How to Deal with a Blown Fuse or Damaged Circuit Breaker

Any structure with more than one electrical circuit requires a fuse to ensure the safety of both the appliances and the wiring in general. In addition, a fuse will prevent damages to the power grid in the event of a massive shortage or overload in the neighborhood, or when there are fluctuations in the power current. A certified electrician can easily fix your blown fuse by diagnosing your house, and figuring out what caused the blown fuse, perhaps you have installed one too many electric appliances in your home that causes the energy requirements of your house to surpass the power restrictions set by the power company, or maybe there is a short-circuit in the concealed wiring that could lead to an electrical emergency or a fire, and the blown fuse is causing further damage to the structure. 

Where to look first

Of course, any affordable electrician in Kensington would need to check out your electric panel, examine the fuse and find out which sector in your house has caused the fuse to blow. Usually, only a segment of your structure will lose power, rather than the whole building, and that helps you and the electrician to locate the source of the electrical disturbance. Your electrical panel is often hidden inside a metal lid or box. Such panels are often placed in the garage, basement or utility room of your house. In some of the older houses, this panel can be found in the yard or near the entrance. Some larger structures house more than one electrical panel. The exact location of this panel is always reported in the home inspection certificate. It is recommended to avoid boxing up or covering your electric panel for easy access in the event of an emergency.

Inside the Magical Electrical Box

Once the fuse box is located, you should figure out whether you have fuses or circuit breakers. The main difference is in their shape and how they are installed on the panel. Fuses are circular, and they are screwed in the socket placed on the board, while circuit breakers are in the shape of switches or levers, set in a row. One of the ways to make working with a circuit board or panel easier is to mark which switch or fuse corresponds to what part of the electrical grid in your house. This will save time, and prevent confusion when you lose power, which often comes with darkness.

Is it the Fuse or something else entirely?

If power suddenly goes out in a section of your house and you see lights in the neighboring houses, chances are you just overloaded a fuse or short-circuited a breaker. The first course of action is unplugging all electrical appliances in that part of the house, and switching off any device that cannot be unplugged. If you don’t figure out what caused the overload and fix it then, the fuse will blow right after you fix it. In fact, the point of having a fuse installed in your building is to create a safety measure that will disrupt the flow of electricity in case a major issue has caused the overload. This may seem inconvenient, but it’s literally saving your property.

That’s why you need a certified electrician that can check up on your system whenever a problem like this occurs, make sure no long-term damage is sustained by your electrical structure. 

Always use safety gloves when dealing with your electrical panel, and make sure your hands are dry and that the main power is off when you handle the fuses or circuit breakers. 

Make sure that you find out what the specifications for the fuse or breaker are, and that you are replacing it with a fuse of the same amperage and model. Never replace the blown fuse with one of higher amperage, for this could quite possibly damage your circuit board by feeding it too much power beyond the scopes of the panel’s capacities. It is wise to keep a few spare fuses of the same model nearby, so when an unexpected fuse short-out happens, you know what to use to replace the fuse without much delay. Plus, you never know if the store nearby will have the fuse you want in stock at all times. 

An affordable electrician in Kensington can help you with all the problems mentioned above, as they have done a thousand times.  They can also guarantee that once the fuse is fixed, it will not happen every day. Once you are done with changing the fuse, you can turn the main power back on. If you experience another shortage afterward, turn off the main power again and call an affordable electrician. If the problem persists, there could be a major issue with your electrical structure.