All Electrical Service Panels are equipped with fuses or circuit breakers that protect the wires in each circuit from overheating and causing a fire. In general, older Service boxes or panels use fuses, while more modern systems rely on Circuit Breakers.

Fuses and Circuit Breakers are safety devices that help prevent overloading of your home Electrical and Lighting Systems and can help prevent Electrical Fires. These Electric Circuit Breakers and Electrical Fuses can stop the continuous flow of Electrical current if they exceed the safe level of current flow to the various portions of your home’s Electrical System.

Electrical Fuses

Electrical Service Panels or Electrical boxes installed before 1965 may use fuses to protect Electric or Lighting Circuits. Early fuses were commonly used at different amperage levels in these Service Panels. Today, new homes require up to 200-amps or more Service panels depending on the building site in order to provide proper protection. It is very common to have blown fuses in an Electrical Overload Circuit or Electrical short circuit within the Electric equipment system.

Electrical Circuit Breakers

All newer homes are protected by Circuit Breakers. Unlike a fuse that must be replaced when blown out or burned out, a Circuit Breaker that has tripped or short off may be mechanically re-adjusted or replaced to resume operations once the problem has been resolved. A malfunctioned Circuit Breaker is likely the result of too many Circuit loads or Appliances overloading the circuit and should be Electrically repaired immediately.

Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCI)

AFCI devices are new protective devices that replace standard Circuit Breakers in the Electric Service panel for certain locations in the home or building. AFCI devices provide enhanced protection against additional Electrical Fire Hazards known as arc faults. An arc fault is a dangerous electrical problem caused by damaged, overheated, poor electric wiring connections, stressed electrical wiring hookups or electrical devices. Without AFCI devices, arc faults may be hidden from plain view until it’s too late.

At Deep Electric, we firmly recommend having your Electrical System Repairs and Installation done by Qualified Service Technicians, we provide Electrical Safety Inspections or Electrical System Evaluation Solutions. Remember with Lighting and Electrical issues, we need you to “Stay connected.”