Blown fuse issues on Harman, Breckwell, Englander, or any stove.
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Ok class the internet is a very wicked place to be. They talk about dirty stoves, blowers, and strange things with animals, mainly pigs.
Eric
Eric
Eatonpcat
Minister of Fire
Eatonpcat
Minister of Fire
Eatonpcat
Minister of Fire
Crap...That's funny too...Loved that commercial the first thousand times I saw it!!
WOW...what a thread! <gets 2nd bowl of popcorn and a cold drink>
Continue everybody
Continue everybody
heat seeker
Minister of Fire
I have replaced countless fuses in the shop that failed for no apparent reason other than fatigue.
That said, here is a quote from the Bussman Fuse site:
"Do fuses fatigue and wear out over time - requiring them to be replaced?”
This perception is a hold over from years ago when fuses were commonly constructed using zinc
fuse elements. Zinc has a relatively low melting temperature and a high expansion coefficient.
Through repeated circuit energizing and de-energizing, the zinc elements would heat up and cool
down (expand and contract) causing them to fatigue over time and lower their current carrying
capacity.
This is NOT the case with modern, current-limiting fuses that are made with either silver or copper
fuse elements. These have a higher melting temperature than zinc and are not typically
susceptible to fatiguing over time.
Your modern, current-limiting fuses should retain their performance characteristics for the life of
the installation under normal operating conditions and proper sizing methods for the application.
We frequently get reports that our current-limiting fuses are still working fine forty or fifty years
after being installed.
There is no recommended replacement schedule for our fuses. When properly applied, they retain
their performance characteristics until they are called upon to interrupt an overcurrent event –
then they open and need replacing. We hope this gives you a clearer understanding of how fuses
operate and how the old perception of fuse fatigue developed.
If you have any questions about this information or about overcurrent protection in general, please
contact us at:
Phone: 636-527-1270
Fax: 636-527-1607
Email: [email protected]
Having thrown my share of gasoline on this fire, I hastily withdraw...
That said, here is a quote from the Bussman Fuse site:
"Do fuses fatigue and wear out over time - requiring them to be replaced?”
This perception is a hold over from years ago when fuses were commonly constructed using zinc
fuse elements. Zinc has a relatively low melting temperature and a high expansion coefficient.
Through repeated circuit energizing and de-energizing, the zinc elements would heat up and cool
down (expand and contract) causing them to fatigue over time and lower their current carrying
capacity.
This is NOT the case with modern, current-limiting fuses that are made with either silver or copper
fuse elements. These have a higher melting temperature than zinc and are not typically
susceptible to fatiguing over time.
Your modern, current-limiting fuses should retain their performance characteristics for the life of
the installation under normal operating conditions and proper sizing methods for the application.
We frequently get reports that our current-limiting fuses are still working fine forty or fifty years
after being installed.
There is no recommended replacement schedule for our fuses. When properly applied, they retain
their performance characteristics until they are called upon to interrupt an overcurrent event –
then they open and need replacing. We hope this gives you a clearer understanding of how fuses
operate and how the old perception of fuse fatigue developed.
If you have any questions about this information or about overcurrent protection in general, please
contact us at:
Phone: 636-527-1270
Fax: 636-527-1607
Email: [email protected]
Having thrown my share of gasoline on this fire, I hastily withdraw...
Hey that is a good one heat seeker,in that one you have the admission that fuse fatigue happens/happened but the claim theirs no longer has that problem..
However that doesn't appear to hold up in various studies that have been published dealing with fuse failures.
The other thing I haven't seen mentioned much is the case that prompts this line: A quick acting fuse will be protected by the highly expensive component it was designed to protect burning out first.
That is to say a fuse that fails to act when it should.
Perhaps this case can account for the loss of controllers after repeated convection blower shutdowns or failures.
Ain't electronic/electric stuff a blast?
However that doesn't appear to hold up in various studies that have been published dealing with fuse failures.
The other thing I haven't seen mentioned much is the case that prompts this line: A quick acting fuse will be protected by the highly expensive component it was designed to protect burning out first.
That is to say a fuse that fails to act when it should.
Perhaps this case can account for the loss of controllers after repeated convection blower shutdowns or failures.
Ain't electronic/electric stuff a blast?
I miss all the good stuff... Bonjour!! Love it. 
Sorry. Back to fuses and chit.
Sorry. Back to fuses and chit.
Harvey Schneider
Minister of Fire
That's like asking OJ did you do it. Bussman is a good company and makes a good product. They cannot, however, publicly admit to a weakness that their competitors haven't admitted to. In a well designed circuit their fuses will last the life of the product. Not all products are well designed.
Careful design can eliminate fuse fatigue, but companies are usually more interested in cost effective design. That involves compromises that result in an "acceptable" failure rate. I have seen power supply design that brings the fuse close to its failure limit on every power on cycle. The manufacturer considered it acceptable because actual failure was several years out, clearly beyond the warranty limit. What they were doing wasn't considered wrong. They were giving their customers acceptable performance at an aggressive price. In commercial product design, where production volumes are large, saving $0.10 on a design makes an Engineer a hero.
So what does this have to do with pellet stoves? I forget.
I've seen breakers fail to trip and in fact there was an entire line of breakers made by Federal Pacific Electric that developed a reputation for failures, seems they didn't fully conform to certain UL test criteria, there was never a recall issued however.
http://inspectapedia.com/fpe/CPSCsummary.htm#H1
http://inspectapedia.com/fpe/CPSCsummary.htm#H1
I miss all the good stuff... Bonjour!! Love it.
Sorry. Back to fuses and chit.
Unfortunately while there is a lot of crud on the Internet there are also a lot of good solid information.
Having been an affiliate member of the IEEE (I couldn't be a full member because I wasn't an EE) I have a little more faith in that first report I provided a link to than most.
The party who put it together is a certified reliability engineer.
heat seeker
Minister of Fire
That's why I'd rather have a fuse panel than a breaker panel. Alas, I have a breaker panel with 40 breakers in it. This place is pretty over-wired, but the distribution is pretty stupid in places.
boosted3g
Feeling the Heat
Federal Pacific made better welding equipment than breakers. When we had the great floods of 2011 my buddy has 6 feet of water in his basement and not a single breaker tripped. The fire department came to pump out the basement and when they saw that they wouldnt touch a thing. After the water was pumped out i was turning everything back on with a broom handle. Do you know how hard it is to start a well pump with a broom handle? not a good time
My favorite color is blue so those are the fuses i always use.
My favorite color is blue so those are the fuses i always use.
In my opinion Edison and tesla are both very important. Edison was kind of like Henry Ford... and Tesla was kind of like Carol Shelby except impacting electricity instead of automobiles.
letsblaze
Feeling the Heat
Eatonpcat
Minister of Fire
People tell me that I have a short Fuse...Is the short fuse credited to Edison, Tesla or Ben Franklin (Yes I still believe the kite story! )???
Also can my short fuse be fatiguedor not??
)???Also can my short fuse be fatiguedor not??
People tell me that I have a short Fuse...Is the short fuse credited to Edison, Tesla or Ben Franklin (Yes I still believe the kite story!
Also can my short fuse be fatigued or not??
Viagra?
FPE...also known in my circle as:
Forever
Powered
Electric
Welding Equipment for sure!
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