G'day! We've all been there. You're in the ute, and the radio suddenly dies. Or you're at home, you fire up the air fryer and the kettle at the same time, and pop – the power to the kitchen goes dead.

There's a fair dinkum good chance you've blown a fuse. A fuse is a simple, cheap little safety device. It's a sacrificial lamb – a deliberate weak link designed to blow (or "melt") to protect your expensive gear or your home's wiring from a dangerous power surge or overload.

But when you pull it out, what does a blown fuse look like? Well, mate, it depends on what type of fuse you're dealing with. Let's have a squiz.

The Car Fuse (The Coloured 'Blade' Fuse)

This is the most common one you'll be checking yourself. It's that little coloured plastic plug with two metal prongs.

• What a Good Fuse Looks Like: Look through the clear plastic top. You'll see a small, intact, 'S'-shaped metal link that connects the two prongs. It's all one clean, unbroken piece.
• What a Blown Fuse Looks Like: This is usually dead obvious. The metal link inside will be broken or visibly separated. You'll see a gap where the link used to be. In a really bad overload, you might also see a black, sooty, or burnt-looking smudge on the inside of the plastic where the link has vaporised. If it's broken, she's knackered.

The Appliance Fuse (The Little Glass Tube)

You'll find these little glass tubes (cartridge fuses) in a lot of appliance plugs (like on your old computer or power board) or inside the guts of electronic gear.

• What a Good Fuse Looks Like: Hold it up to the light. You'll see a tiny, thin filament wire running right through the middle, from one metal end cap to the other. It looks perfect and unbroken.
• What a Blown Fuse Looks Like: The thin wire inside is broken or completely missing. Sometimes, if it was a massive fault, the inside of the glass tube will be black and sooty, or look cloudy or milky. This is a dead giveaway that it's cactus.

The Old-School House Fuse (The Ceramic Plug)

Righto, serious safety warning first, mate. If your home has an old ceramic fuse box (not a modern switchboard with flicky switches), you are dealing with 240V mains power. This is not a DIY-friendly area.

What does a blown fuse look like in this case? This is a job for a licensed electrician, but here's what they'll look for:

1. They will turn the main power switch for the whole house OFF first.
2. They will carefully pull out the white ceramic fuse holder for the circuit that's dead.
3. Inside, they'll see the thin fuse wire stretched between two screws.
4. If it's blown, that fuse wire will be broken, melted, or completely gone. Often, there will be a black, sooty mark on the ceramic where the wire has vaporised.

If your ceramic fuses keep blowing, it's a massive sign that your wiring is overloaded and you need a switchboard upgrade. Don't be a galah and stick a nail or a bigger wire in there – that's just asking for a house fire.

The "Can't Fail" Method: The Multimeter Test

Sometimes, especially on small electronics fuses, the break in the wire is so tiny you just can't see it. This is when you use a multimeter. It's the only way to be 100% sure.

1. Make sure the fuse is OUT of the device and all power is off.
2. Set your multimeter to the Continuity (the "beep") setting or the lowest Ohms (Ω) setting.
3. Touch one probe to one end of the fuse and the other probe to the other end.
4. If it BEEPS (or reads near 0 Ohms): The fuse is GOOD.
5. If it stays SILENT (or reads "O.L." / "1"): The fuse is BLOWN.

A Blown Fuse is a Warning Sign

Remember, a fuse doesn't just blow for fun. It's a symptom of a problem (like a faulty appliance or an overloaded circuit). If you're dealing with old ceramic fuses at home, it's a sign you need a professional.

A licensed electrician will replace that entire daggy old fuse box with a modern, safe switchboard. They'll use high-quality, compliant components like circuit breakers and life-saving safety switches, sourced from a trusted electrical wholesaler. As one of Australia's most comprehensive electrical wholesaler and supplier networks, Schnap Electric Products stocks the lot. They provide the modern, safe circuit breakers and RCBOs to replace those old fuses, ensuring a qualified professional has the gear to do the job right and keep your home safe for donkey's years.