Other · Tier D

Ceramic HRC fuses (and glass fuses)

The silver element is a hair-thin wire and the sand and ceramic are all the rest of the weight. Board fuses are nothing like the big industrial blade fuses people are picturing.

Ag 1–3 g/lbCu ~90 g/lb

eBay typical$25–80per lb

Refiner pays$2per lb

Metal in it$4.76per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencelowof the yield figures

How to spot it

Opaque white or grey ceramic cylinders with metal end caps, usually 5×20 mm or 6.3×32 mm, marked like T2AL250V. Glass fuses are the transparent ones where you can see the element. Both live at the power inlet, behind the MOV, in clips or soldered directly.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Silver	1–3 g/lb	geometry estimate from a 0.1–0.3 mm silver element in a 5×20 mm body — no assay
Copper	~90 g/lb	brass end caps

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $4.76 per pound of contained metal — Silver 2 g = $3.80, Copper 90 g = $0.96. A refiner paying $2 returns about 42% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Pull from clips; snip if soldered

Pull from clips by hand or snip the caps off soldered types. Crack the ceramic in a vice and shake out the quartz sand to find the element. Eye protection — ceramic and glass shrapnel travels.

Hazards

🩹 Glass and sharps

NEVER blow on, wipe with bare fingers, or brush away cut optical fibre.

☠ Lead — dust more than fume

NEVER dry sweep or use compressed air on a scrapping bench. HEPA-vac or wet-wipe only.

🪚 Fibreglass and board dust

NEVER dry-cut boards indoors without extraction.

Before you scrap it

Better than scrap by a mile. Assorted tested fuse lots sell $25–80 per pound to repair shops, and slow-blow and odd values are always wanted.

The common trap

A real overestimation trap. Board-level HRC fuses hold single-digit milligrams of silver each — a whole pound is maybe $4 of metal. The genuinely silver-rich fuses are industrial NH/DIN blade fuses with stamped silver strips, and those aren't board components.

Questions

How much gold is in ceramic hrc fuses (and glass fuses)?

Silver: 1–3 g/lb. Copper: ~90 g/lb. At current spot that is about $4.76 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify ceramic hrc fuses (and glass fuses)?

The silver element is a hair-thin wire and the sand and ceramic are all the rest of the weight. Board fuses are nothing like the big industrial blade fuses people are picturing.

How do you remove ceramic hrc fuses (and glass fuses) safely?

Pull from clips by hand or snip the caps off soldered types. Crack the ceramic in a vice and shake out the quartz sand to find the element. Eye protection — ceramic and glass shrapnel travels.

Is ceramic hrc fuses (and glass fuses) worth more working than as scrap?

Better than scrap by a mile. Assorted tested fuse lots sell $25–80 per pound to repair shops, and slow-blow and odd values are always wanted.

Related in Other

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