When building a new home or renovating the existing one, you need to make an insane amount of decisions at every step of construction. How many windows should I install? How many outlets do I need? Which color theme will look best? When building your house, one of the most critical questions is, “should I invest in circuit breakers or fuses”? Choosing one over the other is going to be a tough call. Both come with their share of pros and cons, but the question is, “Which one is safer”?

5 Reasons of Why Are Circuit Breakers Better Than Fuses.

Gone are the days when people used only fuses to electrical units due to short-circuits and electrical faults. The main purpose of both fuses and circuit breakers is to prevent a fault in your electrical grid, which could cause significant damage to your property. The difference between the two is in the way they operate. Fuses consist of a protective filament, which disrupts the current flow. Circuit breakers, on the other hand, flip. Each one does the same job, but circuit breakers are comparatively better than fuses for good reasons. Here’s why circuit breakers make an excellent investment for buildings.

1 Consistent Performance

Fuses are cheaper than circuit breakers, which explains why it’s the first choice of many homeowners. But, if you need a system that offers long-term protection from electrical faults, a fuse is not your ideal choice. They tend to face wear over time. With aging, fuses lose their strength. As a result, the outdated fuses are likely to open during normal conditions. The biggest issue is that you can’t test a fuse, so there’s absolutely no way you can know what value can lead to the fuse opening.

Circuit breakers offer consistency in performance. Although they are not as old as fuses, circuit breakers are more reliable in terms of operation. They are tested during manufacturing and operating life. You can retest it as many times as you want to ensure they are in good working order.

2 Extended Protection

The circuit breaker has a greater breaking capacity than fuses. In fact, it can be a thousand times faster than a fuse when it comes to an electrical short-circuit or overload. The circuit breakers are designed to provide you with the best fault current limitation, a feature that was available with fuses only in the past.

Not only does it protect the electrical units, but it extends the lifespan of your assets. Another common problem with fuses is that there is a possibility that only one of the three fuses opens at a time, increasing the risk of overload. That’s never a problem with a circuit breaker. You can rest easy knowing that all three phases will break simultaneously.

3 Ensure Higher Level of Safety and Better Uptime

Circuit breakers are safer than fuses in that they are easy to manage and safer to operate. Fuses, on the other hand, are associated with a higher level of safety risk. Since conductors of the fuses remain exposed, there is a very high safety risk for people replacing the fuses. Circuit breakers have hidden connections, which allow you to operate them safely. Even if you are not a skilled electrician, you can work on the circuit breakers without worrying about the safety risks.

Do you know a common cause of the electrical fault or a short-circuit in industrial applications is the incorrect implementation of the fuse? This especially happens when you have installed a fuse of the wrong model and rating. The biggest advantage of choosing circuit breakers over fuses is that they don’t need to be replaced. No matter how old they are, they will work well given that they were installed properly and are maintained as required. Besides that, reclosing a breaker is not as time-consuming and complex a procedure as replacing the fuse. You need skilled electricians to ensure that the fuses are installed appropriately.

4 It is Cost-effective

As mentioned earlier, the fuse is available for a very reasonable price. It’s always cheaper than a circuit breaker. This leads us to the question, “how come circuit breakers are more cost-effective than fuses, then”? Fuses might be cheaper, but if we consider long-term costs, these units prove to be more expensive than circuit breakers. You need to factor in the cost of installation, maintenance, and replacement as well.

First things first, you need three fuses. Each fuse needs a fuse base, which costs you extra. Then, you need a switch system for fuses, as they don’t have an integrated switching option. At last, you need to replace the entire fuse base, if one of the three fuses opens. You need to keep a fuse for replacement at hand. All in all, the cost of installing a fuse is higher than circuit breakers. You don’t have to replace circuit breakers and nor do the circuit breakers require an additional switching function.

5 Better Functionality in the Long Run

Fuses are not as flexible as circuit breakers. You can enhance a circuit breaker with a set of additional features to improve its operational capacity. The best example of this integration is ground fault protection. The best circuit breakers are available in small sizes and flexible designs. They offer better functionality. A few popular add-ons you can integrate into a circuit breaker are alarm and auxiliary contacts, remote control, status indication, network communication, power measurement, etc.

Bottom Line

Unlike fuses, breakers are not dangerous. Even if you are an unskilled electrician, you can fix your circuit breakers on your own without worrying about the safety risks. It has hidden connections that offer the highest level of protection. Most importantly, breakers are easier to work with. They don’t need regular replacements, making them a cost-effective and innovative option for people looking for reliable fault-protection systems. If you are still struggling to choose between circuit breakers and fuses, visit professionalelectrical.ca and talk to their licensed and certified electricians. They can install and test your circuit breakers efficiently.