CJT wrote:
dpb wrote:
Jeff Wisnia wrote:

dpb wrote:


Must have had just enough filament left to let a light bulb burn but
not enough to power the dishwasher. Newer circuit arrangement would
separate kitchen (particularly any appliance even if no more than a
dishwasher) from a lights circuit.


And if you really believe that, dpb, come see me about a bridge I have
for sale at a bargain price.

By the way, fuses don't have filaments, they have links.

Sheesh, where do some people get their ideas from. G

...

Actually, Jeff, I got that "idea" from an actual incident where a fuse
did leave a tiny trace that made a connecting path through it and made
a symptom quite similar to that described by OP. Only seen it once in
some 60 years, and that was some 30 years ago, but it did occur.

Because what was left wasn't much more than a tracing, I used the word
"filament" to describe it. I doubt it would have lasted much longer
when I discovered it, but it did have enough of a path left to let a
single bulb in the pumphouse burn (albeit somewhat dimly) for at least
a short while when a drill I plugged into the outlet didn't have enough
power to more than hum (which is what was the cause for finding it).

Why would the drill not finish the fuse off?

I'm sure it probably would have -- that's just the sequence of how I
found the problem. Was an interesting/peculiar failure mode I've only
seen the one time. Whether the fuse was initially defective and had a
trace "sneak path" or the failure caused it I have no way of knowing.