Martin Angove wrote:

For a couple of meters or less, as you say, there's not much point
skimping... but just to be pedantic, surely the fuse you have to worry
about on a (single) socket is the 13A in the plug, not the 30/32 in the
board? Now, a double...

I think the difficult thing with a reduced size cable on the spur is
coping with a wiring fault (or damage) to the spur itself.

The fuse in the plug will protect the flex to the appliance, and in the
case of a fault in the appliance it will also protect the spur wiring.
However a short in the socket itself for example, would necessitate the
spur wire being able to take enough fault current to blow the main fuse
on the ring circuit.

So basically if you are confident the reduced size cable will perform
well enough under fault conditions then you can use it. I suppose the
argument for "skimping" is strongest when you have a contract to wire
five hundred flats all to the same wiring design - the saving in cable
costs may then be noticeable. From a DIY point of view its a wast of
time IMHO.


--
Cheers,

John.

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