Replacing fuses with circuit breakers

[Cactusweasel]

Hi,

Our house is pretty old and we have a fuse box in the cupboard, as opposed to the modern circuit breaker setup all houses have these days. However, when one of these things blow, its a real pain in the a** to replace the wire, especially if it happens at night.

What i want to know is, is there such thing as circuit breakers I can fit to the sockets the fuses are plugged into, without having to replace the entire box? The fuses simply slot in and out and have two legs on them that are the same as what a plug has.

I'm not very electrically minded, and would obviously get someone else to replace the box if I had to, but if I could just replace these annoying fuses, that would be sound

Many thanks,

 

[breezer]

question is why do your existing fuses blow?

if your house is as you say "pretty old" and as you have already said the fuses blow, looks like its time for a re wire

 

[Cactusweasel]

Hi there,

The fuses blow very rarely, it sometimes does it when a light blows, but not always. As far as I know the house was built in the early 70's.

Is there such a circuit breaker available to replace the fuses?

Thanks,

 

[ryanj]

I believe...

this

...might be what your looking for.

 

[ZenStalinist]

You should also note that MCBs trip a lot more often than fuses blow when a light bulb blows.

 

[securespark]

Unless you buy good quality lamps with ballotini fuses in - da da!! OSRAM are perfect.......

Wearing my OSRAM hat again!

Sorry, won't mention OSRAM again.

Oh, sh*t, just mentioned OS..........hey wh h di bled the , , , , nd key n y keyb d??

Ple e, help e........

 

[breezer]

you missed the "s" in please

 

[securespark]

Y U B T D!

As soon as I hit the send button, I realised........ I hate you!!

 

[ZenStalinist]

Even better... Use energy saving lightbulbs where possible, they don't cause a trip when they blow either... and it saves you money, and it is better for the environment....

But yes, you can get the plug in MCBs for old fuseboxes.

If you have any sockets which might supply stuff that's used outside, they should also be replaced with special RCD sockets - unless you get your consumer unit replaced with an RCD one.