Airblown - blew a fuse

[LORisAwesome]

My 12' airblown Santa Claus blew a fuse. I put the spare in that came with it, and it is working fine since (about an hour now). It bothers me that I couldn't find anything wrong with it.

My main problem is this -- now I may need more replacement fuses. The fuse that blew says it is a 5amp 125v fuse. It does not say if it is fast or slow acting.

I went to Radio Shack and found 5amp 125v fast acting fuses, they do not appear to have slow acting 5amp 125v fuses.

Since motors tend to draw more amperage at startup time than they do while running, I am afraid the fast acting fuse may blow when the motor tries to start.

Does anyone know if the fast acting fuse will work?

Thanks

Jerry

[Tim Fischer]

Fast-acting should be fine. These little motors don't pull that much current at startup, unlike your refrigerator or other large motors...

I'm pretty sure the original fuse is "fast acting" (which basically means it's just a single wire in the glass tube)

[LOR Staff]

As long as you looked for a reason and don't see anything I wouldn't worry too much more about it.

Fuses are a lot like the filament in a light bulb, except the 'filament' is designed to melt at a particular amperage draw. That means the metal tends to heat up and expand when power is applied, and then contract and cool when power is removed.

This shouldn't normally be a problem. But a slight manufacturing defect can put a 'weak spot' on this 'filament'. After enough power cycles the filament breaks.

I recently had this happen with my Microwave. After ensuring there was nothing shorted or dead, I replaced the fuse and monitored it. It's been working great for 2 months now.

[LORisAwesome]

Thanks all

It is the next day now and still running fine on the replacement fuse.

I never turn off my airblowns once they are up. I figure they look good during the day too, so I leave it on. So power cycling should not have been a problem.

It was pretty windy here yesterday, maybe somehow the wind caused a biger load on the blower motor. That is the only explanation that I can think of, and it is pretty weak.

Jerry