Why would it be dangerous to replace the fuse in a plug with a piece of copper wire?
Whether it will be dangerous depends on the thickness of the copper wire you use. The whole point of the fuse is to guard the gates, so to speak, and to burn the tiny thin wire inside, thus preserving the electrical circuit in your home (lights, appliances, etc.) from burning during fluctuations in the electrical current. The danger is if you replace the burned tiny thin wire with a thicker one. That will allow the electrical fluctuations to travel past it – to your home, potentially burning electrical appliances and causing fire. Myself, I have done it – the result was that every time there was an even minute change in the electrical current (and these occur quite frequently), the overhead bulb in my bedroom would explode in a very dramatic way. When I got tired of replacing bulbs on a weekly basis, I bought automatic fuse. 😉 Hope this helps.
Lemme first explain what a Fuse exactly is. Fuse It’s a thin wire which can endure resistance of only specific magnitude. If the resistance somehow increases, (this implies that heat travelling through that wire also increases) then the fuse wire melts away preventing your electronic items from any harm. A copper wire can withstand a lot of resistance, so if u replace the fuse wire with a copper wire,then the current through it will also increase and your appliances will not be able to withstand so much current..
A fuse is a critical safety device. It is designed to break the circuit if the current gets to high, in order to prevent fire, damage to your appliance and/or harm to the user. You should always use the correct fuse for your appliance. For UK domestic use 13 amps is the highest, but some appliances use lower rated fuses, often either 3 amps or 5 amps. You should NEVER use a bit of wire. If your fuse keeps blowing its probably a sign that your appliance, or the plug/socket, or maybe the mains in your house are faulty. You need to check these things out, not just hide the problem. It could also be that you are using fuses that are not strong enough. If your appliance needs a 13 amp fuse and you are using a 3 amp it may blow the fuse in normal use.
