The Differences between Industrial Circuit Breakers and Residential Circuit Breakers

While both industrial circuit breakers and residential circuit breakers perform the same type of job, they vary greatly in the overall electricity capacity they can handle. The main similarity, however, is that they should be handled with care, as mistakes working with electricity can have deadly results.

industrial circuit breakers

Industrial circuit breakers can handle a much larger electrical current over residential Circuit Breakers. Factories, warehouses and other large industrial locations will always have industrial circuit breakers as part of their electrical system. If a large electrical system did not have industrial circuit breakers installed, electrical distribution would not be possible.

Industrial circuit breakers are used to break the electrical circuit during an overload and are part of the overall electrical safety system. Electrical industrial circuit breakers are automatically-operated switches to protect the electrical circuit from damage or potential fire.

Industrial circuit breakers are often classified by voltage class, construction type, structural features and interrupting type. There are three types of electrical voltage types: low voltage, medium voltage and high voltage industrial circuit breakers. Ultimately, however, all industrial circuit breakers share common operating features. They are expected to detect faulty electrical conditions in order to keep the facility, its employees and the facility’s equipment safe from electrical fire or other catastrophic electrical emergency.

Residential Circuit Breakers

The use of residential circuit breakers today is commonplace. They guard household electrical systems from the dangers of an electrical fault. Without circuit breakers, the chance of an electrical fire in a home would greatly increase.

Before residential circuit breakers were commonplace, fuses were used to protect common household wiring. When too much electrical current would flow through a fuse, the metal or wire strip within the fuse would melt, thus interrupting the electrical current. While fuses are less expensive, they need to be replaced each time it needs to interrupt the electrical current. Replacement of a fuse can be very dangerous, especially if the interruption is due to a short circuit. A circuit breaker simply needs to be reactivated in order to revive the electrical current. There is also less chance the electrical fault can be ignored when the circuit breaker “trips”.