ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades So much for UK 3amp plug fuses!

Article about testing of British wiring accessories, like plugs and sockets.
http://www.uk.etlsemko.com/en/popup_about.asp?page_id=71&type=fa

Given the fact that Intertek are headquartered on Savile Row, one would expect them to tailor a solution to suit you needs. Sorry, couldn't resist...

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 03-21-2004).]

Euro plugs are designed for a max. load of 2.5A. Anything heavier has to be fitted with a contour plug. However, some el-cheapo (mostly Italian market) hairdryers are fitted with Euro plugs. I've got a 1800W hairdryer with Europlug at home, it even has the "250V, 2.5A" embossed.

I thought that Italy has a higher rated 2-pin Europlug-like connector too ? 10 A ?

Contour plugs don't normally fit italian sockets as the pins are too fat for the lower rated sockets and not spaced far enough apart to fit into a 16A outlet.

I have seen schuko/italian comination outlets in italy though. Quite a smart design. It's basically a normal schuko socket with a hole at the centre that accepts the ground pin on the 10A italian plugs.

I really can't see the non-CEE 7/7 systems, other than the UK/Ireland (because of the ringmains quirk) surviving. With the addition of various Eastern European countries, all of which use Schuko or French sockets, the non-CEE 7/7 countries are in a total minority. CEE 7/7 is well established as the defacto European standard. The Danish, Swiss and Italian systems really don't offer any advantages. If Switzerland or Denmark for some reason wanted to keep polarised outlets they could always adpot the French UTE / CEE 7/V system rather than the unpolarised German VDE CEE 7/IV.

I honestly can't see why the UK and Ireland can't simply use fused schuko outlets either. There's no reason why companies like MK etc couldn't produce sockets that conform to CEE 7/7 and also maintain the safety features of a British outlet. Manditory shuttering, built in switches, even little neon lights to tell you that they're on Just put a 16 amp fuse into them on the live side.

UK wall boxes are an unusual, non-European, design anyway so only BS CEE 7/7 outlets would fit and non-fused imposters would be very easy to spot. Just insist that they have some clearly identifiable moulding like "For use in UK & Ireland" visible on the inside of the outlet.

There would be no reason to phase out ring mains nor to have fused and non fused outlets.. Just like today, we use fused plugs regardless of wheather they're plugged into radial or ring circuits.

Electricians are not going to start installing unfused sockets on ringmains and DIYers can already install a whole variety of unfused outlets directly onto ring mains should they be stupid enough (BS546 or just make a trip over to callais and buy a French outlet or two... or as I've seen here once or twice; blue CEE 17 sockets with no fuse on a ring main in a shop!) So I can't see why there would be any increased risk.

The vast majority of UK appliences are not properly fused anyway. From what I can see, 13A fuses are popped into many plugs for TVs, VCRs, Radios etc.. which isn't really a huge problem as they're all designed to be plugged directly into 16A sockets anyway.

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[This message has been edited by djk (edited 03-22-2004).]

[quote]I thought that Italy has a higher rated 2-pin Europlug-like connector too ? 10 A ?[|quote]

Obviously they don't. All "ungrounded 10A plugs" I've seen were actually Euro plugs instead, with the 2.5A max. In fact they'd only need to make them rectangular instead of the weird Euro design and they wouldn't fit Euro sockets any more, but for some reason they don't.
However, Euro outlets are pretty rare.
And considering what rubbish is sold openly today... I've seen lots of taps that convert a Schuko socket into 3 Euro sockets. However, the face of those adaptors is more or less flat, so it also takes 2 ungrounded plugs, or with some brute force probably even Schuko plugs! No approval marks visible, manufactured by Kopp.

Ragnar,

look here http://www.feller-at.com/English/Feller-UP-E.htm

It seems it does exist

I never found anything particularly wrong with the Italian way of doing things provided you you don't try to force a schuko or contour plug into one of their 10A sockets

It does seem as though in the long term, CEE7/Shucko will become the de facto standard across Europe.


Hence the simplification of the specified fuse ratings for the public. The original specs told people to use a 2, 5, 10, or 13A fuse as appropriate. These days, instructions just say to fit a 3A or a 13A fuse.

It has never been helped by the fact that for many years BS1363 plugs were sold with a 13A fuse already fitted. Plugs with a 3A fuse pre-installed are on sale now, but so many people have no idea what size fuse to use anyway. "It's a 13A plug, so it needs a 13A fuse" seems to be the most common view.

Fused sockets would certainly be a way to introduce Shucko with U.K. rings, although I think that new construction would probably be better just going with radial circuits anyway (yeah, I know, I'd like to see rings disappear! ).