Originally Posted by
John Steinke
Easy to defeat? It's not all that hard to change a breaker - ask any DIY forum.
Compare that to changing a fuse.
But what is under discussion in that regard is the defeating of the device.
Explain briefly how one defeats a breaker as easily as the old penny for Edison base fuses or wrapping the newer Type S fuses in aluminum foil. Thanks.
By the way, there ARE "circuit breaker fuses", but I know you know that, and I also know those are not the ones the other person was talking about. What they were alluding to, I think, is the fact that when a fuse blows "it breaks the circuit, therefore it is a circuit breaker", which is correct in the most basic sense of the word but is completely incorrect in the definition of what circuit breakers and and what they do ... fuses are fuses and circuit breakers are circuit breakers.
By definition ... a fuse *IS NOT* a "circuit breaker".
From the NEC (I know you know this, this is for the other person).
- Circuit Breaker. A device designed to open and close a circuit by nonautomatic means and to open the circuit automatically on a predetermined overcurrent without damage to itself when properly applied within its rating.
- - FPN: The automatic opening means can be integral, direct acting with the circuit breaker, or remote from the circuit breaker.