In article ,
Peter Ashby wrote:
I wish I had taken that advice a few years ago. The cable tv man was
coming so I had pulled the TV and stand etc out and decided to spend the
time figuring out why the socket behind it didn't work. So I pulled the
fuse for the downstairs ring, noted that nothing was on but did not test
the recalcitrant socket. So there I was poking about in the switch
seeing if the connections were good when there was a flash and the
lights went out (it was an overcast winters day). Turned out that socket
had been extended not from the ring, but from a port for a hard wired
standard lamp, so when I shorted it the lighting fuse blew. I have been
much more careful since and will take Andy's advice to heart for all
further such excursions.

Indeed. However I'd not use a 13 amp outlet for a floor fed lamp, and not
just for the reasons you've given. Most such circuits will be on a dimmer
and plugging the Hoover into such a circuit can be expensive to fix. Hence
they should really be a suitable round pin type which are available these
days in most styles from most makers.

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*When did my wild oats turn to prunes and all bran?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.