fuses vs. breakers

[tallguy]

I accidently cut through my hedge trimmer cord this year and the breaker didn't even think about tripping.

Why would you assume it would trip? A friend cut through my circular saw cord recently and no trip (actually this was on a fused circuit)... didn't even cross my mind though. If you make a clean/fast cut without a short, why would it?

 

[davidr43229]

Why would you assume it would trip?

We would have to look a what "Time" it took to cut the cord & the "actuation time" of the OCPD in a fault condition. Old FPE breakers would take 3-6 cycles to clear, with an opening time of 1-3 cycles. I guess the saw & Hedge trimmer is faster than the OCPD.

 

[ItsHot]

yep

yep

being that the insurance companies are run by such good gambling bosses, I have to assume that they have good reason for doing this, which leads me to believe that even though its in their best interest, a by-product is that it probably must result in fewer deaths either from electrocutions or houses burning down. of course, this is just a guess, but I'd give ya 3 to 1 odds on it.

They place a bet every time they write a policy!