On 31/01/2012 22:45, Max Demian wrote:
"David wrote in message
...
wrote

The great advantage of radial circuits is that idiots find it a
little more difficult to bridge out the breaker in the panel,
unlike the silly fuse fitted in BS1363 plugs (which for some
silly reason is the same shape and diameter as many screws, bolts
and any other round bar) -

Well the BS1362 fuse certainly isn't the same shape as any screw, since
screws taper to a point, nor is it the shape of any bolt, unless you cut
the head off the bolt. As for round bar, well it would have to be the same
diameter and length, how many people have bits of round bar just exactly
the right size hanging around the house? not many.

For the last 20 years I have PAT tested every mains electrical item
submitted to a charity auction that is held twice a year in the village
where I live. In that time I met a fair few horrors: flexes so damaged
that the bare live wire shows through, a standard lamp (with a brass
fitting) wired up with two-core bell-wire, flexes extended using a bit of
choc-block wrapped in insulating tape, broken plugs, mis-wired plugs,
plugs with the cord-grip either missing or incorrectly used etc. But I've
only ever had one example of a plug with anything other than a BS1362 fuse
in it, and that had a few turns of 5A fuse-wire wrapped round the prongs
of the fuse-holder. So I don't buy this idea that people are putting
screws, bolts or bits of metal rod into plugs in any significant numbers
at all. Its *so* much easier to nick a fuse from another appliance than to
start looking for bits of metal that will fit!

How about 13A plug fuses for low wattage appliances such as radios and
lamps? Or wouldn't you regard that as a fault? (I wouldn't, as I regard the
purpose of a plug fuse to blow in the event of a dead short in the flex.)

The UK '13amp' plug top accepts fuses rated to suit the appliance. 13
amps is the maximum.

Ron