Counterfeit Fuse

[Elmer BeFuddled]

Came across this video yesterday on the effect of passing a fault current through a plug top fitted with a counterfeit 13A BS1363 fuse...

Counterfeit Fuse video by Elmer_BeFuddled - Photobucket

 

[sparks1973]

well....thats a `belter`...lol....

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Wicked. Boom shakalak

 

[grantr37]

most of the fuses that are on the go just now seem to be made in India, and are made for pennies there, even the big industrial ones that cost £300 each are made cheaply in India....I can't think of any reason that somebody would want to fake fuses as there's no money in most of them...there's not really very many made in the UK or the USA anymore, its all cheap labour countries..... maybe some fake plug fuses come in with appliances made in the far east sometimes...

 

[Elmer BeFuddled]

The fakes do work, just contain no silica sand (?) to contain the "Boom shakalak" (to quote SPARTYKUS). I imagine the silica sand is the dearest part to include in the manufacture of the fuses. BTW the original date of the video was March 2012.

 

[Knobhead]

The fakes have been around for years. In the 80’s we bought 1000 fuses from RS of all places. They didn’t blow clear under fault, they blew to high resistance. I had one blow in the kettle took me a while to track down the smell from the plug top. Wouldn't have taken long to find the one in the clip

 

[sparks1973]

fake fuses in india....fake breakers in china....you know, the ones with nowt but a link wire in em...lol...

 

[Brightspark2]

Scary stuff...

most of the fuses that are on the go just now seem to be made in India, and are made for pennies there, even the big industrial ones that cost £300 each are made cheaply in India....I can't think of any reason that somebody would want to fake fuses as there's no money in most of them...there's not really very many made in the UK or the USA anymore, its all cheap labour countries..... maybe some fake plug fuses come in with appliances made in the far east sometimes...

They even fake eggs in china!! True story, go to china and you need to make sure your eggs are real.

Anyone else have a scan through the rest the photobucket album? :smug: :ninja:

 

[ExArmy]

does it say what size breaker was fitted to that circuit? i'd guess at 100A BS1361, just to prove a point. I don't think it'd be that bad with a 32A breaker

 

[UKMeterman]

That video has been round for a few years. It is a test video from ERA consulting where they tested a plug fuse at it's maximum breaking current.

 

[ExArmy]

That video has been round for a few years. It is a test video from ERA consulting where they tested a plug fuse at it's maximum breaking current.

so it's not a counterfeit fuse? and what is the maximum breaking current? 3kA?

 

[UKMeterman]

It was a counterfeit, and the plug fuse should be able to break 6KA

 

[ExArmy]

but whats the chances of this happening? surely the main fuse would go first, if not that then the circuit protective device?

 

[UKMeterman]

The chances are rare BUT the fuse must be able to break a 6KA arc without exploding. I know one flat where I got a PSCC of 2.5KA and I was 125m from the substation, there were some properties nextdoor to it..

 

[ExArmy]

i rewired a house 3 weeks ago with the substation at the bottom of the garden, the PFC was 3.5kA!
so basically what the video is saying is "beware if you have no main fuse and no circuit protective device and you have a good earth then if you use a counterfeit plugtop fuse in the event of a fault the plug will fly out of the socket in an explosion"