On Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:46:33 -0000, NT wrote:

On Mar 9, 9:03 am, Mike Barnes wrote:
#(you could save copper and gain safety
#by leaving out part of the ring, and by using the two halves
#as branches of a star, fused with 2x16A instead of 1x30A)

That would make every connection in the circuit safety critical. A
single bad conection then risks fire or shock, soemthing that doesnt
occur with rings.
It also reduces the utility of the system, since each circuit is less
tolerant of large combination loads.
Finally it offers zero safety advantage. 30A fusing protects the ring
circuit itself fine, and plug fuses protect the appliances and their
leads

Surely it would be best to do as they suggest and have 30A cable in a star topology. You could have as many sockets as you like on a single line of 30A cable. Yes I know it would cost a bit more, but if something gets disconnected, you have no connection, instead of half a connection.

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