard fire.

Also, these old fuses only provide very basic protection against short-circuits and system overloads. They do no protect against electrical shocks.

At the very least they should be replaced by modern circuit breakers and safety switches. But Sharpe Group recommends the installation of combination safety switches. These trip when there are electrical shorts or overloads and also protect against electric shocks.

The advantage of these multi-function devices is that any shutdown is confined to the circuit being protected and the problem will not deactivate your entire switchboard. So you might lose power to the fridge and freezer but you will still have your lights and air-conditioning working.

It will also make it easier (and therefore cheaper) for an electrician to identify the problem circuit.

Another bonus is that you no longer get “nuisance” tripping of fuses as each circuit has its own earth fault limit, rather than the entire switchboard relying on one overall safety switch.

The switchboard pictured above is an extreme example, which also has old bakelite switches and levers fitted. But you’d be surprised how many so-called upgraded switchboards still have a couple of ceramic fuses.

Let us help you get rid of them and bring your household electrical safety into the new century. Sharpe Group offers a complete electrical safety check-and-test service. Not only do we make sure you have safety switches that work and the house is earthed correctly, we can verify that your entire house electrics are operating correctly. This involves everything from the downlights to the smoke detectors, from the power points to the electrical wiring in the roof space. It is a complete and thorough inspection and test and if we find any issues we have a range of affordable options to ensure your electrical safety for the future.

Contact us today to talk about our range of service packs. Phone 8262 5000 – One call and we can fix it all.