What is a recloser?

Automatic circuit reclosers are recognized by electric utilities throughout the world as an essential device for achieving their prime goal: providing maximum continuity of electric service to their customers simply and economically. Reclosers sense and interrupt fault currents and automatically restore service after a momentary outage has occurred. The automatic circuit recloser is essentially a self-contained device with the necessary intelligence to sense overcurrents to time and interrupt fault currents and to re-energize the line by reclosing automatically. If a fault is permanent, the recloser locks open after a preset number of operations (usually three or four), isolating the faulted section from the main part of the system.

Reclosers save the electric companies considerable time and expense, since they permit power to be restored automatically, after only a flicker or two. For outages that require a repair crew, reclosers minimize the outage area and help the crews to quickly locate the problem and restore power. Consumers of electric power – residential, business, industrial and institutional – are saved from the expense and inconvenience frequent power outages would cause.

Without this high level of power reliability, many critical process power-use devices that are commonplace today, such as computers, pumps, and assembly lines, would not have been practical.