How to choose glass fuse?

[qqzj]

My meat slicer blew a fuse yesterday. It is a glass one (125V 1.25A) looks like this



I searched around. The best price is from Home Depot, but it is a 1.5A fuse. Also it has no review.

Cooper Bussmann AGC Style Fast Acting 1-1/2 Amp Fuse (5-Pack) AGC-1-1/2

The Cooper Bussmann AGC Series 1.5 Amp Silver Electronic Fuses (5-Pack) have nickel-plated-brass end caps and a glass tube. These CSA- and UL-listed fuses have 1.5 amps and are designed to be used in electronic-circuit applications. The electronic fuses are rated for up to 250 volts.

www.homedepot.com

Amazon has lots of fuses. But I have no idea which one to choose. I don't know which brand is considered a good brand in this area. Also does it make a big difference between these fuses? So If any one can let me know which brand to choose and whether 1.25A vs 1.5A makes a big difference, it will be really helpful. Thanks!

 

[chard98]

That small increase won't have much effect. It will still blow. Unless it has real sensitive electronics to control the speeds. An industrial supply house will have the 1.25 Ampere fuses.

 

[qqzj]

The dimension seems to be 5mm by 20mm, which is pretty common online. The curious part is that the one blew on my slicer has two bubbles inside. The one from Home Depot has no bubbles inside. And some from Amazon has one bubble inside. Does it make any difference? Thanks!



Here is one from Amazon

 

[larry_g]

time current curves explained - Google Search

Years back I did some studying of time current curves. I suspect that blob in the wire helps to modify the blow time of the fuse, though I have no proof. I would suggest that you do some investigating and figure out the proper part number of the fuse you have from the manual for the machine. If anything go smaller on the fuse to check things out. Were you overloading the machine or know the cause of the fuse to blow?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Two Speed]

Bubbles don't matter, as long as the fuse is the same "speed" AGC in your first picture = fast acting. You can also use 250volt fuses as thats the rating for resisting arcing across when/after it blows.

What is stamped into your blown fuse? Follow that for the type.

I have no reservations with Bussman or Littlefuse.

 

[bbbarracuda]

That should be an old school "standard" automotive fuse.
I guess you can still buy them at auto parts stores?
They haven't used them for a number of years in cars, but the last time I looked for them, they were still carried.

 

[Carguy99]

It’s very common for them to be manufactured this way. They solder one ends to the metal cap. This takes some heat to do. Then they soldering the middle “rated” part To the other end.
the very low and very high amp fuses are difficult to solder. So…
don’t worry about the blobs.
it’s a meat slicer. Find a fuse with the right rating. I would buy the 1 1/2. It’s a few bucks.
Check the motor and wiring out after the fuse. give the motor a turn by hand see if it’s tight or locked up.

 

[The Cobbler]

as others have said, the 1.5 will be fine .at least you can try it with that one to see if it holds and you don't have other problems . once you determine that you could order a 1.25 from digi-key or similar

 

[toplessHO]

checked my supply
have 1 or 2A nothing between

 

[no704]

Ace Hardware

 

[Mechanical Noise]

If you need a 5mm x 20mm fuse, an AGC fuse won't fit. AGC series fuses are 1/4" x 1 1/4".

 

[rooster59]

Bussman, littlefuse. Take the fuse in to match it. There is a very fine imprint around the metal ends. Voltage rating should be >= 125VAC, 32 is for cars. Prob 250VAC

 

[PassnThru]

Understand that if a fuse blows then it's not likely the problem - it's what happened because of another problem. And likely a new fuse will blow immediately upon replacement. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had a fuse 'wear out' and blow. Usually I did something to cause it or there were other issues in the wiring or the motor that caused it.

 

[Lassen Forge]

NAPA auto parts.

 

[bwringer]

Crikey, it ain't a Mars lander.

Plop in the 1.5 amp (assuming it's the same physical size) and you'll be fine. If you still have a problem, it'll blow, like, maybe, .0001 second slower than the original.

If you don't still have the problem that made the fuse blow, then you're good to go.

I'd grab a few extras... sometimes it takes a few tries to catch an intermittent fault. We once sacrificed five or six fuses at the side of the road to track down an intermittent short in a vintage motorcycle's turn signal. Found it on the last fuse in our arsenal. Not the most elegant solution, but it was what we had where we were.

 

[PoorUB]

That should be an old school "standard" automotive fuse.
I guess you can still buy them at auto parts stores?
They haven't used them for a number of years in cars, but the last time I looked for them, they were still carried.

NAPA auto parts.

A standard automotive fuse will not have a 125 volt rating. You can go with a higher voltage rating, but not a lower rating.
Years back I went to an electrical class and one of the trainers was from Buss fuse or what ever the parent company was at the time. He told us horror stories of guys using 12 volt fuses in high voltage situations and the fuse failing, but not breaking the circuit. They would short out and continue to feed power.

 

[qqzj]

If you need a 5mm x 20mm fuse, an AGC fuse won't fit. AGC series fuses are 1/4" x 1 1/4".

