Are one of these fuses blown?

[David Jones]

I'm trying to get my table saw up and running after a long term hiatus......are one of these fuses blown? They both look like they used to be almost the same color, etc...but the one on the bottom has a tarnished chalky color now (blown?). Sorry for such a dumb question, any help would be appreciated.

Thank you/Aloha
Dave Jones
Honolulu, Hawaii

[Keith Westfall]

If you had an ohm meter, you could tell right away...

Hard to tell just by looking I would think.

[jared herbert]

You can never really tell by looking at them. Put them back in the circuit, turn the power on and I use just a simple regular light bulb in a pig tail to check current on both ends of the fuse. Just touch one wire from the pigtail to the common terminal in the box and the other wire from the pigtail to what is supposed to be the hot side of the fuse. If the bulb lights up on both ends of the fuse it is good. A real low tech tool to use and it works good. It has saved me many service calls to an electrician. What I call pigtail is just a socket that you screw a light bulb in to with two wires connected to it, you should be able to get one at any hardware store. Jared

[Dan Hintz]

You can never really tell by looking at them. Put them back in the circuit, turn the power on and I use just a simple regular light bulb in a pig tail to check current on both ends of the fuse. Just touch one wire from the pigtail to the common terminal in the box and the other wire from the pigtail to what is supposed to be the hot side of the fuse. If the bulb lights up on both ends of the fuse it is good. A real low tech tool to use and it works good. It has saved me many service calls to an electrician. What I call pigtail is just a socket that you screw a light bulb in to with two wires connected to it, you should be able to get one at any hardware store. Jared

I'm going to suggest against a seriously dangerous practice...

[Jerome Stanek]

I use just a simple continuity tester.

[Stephen Cherry]

Or, if you don't have a meter, you could take a 9 volt battery, and place one of each of the fuses on the battery, and the other end on your tongue. If you get zapped, the fuses are both OK.



(just joking) Why not treat yourself to a Christmas present and get a multimeter? You can spend whatever you want, and they can all check fuses.

[Jerome Stanek]

If you check you can probably get a coupon from harbor freight for a free multimeter. or $2.00

[Chuck Wintle]

+1 for an ohmmeter. There are many inexpensive models available to check simple continuity. Avoid probing around with a light bulb...this is potentially hazardous to the health.

[del schisler]

I'm trying to get my table saw up and running after a long term hiatus......are one of these fuses blown? They both look like they used to be almost the same color, etc...but the one on the bottom has a tarnished chalky color now (blown?). Sorry for such a dumb question, any help would be appreciated.

Thank you/Aloha
Dave Jones
Honolulu, Hawaii

don't have a ohm meter ?? find one and ohm it out. Or take it to a electrial shop and ask them to measure. or get a couple new one's. Their are other way's but if you don't know how to tell if one is blown i won't go into other way's to tell . You can't just look at these like the other's that have a glass to see in .

[David Helm]

I'm going to go a different way. It looks to me like you are overdue for an electrical system upgrade. A new panel with breakers instead of fuses and an upgrade to 200 amps. You likely only have 60 amps with a fused panel.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Interesting. 1 amp fuses? Must be in the control circuit. Must be a very old saw. Have not seen fuses in a long time. +1 on multimeter. That is really the only way to test fuses. Safely.

[Rod Sheridan]

I'm going to go a different way. It looks to me like you are overdue for an electrical system upgrade. A new panel with breakers instead of fuses and an upgrade to 200 amps. You likely only have 60 amps with a fused panel.

David, they're one ampere fuses, probably in the primary of a control transformer or they are the control power fuses.

Fuses provide the most accurate, dependable over current protection money can buy.

In addition fuses can provide current limiting, something circuit breakers cannot do.

They are hardly obsolete..........Regards, Rod.

[Jarrett Vibert]

Yep... fuses get a bad rap, but as Rod says, they're actually better...

It isn't uncommon in industry to see breaker protected by fuses up stream...

[Roger Bullock]

You could take it by an auto parts store, go in and say "Could you guys check to see if this fuse is good?" Chances are they will have a meter on hand and be glad to help.

[Trent Shirley]

My vote for fuses AND mult-meters
A couple years ago I was replacing my electric range. I switched off the 220 breaker at the panel and went to work.
While disconnecting the power leads from the back of the range my wrench contacted the metal of the range and threw a nice shower of sparks. I was wearing gloves and not touching the metal body of the range so I was not jolted.
Turns out one of the two 30 amp ganged breakers actually failed to disconnect power in the off position and there was still 110v going through the line.
I never touch a power line now without doing a check with my meter.

David, they're one ampere fuses, probably in the primary of a control transformer or they are the control power fuses.

Fuses provide the most accurate, dependable over current protection money can buy.

In addition fuses can provide current limiting, something circuit breakers cannot do.

They are hardly obsolete..........Regards, Rod.