Friday 9 November 2012

What Does A Circuit Breaker Do?

By Lori Buenavista


Today circuit breakers can be easily tripped. A room in the house goes dark, or your electrical plugs don't work and what you will do simply flip the switch back to where it must be. However what exactly is going on when that switch flips off? What does your circuit breaker do for you? The basic answer is that your own circuit breaker is there to safeguard you, yet how it does is a little bit complicated. Circuit breakers are called as such for a cause.

Each time a dangerous rush of energy is detected, your own circuit breaker will interrupt the electrical movement by opening the circuit to prevent possible fires or other damages. When the actual circuit is opened, it makes what is known as an arc, which is a large amount of heat created by the interruption of the actual electrical circuit. The circuit breaker was made to withstand this arc and then extinguish it to avert any possible danger. When an excess of energy is detected, the actual circuit is opened by what are called contacts, which are made of highly conductive metals to ensure that the contacts could endure the arc. But, these contacts can wear out after battling many arcs that come their way.

Luckily, quite a few circuit breakers have a replaceable contact so it's easy to help keep the home or other building safe against fire or electrical powered damage. When you flip the switch back on, the circuit closes and resumes the actual electric move to give you the light and electrical power you need. Even while the actual contacts are able to hold the actual heat up from the actual arc, the actual arc has to be extinguished before the actual electric current could be reestablished.

This can be done with air, oil, insulating gas or vacuum, depending on what type of circuit breaker it is. It sounds complicated, yet it doesn't grab long for the actual arc to be extinguished. Nearly all arcs could be snuffed out in 30 to 150 milliseconds. That's about 0.03 to 0.15 seconds. So, while you finally lug those old boxes aside, the arc has been extinguished and the actual circuit is ready to resume that electric flow to your television.

When the circuit breaker is tripped, it seems like a bit of a pain to go and flip it back on. Yet, in fact, the circuit breaker is safeguarding you, like a home security system for malevolent electrical surges. Except, unlike an alarm system, it does not merely detects the problem, it gets rid of it for you. Just reset them to zero and they can be a trusty circuit breaker which will be ready to defend you from the fire or energy surges.




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