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TimWilborne

Fuse Expiration Date?

6 posts in this topic

I was just replenishing our fuse inventory and when opening a box of fuses I notice they had a date on them which I assume is the date they were manufactured. Now I know that a 30 year old fuse will not be as good as a new fuse because of decay but to fuses have an expiration date that should be followed?

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I wonder if the date of manufacture was more of a quality control issue rather then a "born on date". I know that certain items have the date of manufacture on them so they can track back to a particular run, or shift in case of failure out in the field. I havne't seen experation dates on fuses but we do have tracking numbers on steel shafting here that has a date of manufature lazored in along with a batch number that they can actually track that shaft back to the original steel supplier in case of manufacturing defects.

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I thought that at first too but the date is on the box and not on the fuse which got me thinking once it is out of the box how would your track it?

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The date code must just be used as a lot code for quality control. I don't doubt that some sort of metallurgical changes occur over time, but I don't think there's any measurable degradation in most cases. A friend of mine has machinery from the 20s and 30s, many with the original fusable disconnects and motor starters.. Some have the factory-installed fuses in them still! Even with current passing through them for all those years, the elements haven't degraded to the point where it affects the circuit!

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Fuses don't expire as long as there has been no physical damage to them. If they have dents in the body then the filler around the element might not perform properly in absorbing arc energy or transferring heat. If they have gotten wet then corrossion might mess up the conductivity. But if the fuse is physically intact, and you can see continuity, then it should work just fine. $ Edited by Money4Nothing

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Ok thanks guys. I know they are coming out with better fuses all the time, didn't know if may be something had changed

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