Doctor Drivel wrote:
Not really. Rings came about because of ships, to reduce the amount of
cable, and one lighting cable could be strung around the whole ship. Many
British go to Spain and take with them UK cables and CUs and fit Spanish
plugs, using rings. The Spanish authorities cut the circuit off when they
see them. The Spanish forbid rings. Cheeky *******s I know, when you see
the state of Spanish wiring. The new Euro wiring standards is to only have
radials. Not finalised or approved yet, and still up in the air, but
looking that way.

There is no evidence to prove that rings are safer than radials.



The fundamental difference between "continental" installations and UK
installations is that here in the UK the plug is fused. This allows for higher
capacity circuits (such as 30A rings) as you have some degree of over
current protection in the plug.

In Spain, or the Netherlands, there is no fuse in the plug, so you will need
to reduce the circuit rating to keep things safe. In NL most circuits are
fused at 16A.

So if you drop a knife on a CD player power cable it trips the fuse for that
radial.
And before anyone starts crying about the whole house being out of power
because of a CD player short: We use many radials with only a few sockets on
each.

There is little point using a ring circuit for a 16A circuit (yes, yes I
know all the arguments for and against).
Why they would be forbidden is a different question, but I have not yet come
across a situation where I would need one, as you usally have multiple
radials instead of the one or two rings common in the UK.

For exceptions (ovens, etc) you just lay 3-phase or 2 circuits. It's rare
to find an appliance that requires a single phase 16A that doesn't have
the option of a double plug in the NL.

Gerd.



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