Pulling a fuse with load on it

[ed-ectrician]

One of the first things i learnt was, if you pull a dno fuse, remove the load first.

Of course i never pull fuses but that's another story...

Has anyone ever pulled one accidentally or otherwise with a load on it? What happened?!?! Bloke i work with said it's fine but he's ex military so likes to be known as a bit of a 'crazy bloke' if u know what i mean!

Not saying all ex army are like this but you do get a few like this dont you?!

Ed

 

[Darkwood]

Depends on the size of load and inductive content .... anything from a little crackle to the larger industrial racking gear that can kill you outright if PPE not used.

 

[Deleted member 26818]

If you pull a fuse which has a load on it, there will be an arc.
The size of the arc will depend on the size of the load.
The greater the load, the greater the arc.
The main problem associated with this, is that the contacts could become welded together, or at the very least damaged.

 

[yellowvanman]

Depends what the current is and how 'efficiently' the fuse is pulled. Would probably spark a little.

Its probably a larger reaction to pulling a BS3036 when there is load on that!

 

[tony mc]

If it comes out without a problem its another thing putting it back in !

 

[ed-ectrician]

I knew it would arc, was wondering how crazy the arc would be in a flat with say 35 amps running thru it?

 

[Knobhead]

I've pulled 400A rewireable fuses under load. I realy don't know what the problem is.

If you do pull them don't dither about, grab it, pull it!

If it's three phase then you have to pull two at the same time. I always went for yellow and blue, red usualy has more load due to idiot electricians loading one phase.

 

[markc123]

If you pull a fuse which has a load on it, there will be an arc.
The size of the arc will depend on the size of the load.
The greater the load, the greater the arc.
The main problem associated with this, is that the contacts could become welded together, or at the very least damaged.

So basically what we're saying here Mr.OP is that....tell your army friend to go to a factory, make sure everything is switched on and operational and then pull the fuse. :biggrin:

 

[Darkwood]

Domestic is relatively small even with the inductive loads found and this will limit the effect at most to a little flash and crackle ..... only minimal chance of maybe getting a burn or blinded from the vaporised metal and minute shrapnel.

Assuming no short circuit is present!!!! when refitting the DNO fuse that we all know this is just hypothetical

 

[Knobhead]

Up date, pull the fuse under fault conditions then god help you!

If you know there's a fault, stand back and let the fuse do its job.

 

[ed-ectrician]

Bloody nora yes under fault conditions would be nothing short of hilarious

 

[Knobhead]

Bloody nora yes under fault conditions would be nothing short of hilarious

I've see it done ed, it's not funny loading you're mate in to the ambulance.

No Way No How can you beat that fuse. Just stand back and wait for the pop.

It's more like a dull thud really with HRC fuses. Bit of a let down.

 

[ed-ectrician]

Fair enough Tony. No fun at all

 

[Darkwood]

Now removing the explosive pellet out of an Air Bomb firework and having a spark from the fire accidently exploding it is a real bang...... and nearly lost the use of my hand and had temporery hearing loss..... when your a teen you do stupid stuff but believe it or not it never stopped me trying again .... im grown up now and spend my career trying to prevent big bangs...ironic in a sense.

 

[daverogers]

i've see it done ed, it's not funny loading you're mate in to the ambulance.

No way no how can you beat that fuse. Just stand back and wait for the pop.

It's more like a dull thud really with hrc fuses. Bit of a let down.

and dont forget partial blindness