Circuit Breakers Prevent Fires

Circuit breakers have been around for a long time but nobody really realises why all of these electrical components actually come in useful.

Brief History

Edison actually thought of the very first circuit breaker way back in 1879 so it is safe to say that the idea has been around for a long while. Edison's idea was to protect lighting circuit wiring from accidental short-circuits and overloads.

What They Do

All circuit breakers big or small have something in common when it comes to their operation but it does of course depends on the voltage class and the type of the circuit breaker itself.

The circuit breaker must detect a fault condition which is usually done within the breaker enclosure when it comes to the smaller circuit breakers. Once the fault has been found, contacts within the breaker will open up to stop the circuit. The current can be switched off manually on many of the smaller ones.

Once the current gets to a stage where it has to be interrupted an arc must be generated and the contained. This then means that the gap that is supposed to be there can carry on.

Saving Lives

Lives are saved through these circuit breakers everyear which is pretty cool. The problem occurs in the normal home when someone tries to plug in too many appliances to one location. If a circuit breaker is not in place these appliances could be too much and could start a fire. If a fire breaks out it could of course burn down the entire house and sometimes this can be avoided if you had that important circuit breaker. The circuit breaker will cut off all of the power before a fire starts.

So although you may not think all of those mil spec cables are important it would seem that they are.