Posted: 8/12/2010 8:10:02 PM EDT
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I just picked up a rather big electrical switch box that has a manual contactor operated by a big red lever (sort of like the "switch to safety" graphic that they used to use in QST). Inside the box is a monster fuse block that takes two gigantic fuses (yeah, I know that there are even bigger ones made, but these are much larger than the ones that I usually play with).
I want to use the box to switch a 220 VAC, single-phase, 20A max circuit. It is overkill for the application, but somehow having a big switch that would be at home in Frankenstein's laboratory is appealing to me. I don't intend to use the fuses in the box for circuit overload protection - rather, I will have a separate breaker box to handle that. However I would like to have two functioning inline fuses in the box, for the coolness factor, if nothing else, so even though I could just stick a couple of properly-sized hunks of copper flashing into the fuse sockets to pass the power through to the switch, I'd prefer to have two gigundo mother-of-all-fuses in the box. The box came with one fuse in it - it's a 200A, 250VAC time delay(?) fuse. It tests "good" on my Simpson 260 VOM. I can get another one just like it off of eBay for under $20, but I'd like to find something cheaper that is the right size to fit in the socket. So, do they make 20- or 30-amp fuses in that size? If so, what am I looking for part-number-wise, and am I likely to find one for substantially less than $20? Yeah, I know that mixing and matching fuses with different amp ratings on the same circuit is normally a no-no, but as mentioned above, I'm not intending to use this fuse for circuit overload protection. The fuse in question has a part number of OT200. I'm not sure, but it may possibly be a "Type K5" fuse, whatever that means. It's about the size of a Hostess Twinkie. See photo below: http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g181/largetype/Ridgefield/bigfuse.jpg |
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Don't think a fuse is made in that size at a real low amperage you want.
It's probably not a good idea to even put them in the box, even if they are nothing more than a conductor, because if someone got zapped or there was a fire, anything that brought the authorities into the picture, and they saw that, I'd love to be a fly on the wall and hear what they will try to ram up your patotee... 
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