Fuse box tripping, is this normal?

[KD88]

A few year's ago a family member (a professional electrician) installed a new fuse box. Now the switches trip everytime a lightbulb fails which is a bit of a pain as the box is located in the garage.

My question; is it normal for this to happen with more modern fuse boxes?

 

[Doc Hudson]

Welcome to the forum, During times of current surges along a circuit it is quite normal for MCB's to trip quicker than an old traditional fuse wires would blow, as MCB's are more sensitive. It is also true that many modern cheap import manufactured lamps can have higher current surges when they fail. There are various ways of reducing the inconvenience by better circuit design, using different rated MCB's, circuit loading and possible cable sizes. However the cost of improvement may outweigh the inconvenience.

Doc H.

 

[Technician]

Had just the same problem with mine;

Have looked at lamp choices and it

now seems to have abated.

 

[ProDave]

+1

The other thing I find an increasing issue is dimmer switches failing when a bulb blows, particularly halogen bulbs.

I had one customer where the bulb blew and took out the dimmer. 6 months later another bulb blew and took out the replacement dimmer. I persuaded her to go back to just a simple switch instead.

 

[Theorysparky]

+1

dimmers once they have had a blown lamp go through them they become weak and themselves cause lamps to fail....

 

[Evans Electric]

Just to put KD88 in the picture, when a lamp (Bulb) filament blows it causes a split second current surge , circuit breakers will react very quickly to that in the same way as short or an overload and trip . which is what they are designed to do .

Quality lamps (bulbs) used to to have an internal fuse which would blow when the filament went but I'm told lamps for sale these days don't have them.

For elderly and disabled people this can be a double pain , with replacing the lamp and resetting the breaker!!

You could fit a Type C breaker, but the Zs needs to be checked first .

 

[sparkytim]

Have found that many domestic lighting circuits can be protected adequatly by a 10 Amp MCB to resolve the problem

 

[rugbymacc]

I use varilight dimmers find them very good

IQ Dimmer Switch Modules