3/5/13 Amp Fuses For Plugs And Fused Spurs...

[OnlQQker]

As most people really don't have an understanding of electricity whatsoever, and the amount of times I have come across the wrong size fuse in a plug or FCU.

I don't know but surely this should be addressed somehow.

Moulded plugs are all good as well on the new table lamp somebody has just purchased, but one day the fuse blows and a 13amp one is most of the time shoved back in.

Seems rather a deadly issue to me!

Just thinking out loud again.

 

[Moley]

but would the foil be able to cope with the load demanded by the cannabis plants growing in the attic?

Wrap it around twice.

 

[telectrix]

What if they only have 1/4" rod?

take the foil off of it.

 

[telectrix]

or, 1/4" being 6.3mm, it would be a tighter fit.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Its the Gruniad so hold your nose...

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/16/fire-test-for-grenfell-foam-cladding-panels-was-rigged-admits-ex-employee&ved=2ahUKEwijh8S9zf3tAhV5ThUIHeg6BQUQFjAAegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVaw1lxBcxDf5Jro-ZIIWdN2Dk&ampcf=1

The last sentence is very telling:
The group has also said it promoted RS5000’s use on buildings that are taller than 18 metres only in a “rainscreen cladding system with the specific components”, used when it passed the fire safety test.
The inquiry continues.

 

[GBDamo]

The last sentence is very telling:
The group has also said it promoted RS5000’s use on buildings that are taller than 18 metres only in a “rainscreen cladding system with the specific components”, used when it passed the fire safety test.
The inquiry continues.

For sure, this is now in the hands of the courts to decide whose gobshite promised whom what.
But, my inclination is towards a sales driven decision rather than a safety driven one.

 

[telectrix]

For sure, this is now in the hands of the courts to decide whose gobshite promised whom what.
But, my inclination is towards a sales driven decision rather than a safety driven one.

and how may fat brown envelopes changed hands.

 

[Moley]

and how may fat brown envelopes changed hands.

Lets not be racist. White envelopes matter too.

 

[telectrix]

so do pink ones but we'll let the gender benders have sole use of them.

 

[littlespark]

That was a good idea earlier in the thread.... yes, I’ve read the whole thing.

a moulded plug is stuck to the appliance. Make fuses different sizes and have different sizes fuse clips within the plug so that only the right size fuse fits. Either diameter or length.
Only a problem when someone fits their own plug

 

[Moley]

Someone would still find a way. Makes me think of something 'Big Clive' took apart recently. If I remember correctly it was a chinese import. Even with the plug removed there was still continuity. The fuse was just there for show.
Here we go. Watch this.

 

[lozarus]

I have ----ed a theory around in my head, that this sort of thing is kind of a side effect of good intentions / regulated de-skilling. Stay with me on this -

So even as recently when I was young, appliances came without plugs. As such I was eventually taught to wore a plug and along with this given a loose guide on which fuse to select from the tobacco tin in the shed and why.

However, in an effort to eliminate the dangers of poorly wired plugs, plugs now come moulded. This means fuses are only seen if one fails (which for many consumers and items is quite rare) rather than being introduced to the user to actually make an appliance work - each time they buy an appliance, from heaters to lamps.

So because fuses are interacted with less and less due to plugs arriving pre-fitted, it's understandable that as time goes on, your average public member won't have any reason to understand the fuse. But if you have to install it yourself - you should understand.

Now of course there's holes in my theory. I mean I've seen countless poorly wired plugs fitted in the 60's/70's/80's, or items from the same era with the incorrect fuse fitted - but I do feel that by having a consumer install their own plug, there is a need for the education and thus people perhaps have a slightly greater chance of having to understand basic consumer electrical theory.

 

[Moley]

People are not willing to learn. If they buy an item without a plug they will just call on the guy down the pub/ bloke down the road to fit it and we all know how good that guy is. Let's be fair, most people don't even take the cardboard off the plug that tells you what fuse is in it. If they could they would plug it in with the (useless) plastic prong cover still on. I think that supplying without a plug would be a step backwards.

 

[pc1966]

Compared to wiring a plug there are far fewer and less dangerous things you can do with getting the wrong fuse. Worst case is a cable under-rated for a 13A fault clearance which is fire hazard in a range of high Zs cases when it fails the adiabatic limit.

Wiring a plug wrong allows a L/E swap. Why, Well brown is the colour of earth, isn't it?

To me what is more dengerous these days is the crap off eBay and the likes. Recently a friend of mine got various tablet computers and they came with (I think) USA adaptors and a unfused 13A converter for them. It even had under-sized pins. I told her to bin the adaptors and contact trading standards, but I doubt anything happened.

 

[OnlQQker]

In my eyes the problem shouldn't even exist anymore.

I don't feel its down to the customer to be clued up on how to change the fuse, I know nothing about Chlorine Trifluoride which to me is equally as dangerous.
But i can't just go and buy that off the shelf.

The fuse sizing mentioned here is a good idea and the only work around possibly.
Moulded plugs have stopped most people dabbling around with taking them off and putting them on to something else, though that has nowhere near eliminated the problem. It's almost like the moulded plugs should have a mini mcb built into it but perhaps that technology isn't here yet to make a switch/button so small.

To me it just seems like a really massive problem in a world of Electrics where we have some amazing safety devices and protective regulations.

My sister rang yesterday and said had I got any 13amp fuses, I asked her what it was for, she replied, 'my hairdyer' lol

 

[ian.settle1]

Right, we just need to get the London fire brigade to suggest it ?

And why just London Fire Brigade