Scarey brass cleaning!

[amlevin]

Why would a fuse on the power panel not have burned out when the vibrator circuit shorted?

This is very common and a reason for the change to Arc Fault Detection Circuit Breakers. It's very common for a fault to occur that isn't a dead short that would blow the fuse/circuit breaker. When arcing occurs or the wires merely heat up to a nice glow, not drawing enough current to overload the breaker/fuse. That's when fires occur. Dead Shorts rarely cause fires as they instantly overload the circuit and open one or more breakers.

 

[SmokinJoe]

Thanks for making this a little clearer, but for the other electrical dummies like me, let me say: We are talking about a Circuit Breaker that goes in your panel, not a special recepticle like a GFCI is. Went to Lowe's yesyerday looking for AFCI recepticles & was quickly corrected & shown the new breakers. Just a heads up for others that are not knowledgeable about electrical. I will be replacing a few breakers pretty soon, just got to make a note of which ones in what brand panel. I really appreciate this discussion since fire is about the worst thing I can imagine happening to my home or shop.

 

[amlevin]

I really appreciate this discussion since fire is about the worst thing I can imagine happening to my home or shop.

Not the worst I can think of. The return of an ex-wife is far worse in my book.