On Thursday 15 November 2007, alan wrote: >On Thu, 15 Nov 2007, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote: >> alan wrote: >>> The one piece of kitchen equiptment that has caused me the most problems >>> is a toaster. I used to blow fuses at my old house all the time and 95% >>> of the time it was the toaster that pushed it over the edge. >>> >>> With that high of a load, I wonder if the breakers work at all. >> >> Toasters tend to be a high-draw appliance, but they do not produce >> the startup spike that a microwave or a motor produces. Now, when it >> comes to breakers, there are many different types. The most common >> types in the U.S. are the thermal over-current and the magnetic >> short-circuit types. The better types, like the Square-D QO line >> have both in one package. The magnetic trip is great for protecting >> against short-circuits, but do not do well against overloads. The >> thermal trip types are great against over-current, but are very slow >> to react to a short-circuit. One of the worst examples of this were >> the old FPE breakers. You could vaporize anywhere between 1/4" to >> 1/2" of screwdriver before one would trip. On the other hand, the >> did offer fair overload protection. (I can remember a 60 amp QO >> breaker feeding a temporary panel trip before a 20 amp FPE breaker >> that was the only load, when someone dropped a beam on a cord >> plugged into the outlet. I was surprised that the breaker tripped >> before the cord burned clear of the beam.) > >The breakers in my old house were glass screw-in fuses. > >Not the worse case at that house... > >[Digression warning] > >I had all sorts of problems with light bulbs flickering and burning out, >as well as other electrical problems. After lots of ranting I got the >landlord to bring in an electrician. > >He found that one of the 220 breakers was blown, so he replaced the fuse >and threw the switch. > >There was a flash across the room and the breaker popped immediatly. > >He followed the 220 line from the breaker and found it clamped to a pipe. > >A gas pipe. > >When they replaced the electric stove with gas, instead of capping the >electric line, they just attached it to a nearby pipe. (Which happened to >be the gas pipe.) I wonder what part of the plumbers test that guy failed? >My landlord did not say much the rest of the day and I know we didn't have >any gas leaks. > How about now? >-- >Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense. -- Cheers, Gene "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) When neither their poverty nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content. -- Niccolo Machiavelli
