Looking for electrical help....Fuse/Breaker for Fridge Circuit?

Crossfaced

Observer
I'm ran a dedicated fridge circuit from my battery on my jeep. I ran 10 gauge wire. It's 10 gauge all the way back to the fridges power supply. I looked it up somewhere and found that a 10 gauge wire should be protected by a 30a fuse or auto breaker and the purpose was to protect the wiring. So installed a nice 30a auto breaker.

Now I'm second guessing myself. The fridge only draws about 7-9 amps max. Should I put a smaller amp fuse/breaker? Or is the 30 amp ok?

Thanks
 

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
The fuse protects the wire, not the fridge. If the fridge needs protection, then they can put a fuse in the fridge.

You plug a phone charger that draws 1a into a wall receptacle protected by a 15 or 20a breaker. The breaker protects the wire. Whatever gets plugged in has to look out for itself.

That's how it works. You're good, fuhgedaboudit.
 

comptiger5000

Adventurer
I'll add a bit to this. The 30a fuse / breaker is perfectly fine / safe with 10ga wire. Now, if you want to also protect the fridge itself, there's nothing wrong with fusing the circuit lower. It'll still protect the wire (with even more safety margin) and also protect anything in the fridge itself that might fail before the wire feeding it does.
 

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