# Who needs fuses?



## Mingle (Nov 20, 2010)

Those fuse things are so outdated now days... what we'll do is cut a piece of conduit... fits right here in these fancy sockets. 

Who cares if the fuses keep blowing, they're just not as stout as this conduit... THIS will fix it...

Seen it before on here... never knew it was this popular... 


Not to mention the disconnect wasn't locked... and was a foot from ground level, in a school.


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

Here's one for you. Look at C phase, They used a piece of #12 to jump out the fuse.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

mattsilkwood said:


>


What a hack. Everyone knows you have to put the #12_ behind_ the fuse so no one can see it.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

If EMT has too much resistance, just use copper pipe.









​


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## Mingle (Nov 20, 2010)

Haha, I didn't know this practice has been so "popular" over the years, guess if it *can* be done, it's been done more times than once.

I wonder in my picture how long that EMT has been there... it's discolored quite a bit.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Mingle said:


> Haha, I didn't know this practice has been so "popular" over the years, guess if it *can* be done, it's been done more times than once.


I'm going to admit to doing it a few times in emergency, it's 1:00 AM on Christmas Eve type situations as a temporary solution till either I can get more fuses from the shop or from the supply house as soon as possible. Usually after showing up on site and taking over from the maintenance/electrician/plumber/floor sweeper/operator guy that has managed to blow up ever spare fuse they had in some half ass "troubleshooting" attempt.


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## Mingle (Nov 20, 2010)

Yeah I can imagine situations where people would do that in emergency situations.. but I do believe some of these have been left quite a while


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## 10492 (Jan 4, 2010)

Jlarson said:


> What a hack. Everyone knows you have to put the #12_ behind_ the fuse so no one can see it.


 
A real hack would of used a couple taped up madison bars.


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## I_get_shocked (Apr 6, 2009)

Dnkldorf said:


> A real hack would of used a couple taped up madison bars.


I know someone that temp jumpered a meter socket with madison bars (meter was locked and poco was "on their way") and they burnt up in a few mins


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## ampman (Apr 2, 2009)

Jlarson said:


> I'm going to admit to doing it a few times in emergency, it's 1:00 AM on Christmas Eve type situations as a temporary solution till either I can get more fuses from the shop or from the supply house as soon as possible. Usually after showing up on site and taking over from the maintenance/electrician/plumber/floor sweeper/operator guy that has managed to blow up ever spare fuse they had in some half ass "troubleshooting" attempt.


 NO WAY:no:


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

ampman said:


> NO WAY:no:


Yeah I thought that way too, but quickly changed my mind the first time I did it, which was right after I realized that if I didn't get power back to this station I was at I would have been wading through sewage. Made it a pretty easy decision to chop up some tube and put it in.


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## gilbequick (Oct 6, 2007)

Jlarson said:


> Yeah I thought that way too, but quickly changed my mind the first time I did it, which was right after I realized that if *I didn't get power back to this station I was at I would have been wading through sewage.* Made it a pretty easy decision to chop up some tube and put it in.


Yeah not much thought on that one. DONE. Call me a hack all you want I'm not wading in crap!


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## Frasbee (Apr 7, 2008)

This trade never ceases to amaze me...


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

gilbequick said:


> Yeah not much thought on that one. DONE. Call me a hack all you want I'm not wading in crap!


Other times have I have done it its been the difference between getting water running again or leaving people without water and possibly fire protection.


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

I_get_shocked said:


> I know someone that temp jumpered a meter socket with madison bars (meter was locked and poco was "on their way") and they burnt up in a few mins


 Well yea, madison bars are only 30A a piece.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

mattsilkwood said:


> Well yea, madison bars are only 30A a piece.



It scares me that you know that. :001_huh:


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## ampman (Apr 2, 2009)

Jlarson said:


> Yeah I thought that way too, but quickly changed my mind the first time I did it, which was right after I realized that if I didn't get power back to this station I was at I would have been wading through sewage. Made it a pretty easy decision to chop up some tube and put it in.


 sewage flood or place burns down. flood is not your fault ,fire is


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

480sparky said:


> It scares me that you know that. :001_huh:


I know a lot more scary stuff than that. :laughing:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

mattsilkwood said:


> I know a lot more scary stuff than that. :laughing:


How about the ampacity of a penny?



(Hint: It's engraved on it!)


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## mattsilkwood (Sep 21, 2008)

480sparky said:


> How about the ampacity of a penny?
> 
> (Hint: It's engraved on it!)


In God we trust.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

mattsilkwood said:


> In God we trust.



:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:​


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## 220/221 (Sep 25, 2007)




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## wayne g (Nov 28, 2010)

Bet the application for electrical permit did'nt read that way. :no:


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## oldtimer (Jun 10, 2010)

mattsilkwood said:


> In God we trust. THE REST PAY CASH.


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## manchestersparky (Mar 25, 2007)

Jlarson said:


> Other times have I have done it its been the difference between getting water running again or leaving people without water and possibly fire protection.


Kinda ironic when you think about it :no:

You are putting a conduit in place of the proper over current device.
Thus you are subjecting the equipment to a much larger arc fault current time then the equipment is designed to handle. So in the case of another fault the equipment will destruct and theres a very good chance it will catch fire. So by trying to keep fire protection you are creating a major violation that has the potential to start a fire!
There are much better and safer ways to handle the situation. Supply houses will open at all hours 365 days a year. (I've had them open in the middle of the night on a Saturday) The company I used to work for had agreements with various other contractors - We could call one another in an emergency for assistance or parts, day or night 24/7.

In my opinion there is NO Good reason to do something like that. People can live without running water for a day, if they are that worried about Fire - they need to have a fire watch until the water is back on.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

manchestersparky said:


> Kinda ironic when you think about it :no:
> 
> You are putting a conduit in place of the proper over current device.
> Thus you are subjecting the equipment to a much larger arc fault current time then the equipment is designed to handle. So in the case of another fault the equipment will destruct and theres a very good chance it will catch fire. So by trying to keep fire protection you are creating a major violation that has the potential to start a fire!
> ...


Yeah I've heard all that before. Everything is meggered out and double checked before we hit it with power. Sometimes you just can't get parts and there is no other option. And for the record I only have been forced to resort to this method twice or three times and there were up-stream OCPD's and one of the discos didn't needed to be a fused one. In fact in one case we ended up removing the fused disco and put in a non fused disco instead of just getting new fuses.


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## RePhase277 (Feb 5, 2008)

Jlarson said:


> Yeah I've heard all that before. Everything is meggered out and double checked before we hit it with power. Sometimes you just can't get parts and there is no other option. And for the record I only have been forced to resort to this method twice or three times and there were up-stream OCPD's and one of the discos didn't needed to be a fused one. In fact in one case we ended up removing the fused disco and put in a non fused disco instead of just getting new fuses.


I did this once on a freezer condenser on a roof top in the middle of the night. I had a 3 phase unit, requiring 20 A time delay fuses of a sort I can't remember. One of the fuses in the unit was a 15 A non-time delay. For no equipment fault whatsoever a fuse blows... guess which one. I got the call but had no fuses of the type. After running through a quick troubleshoot, I jabbed a short piece of copper tubing (which was conveniently laying near the unit) into the fuse holder and fired it back up. The Holier-Than-Thou clan on Electrician Talk lambasted me then just as they are you now.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

InPhase277 said:


> The Holier-Than-Thou clan on Electrician Talk lambasted me then just as they are you now.


They can moan about it all they want it won't change anything.


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