<snip> The interesting thing was just how hot the fuse got at 20A. The whole office smelt strongly of frying fuse!The fuse was way too hot to touch, I would estimate it at around 120 deg C. Yet even after 4 hours of this torture, it was still hanging in there. I am told that this is entirely normal behaviour.
The point I am making here is that if the fuse board at the kick-off of this thread needed fan-cooling to stop the fuses from popping, they were not just passing rated current, but more probably a good 25% overload! Methinks that this cannot possibly be a good thing, no matter how you look at it.
Exactly. And since wiring as old as what is most likely in that panel is good for 60 deg. C anyways, it's only a matter of time before a serious fire results. If the fuses, are getting cooling from the fan, the wiring behind the front is not getting any cooling at all.
