"w_tom" wrote in message
...
How much current must be traveling through a standard 13 amp
UK power cord to cause a fire? Put up numbers.

Not possible. Depends on the exact current draw, the exact resistance, the
"heat-sinking" or power dissipation of the load, the presence or
non-presence of combustible material nearby, etc.

And now how
does all that current pass through a 13 amp fuse without
blowing the fuse. Tenant was not (apparently) blowing fuses.


The one device with the 13 amp fuse, as I recall is potentially only one of
several devices on the line.

A single device might start a fire with as little as 4 or 5 watts energy
dissipated in a small enough point with flammable material there. In this
admittedly extreme example, as little as 25 milliamps could start a fire at
220 volts.

All we American tech types are really trying to say is that many people
(tenants, for example) are so unknowledeable in the way they hook up AC
power cords, extension cords, heaters, lamps, etc as to be a hazard to
themselves, others, and in the specific example of the OP, his valuable
rental property.

snip

Mark Z.