Selecting The Proper Circuit Breaker

Adding a new addition to your home or a new section of electrical wiring will mean that you need to choose a circuit breaker for the wiring. A circuit breaker is a safety mechanism that prevents too much current from flowing through an electrical appliance. Choosing the right circuit breaker is an important safety measure for your home and family.

Choose Based on Voltage

When there is too much current going through the electrical wiring, it can heat it rather quickly. It can get to the point where a fire is started from the heat of the wire. Choose your circuit breaker according to the voltage of the wiring you will be using. Regular 110 volt breakers will not be good enough for a dryer or stove.

Trip Point

The point at which the circuit breaker will trip is also a consideration when choosing your circuit breaker. This can be set at low, medium, or high sensitivity to keep your wiring from heating up too much.

Overload Protection

Certain breakers like hydraulic and earth leakage breakers provide custom overload protection that will sense and ground faults and excessive return current, and there is little, to no, warm up period for the circuit to be interrupted.