7A fused plug

pc1966 · Jul 8, 2021

While visiting some friends down south I noticed they still had the cardboard wiring info on their coffee maker, so removed it as not for final use. What was curious is it specifies a 7A fuse, and while I have seen and used some odd ones before (e.g. 1A, 10A) this first time I have seen on fitted to a mass market product!

TL;DR anyone seen unusual fuses before?

pc1966 · Jul 8, 2021

Also I always remove them, but I don't see that said on the cardboard. My assumption is they are both a fire hazard (more flammable than the plug or socket cardboard) as well as a shock hazard as when damp massively reducing the creepage distance.

Any got a definitive statement either way? To remove, or not to remove...

Strima · Jul 8, 2021

pc1966 said:
Also I always remove them, but I don't see that said on the cardboard. My assumption is they are both a fire hazard (more flammable than the plug or socket cardboard) as well as a shock hazard as when damp massively reducing the creepage distance.

Any got a definitive statement either way? To remove, or not to remove...

Mainly because it stops the plug from being fully inserted into the socket-outlet. TBH it makes no odds as the design of both plug and socket allow for a margin of error.

Lucien Nunes · Jul 8, 2021

I always remove them and agree that there should be advice to do so for the two reasons you mention. I have actually seen a flashover caused or assisted by the reduced creepage distance; I kept the plug at the time but not sure if I still have it. I really don't see the point of supplying the information on a pre-installed plug, but some of these things are carry-overs now rather out of place like the inclusion of old colours. And the customary blurb 'This new-fangled square pin plug might not fit the sockets in your house...' or however it goes. I have not seen appliances supplied with 7A fuses either, and wonder what their intention was, other than 'because we can.'

Curiously the only commercial product I can recall specifying 7A BS1362 fuses was not fitted with a BS1363 plug. The fuses were used in 1" x 0.25" panelmount fuseholders as channel fuses in Green Ginger Micropack lighting dimmers in the 1980s. The anomaly was that the channels were rated at 2.5kW, I believe the intention was for the fuse to be deliberately overrun so as to provide the lowest possible I²t to protect the triacs. The BTA40s turned out to be pretty tough and would easily eat a 10A without damage, so I recall that the later units specified a 10A fuse instead. Some competing products that used BTA25s did not fare so well with 10A fuses and the triacs were much more prone to failure in the event of a short-circuit.

James · Jul 8, 2021

I wonder if it was bought before the requirement to have factory fitted plugs on consumer goods.

pc1966 · Jul 8, 2021

James said:
I wonder if it was bought before the requirement to have factory fitted plugs on consumer goods.

It looked like the coffee maker was probably only a couple of years old at most.

I'm wondering if it was some sort of promotional / review model so not a mass-production style of moulded plug?

timhoward · Jul 8, 2021

pc1966 said:
Also I always remove them, but I don't see that said on the cardboard. My assumption is they are both a fire hazard (more flammable than the plug or socket cardboard) as well as a shock hazard as when damp massively reducing the creepage distance.

Any got a definitive statement either way? To remove, or not to remove...

It faintly amuses me when I find an item with a PAT test sticker and there is still the card on the plug. Clearly connections not checked and correct fuse for flex not checked!

Simon47 · Jul 8, 2021

timhoward said:
It faintly amuses me when I find an item with a PAT test sticker and there is still the card on the plug. Clearly connections not checked and correct fuse for flex not checked!

Why ? IME the cards have holes so you don't need to remove it to access the cover and cord grip screws.

DJAndy · Jul 8, 2021

Simon47 said:
Why ? IME the cards have holes so you don't need to remove it to access the cover and cord grip screws.

I recall that the COP for In Service Inspection & Test says to remove the cards, and on my course the advice was to bin them

Simon47 · Jul 8, 2021

But that's not what you said. You suggested that the presence of the card meant the plug can't have been checked which is orthoganol to whether leaving the card is a fail or not.

pirate · Jul 8, 2021

I would always remove the card, orthoganal or not. There are no right angles here, just an inversion of the diagram, but the card should be removed as damp is not your friend, and some cheap sockets need as much penetration as possible. Indeed, i saw a plug the other day that was so cheaply made that the socket-facing surface was distinctly quaquaversal, so proper contact was doubtful in the extreme.

timhoward · Jul 8, 2021

Simon47 said:
But that's not what you said. You suggested that the presence of the card meant the plug can't have been checked which is orthoganol to whether leaving the card is a fail or not.

I don't think it's universally true that the cards have holes in them, and I concede I am going back around 10 years and I didn't make that clear. Here is one example:

loz2754 · Jul 9, 2021

Simon47 said:
orthoganol

If you're going to use this word you could at least spell it correctly lol!

Moley · Jul 9, 2021

loz2754 said:
If you're going to use this word you could at least spell it correctly lol!

Very true. It makes it a lot easier for thickos like me to look the word up ?

littlespark · Jul 9, 2021

What’s it got to do with being 8-sided????

anyway, card off- check fuse- replace card… what’s difficult?

Nah…. Throw the card away. It’s pointless. Last example, who’s going to measure how much insulation and sheath to strip off? To the millimetre?

Mike Johnson · Jul 9, 2021

It's really quite bizarre how the alpha betty spaghetti spells out words some times. ?

timhoward · Jul 9, 2021

loz2754 said:
If you're going to use this word you could at least spell it correctly lol!

I'm happy to have learned a new word - not sure how much I'll use it though. Wonder if I can get it into "comments on existing installation" later this morning.....

littlespark · Jul 9, 2021

timhoward said:
I'm happy to have learned a new word - not sure how much I'll use it though. Wonder if I can get it into "comments on existing installation" later this morning.....

Comment

“looks like it was installed by a knob skull”

timhoward · Jul 9, 2021

littlespark said:
Comment

“looks like it was installed by a knob skull”

Yep, that would sum it up...
Or maybe....as it is the house of a highly educated GP...
"While originally competently installed the trajectory of creative and poorly executed extensions and modifications have been somewhat orthogonal to BS7671 ever since."

Lucien Nunes · Jul 9, 2021

orthoganol

Anyone with a smattering of organic chemistry will recognise the orthaganols. They are like regular aliphatic alcohols but having been invented by electricians they have unusual bond angles held in place by cable ties. The simplest is: