I cut and pasted this from an Israeli electrian's site. Nice to know that everyone has the same problems [Linked Image]
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Customer: Hello is that the electrician ?
Listen, the new circuit breakers that you just put in keep tripping. The old fuses never blew !

EDS: Ah ! thats because someone had already replaced the old fuses with coffin nails which meant that instead of the old fuses protecting the house wiring, the wiring was protecting the fuses !

Customer: But it worked and I could run the washing machine at the same time as the dryer, the dishwasher, the stove and all the room heaters !!! Can’t you put a ‘stronger’ circuit breaker in the box ?

EDS: Maybe you should have kept the old fuses and replaced all the wiring instead !

Look, for safety the fuses or circuit breakers MUST be weaker than the wire in it’s circuit. That way if there’s a problem, the fuse will go before the wire starts burning or the the switch contact goes. The thickness of the wiring determines the size of the fuse that has to be installed. There have been countlesss cases of fires in electrical boxes caused by overloaded circuits or faulty fuses.

Customer: So what can I do with my washing machine and dryer ?

EDS: In new flats that are wired correctly, each device will have it’s own correctly rated breaker. In old houses you’ll probably have to run one machine after another or install a new heavy duty circuit from the main fuse-panel to one of the machines. Also, dryers usually have a half-power setting.
(any resemblance to actual customers is purely coincidental !)
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Some interesting information about the Israeli wiring on the site btw:
http://members.tripod.com/~eds_engineering/