On Tuesday, 18 August 2020 13:48:11 UTC+1, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
tabbypurr wrote:
On Tuesday, 18 August 2020 10:55:44 UTC+1, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Scott wrote:

Why do you think the system was introduced with 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 and
13 amp fuses unless a lower rated fuse had safety benefits?

And it failed miserably.

On the contrary it was much more effective than the prior system

Really? With the previous radial system, you had a fuse per socket. In
theory...

not correct

So a 5 amp socket would take the fuse out if overloaded.

if the socket was overloaded by a large margin for long enough yes. But often not if the appliance went into dangerous overload. Why? Sockets were in short supply and most homeowners chose plugs to fit whatever socket was there rather than what fuse the appliance required. Those that stuck to fitting the corect plug simply used an unfused adaptor. Result: a large percentage of appliances were not appropriately fused.


If a fuse blows, all the vast majority will do is
replace it to get it working again.

which is fine


And are very unlikely to have all
those values to hand. And the spares they are likely to find, 13 amp.

IME most people had 3A & 13A.

Your mileage appears to have varied, as they say.

not really

Hence the current method of having wiring capable of taking out a 13
amp fuse if there is a sort somewhere without causing a fire. And
protecting the device itself with its own fuse if needed.

Yup. But historically it did work a lot better than the old 2/5/15A
system.


The old system was even more open to abuse - using the wrong fusewire, etc.

yup

But the idea of using lots of different fuses for plug tops is downright
stupid too - unless it was impossible to fit the wrong one. Human nature
being as it is.

Hardly. 3A fuses improve safety when used appropriately, there's no downside there.

'Impossible to fit the wrong one' would just recreate the inappropriate fusing issue that existed with the round pin system.


NT