Thanks for the reminder. Cannot cancel the order from HD now. But this is very helpful. In case it won't fit, it will save me a lot of frustration. Thanks again.

 

[qqzj]

Understand that if a fuse blows then it's not likely the problem - it's what happened because of another problem. And likely a new fuse will blow immediately upon replacement. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had a fuse 'wear out' and blow. Usually I did something to cause it or there were other issues in the wiring or the motor that caused it.

I know you are correct in theory. But I have had a lot of cases where I put in a new fuse and everything worked happily forever after. So I will just throw in a new fuse to try. If the fuses keep blowing, I really don't know how to debug a meat slicer. I will get a new slicer then.

 

[anndel]

Littelfuse or Bussman. Go to NAPA, Ace Hardware, HD or Lowes, maybe AutoZone but not sure if I've seen any there but I wasn't looking for them anyway.

 

[Iridium rand]

Try to get the exact same rating, a tiny difference probably won’t matter if that’s all you have or can get, but may as well just get the right one.

The stuff you see in the glass (or not if it’s opaque) doesn’t matter, I’ve seen many many variations, whatever it’s rated for is when and how fast it will blow.

Only thing you need to know is the current and voltage rating, physical size, and maybe speed (slow blow or fast blow). The transparent ones are more convenient if you don’t have a meter to tell if it’s blown. Though i have very often replaced fuses and had equipment work fine after, There’s likely something else wrong with it which you’ll know as soon as you replace it if it blows again so make sure you have extras on hand don't just get one

 

[Iridium rand]

I’d be surprised if they even had boards in them, transient power surges i assume is what blows fuses for no apparent reason but as far as an actual problem there’s probably a short somewhere, possibly the motor which would probably not save you much over a new unit

 

[qqzj]

Update. It turned out that the one sold by Home Depot is too big. Seems to be a 6mm by 30mm. The one I need is a 5mm by 20mm (or 3/16 by 3/4 inch). So I bought one 5 pack from eBay. The seller is Witonics. It claims that the fuses are either Littlefuse or Bussmann. But the freaking letters are too small for me to see what brand is on them. So I cannot verify. They are 250V 1.25A, exactly the same as the bad one. Slow blow. Don't know what that means. But they worked. The slicer is perfect now. Cheers!

 

[qqzj]

PS. They are probably Bussmann. I can barely see Buss@. And a bunch of random stuff.

 

[dscheidt]

Amazon.com: Witonics Pack of 5, 3/16 inch x 3/4 inch (5X20mm) 1.25A 250V Glass Fuses, Slow Blow (Time Delay) 1.25a, T1.25a, 1.25 amp 250v : Tools & Home Improvement

Buy Witonics Pack of 5, 3/16 inch x 3/4 inch (5X20mm) 1.25A 250V Glass Fuses, Slow Blow (Time Delay) 1.25a, T1.25a, 1.25 amp 250v: Cartridge Fuses - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

is the fuse I used in my chef's choice 609 slicer. The slicer blows fuses when you overload for too long, which is pretty easy to do.
GDC is the fuse type.

 

[dscheidt]

Update. It turned out that the one sold by Home Depot is too big. Seems to be a 6mm by 30mm. The one I need is a 5mm by 20mm (or 3/16 by 3/4 inch). So I bought one 5 pack from eBay. The seller is Witonics. It claims that the fuses are either Littlefuse or Bussmann. But the freaking letters are too small for me to see what brand is on them. So I cannot verify. They are 250V 1.25A, exactly the same as the bad one. Slow blow. Don't know what that means. But they worked. The slicer is perfect now. Cheers!

Slow blow means it blows slowly: it can take an overload for some period of time. (which is how most circuit breakers work, btw). This is opposed to a fast blow fuse, which blows quickly when any overload is applied. This is all relative, there are some very fast fast blow fuses, used to protect electronics, which will blow in milliseconds at 10% overload, most stuff is slower than that.) It looks like a 1.25 A GDC fuse can support 2A for a couple minutes, a 1 A AGC fuse (which are medium fast ) will blow within a second at 2A. at 10A the AGC blows in 20 ms, the GDC 1.25 A is 100 ms.

 

[qqzj]

Amazon.com: Witonics Pack of 5, 3/16 inch x 3/4 inch (5X20mm) 1.25A 250V Glass Fuses, Slow Blow (Time Delay) 1.25a, T1.25a, 1.25 amp 250v : Tools & Home Improvement

Buy Witonics Pack of 5, 3/16 inch x 3/4 inch (5X20mm) 1.25A 250V Glass Fuses, Slow Blow (Time Delay) 1.25a, T1.25a, 1.25 amp 250v: Cartridge Fuses - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

is the fuse I used in my chef's choice 609 slicer. The slicer blows fuses when you overload for too long, which is pretty easy to do.
GDC is the fuse type.

It's the same seller!

 

[qqzj]

This is really helpful. Thanks for the advice!