What is a consumer unit?
The consumer unit is a box of circuit breaker switches installed on the side of the electric meter. In the US, this device is commonly referred to as a box for a residential circuit breaker. The purpose of the consumer unit is to serve only one residence with two phase connections. Before the circuit breaker switches, the boxes used fuses and were often called a "fuse box". Each circuit has its own circuit breaker switch, which is evaluated according to the capacity of the circuit. If this capacity is exceeded, the circuit breaker switch will turn over the "OFF" position. Inserting a switch back into use only requires rolling back to "on". Rather than overturning the switch, the fuse must be replaced to restore the power supply. All modern circuits use circuit breakers rather than fuses because they are a safer and easier promant of the house for use.
harassment caused by fuse burning led somePeople to bypass the copper penny for the fuse, then screwed it up. The insurance of policy is a very dangerous practice and is part of the reason that most US mortgage creditors will not lend if consumer unit still uses fuses than switches. The purpose of the switch is to protect the home from overloaded circuits that could start the fire of the house.
Every circuit breaker or fuse in the consumer unit will be marked in AMP. The assessment of the amplifier is multiplied by the voltage to form watts. The standard tension in the US is 110 volts, while most of the rest of the world use 220 volts. The 20 amplifiers would carry 2200 watts and 4400 watts in the US, with a standard 220 volts. In order to avoid harassment of inverted circuit breakers, the house owner should ensure that the overall power consumption of everything to be triggered on this circuit is a forest than the perimeter.
Some circuits are connected from a heavier gauge, a wire with a higher capacity that have more electricity. Electric ranges, dishwashersDishes, dryers of clothing and water heaters are usually on a perimeter dedicated exclusively for this use and have higher capacity and circuit breaker switches. The heavier wiring of the meter is not used throughout the house because it is more expensive and above the needs of most devices.