Comparing Manual and Automatic Resetting Circuit Breakers for an Electric Winch

Question:

Hi what is the difference between the automatic resetting the circuit breakers and the manual ones besides amps im looking for a circuit breaker for my 12,000 pound winch

asked by: Lirick

Expert Reply:

A breaker with a manual reset such as # PK54871PL should be used on any circuit that you do not want to automatically power back on. So for a really basic example let's say you had a circular saw that had an inline circuit breaker. An overload causes the saw to stop running. If it had an automatic rest breaker the saw would start back up without warning and that could be dangerous.

Winches usually use circuit breaker blocks such as # SW90-22147. A winch can use an automatic resetting breaker or breakers because you have to manually press buttons to make it run.

expert reply by: Michael H