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I'm in Ireland and our kitchen wiring is a little weird.

De Detrich Oven & Induction Hob (Cooktop) - 3 phase @ 380V!!

Sockets - UK style fused plugs, 2 X rings total of 12 sockets. (include fridges, microwave, kettle, coffee machine etc)

Washing machine, dryer & dishwasher have dedicated circuits with 16 A sockets. Not sure why they decided to use different sockets, the machines use less than a 13A load.

3 phase 380V is also used for the water heater.

lighting sockets (small 3 round pins) are used around the house too for dimming / controlling free standing lamps. (Presumably to prevent someone from accidently plugging the vacuum cleaner into a lighting circuit)

Nice to have a member from the Republic of Ireland at last!

Are the 16A dedicated outlets the Schuko type? I'd heard that these were being used in Eire now, but never saw any last time I was there in 1998.

The round-pin lighting outlets are probably the BS546 type. They were once quite common in the U.K. too, but seemed to fall out of favor some years ago.

It sounds as though your house is fairly large to have a 3-phase supply, or is ESB adopting a more Continental policy now of installing 3-ph for all but very small installations?

The 16 amp outlets are shuttered schuko, although I've seen the old large round pin British style ones used in some installations (rare).

According to someone I know in the ESB what happend was: Originally Schuko was adopted by the ESB as standard and was installed in most places. The German standard voltage was also used (220V single phase and 380V 3phase @ 50hz) However, many electricians worked/trained in the UK and many appliences shipped with UK plugs and British standard fittings were far easier to buy in the pre-Euro days! Most electricians/retailers didn't want to have to buy from Gemany/NL etc in the days when IR£ 1 = UK£1 As the standards were only loosly inforced there was a general slide towards using UK/BS fittings instead of the ESB's original schuko based standard. I would also suspect that when (IS 401/A ) BS 1363/A was introduced it was seen as a safer alternative to unshuttered recessed schuko outlets (or old BS ones) even though modern versions are now shuttered the older ones here were regular causes of electrocution (as were the old british style ones). Children could easily insert foreign objects into the round holes. It was a totally incompatable standard and thus rendered the mixture of old BS and aging schuko installations obselete speeding up re-wiring of older properties.

The offical standard is now IS 401/A : 1993 which is BS 1363/A 13Amp plug/socket system. You may see Type approved by NSAI or a little "flash" symbol on plugs in the UK. The older BS plugs and sockets are not officially recognised at all.

Irish wiring standards however, while similar to the UK, are not necessarily the same and tend to follow European norms much more closley except for domestic plugs/sockets.

Schuko was commonly used pre-1970's in the Rep. of Ireland. From what I've seen it was always side-earthed, I've never seen an old socket that didn't have earthing. You can still purchase Schuko plugs and sockets in most electrical shops (even general department stores sell side-earthed schuko plugs) It was probabally a far superior standard to the older generation british plug/socket system which was an absolute brute. I have elderly relatives in Northern Ireland who still have that system and I know that unplugging the kettle is practically a 2man operation. They just don't seem to be designed to be pulled out!
Why are the pins so large? Did BSI think that people would be using portable 10KW appliences in the future?

Had another look at the distribution box (aka "fuse box)

Here's what we have:
Meter and ESB supplied isolating switch (sealed)
then...
Master Breaker : 63Amp
RCB marked "inter-diferential"
lighting circuits: 10A MCBs (8 of them)
sockets 20 A MCBs ( 2 rows of them) presumably rings?
central heating 6A
Immersion: 20A
Cookers: 20A

Yes, the old BS546 15A plugs are really hefty. For anyone who isn't familiar with the sheer bulk of these plugs, let me point out that the line and neutral pins are generally solid brass, about 1/4" diameter. The earth pin is more like 5/16".

Even the 5A version have line/neutral pins which are around 3/16" diameter -- Larger than the 16A-rated pins on a Euro/Schuko plug, although a little shorter.

That's an interesting history on the unofficial adoption of British plugs. I'd assumed that the Schuko standard had crept into the country in more recent years since Ireland's greater involvement with Continental Europe.

I wouldn't have thought that the 20A branches are rings; more likely to be normal radial circuits. Most of Europe uses 16A branches for sockets, but France often uses 20A instead.

And that's a lot of lighting circuits.

Did I forget to mention that the ESB (and ETCI [electro-technical council of Ireland]) has traditionally been a *BIT* obcessive about electrical safety! They'd make you use industrial-style waterproof fittings for your lawnmower if they could inforce it You do however get plenty of very dodgy & potentially dangerous DIY & cowboy jobs here, just like the rest of the world!

example of the newer tougher codes:

If you install a bathroom fan with a timer double pole isolating switch must be installed somewhere outside the bathroom to enable complete isolation should it be necessary as they won't allow the possibility live terminals during cleaning. Same applies to central heating (pumps/boilers etc) must be independently fused and fully and easily isolatable. (e.g. a 5 amp fuse and switch on the wall nearby)

All light fittings must be supplied with a working earth (switches and ceiling roses) just incase anyone decides to go for brass fittings in the future.

Immersion wiring is no-longer generally allowed within the "hotpress / airing cubard" must be flush fitted on the wall outside as it has caused fires due to rough handling / general wear and tear.

They've really cracked down on the propper earthing of water systems too. It's always been done but apparently is now much more rigorously inspected. lots of bands and earth wires cross connecting pipework to ensure it's fully earthed.

Re the lighting: Northern Europe gets a bit on the dark side

Re: France..

When I was living over there I remember we had fuses in the sockets and light switches in one old house that we had. Perhaps a UK style ring circuit?

Each socket and light switch had a small round disk on the front consealing a fuse carrier.

Is that common over there? or is it just a very old and obselete installation?

I don't know for sure, but probably it's just an obsolete installation. Austrian radial circuits used to have fused receptacles before WWII. There were 2 thin cardboard fuses with metal sleeves on each end, usually 1 or 2 A, 1for line, 1 for neutral, circuit fused 4A. These fuses were already obsolete in the 1950ies, I have a recommendation from 1958 just to bridge them with aluminum foil or anything else as they aren't really needed. In the only receptacle of this type we have I replaced them with 10A ones.

Off topic, but: Does anyone of you know why a vintage British reel-to-reel tape recorder should come with a really thin cord, something like stranded phone cord, and what it would have been fused? 1A?

The basis of wiring regulations in all EU member countries will be firmly founded on technical documents issued by CENELEC. These harmonised documents must be referred to in any national standard and anything that might conflict with them must be withdrawn from that national standard. Harmonised documents will pave the way to a reasonable level playing field under the new approach methodology.
The issue with BS1363 sockets installed in a French house is an interesting one. Should I choose to install say a typical French socket outlet under IEE Regs in the UK, I think that if objection were raised I think that I could successfully argue that the IEE Regs (BS7671 2001) would, by reference to the acceptance of European Norms, permit such a situation. However, I have no doubt that the more than your jobs worth brigade would be out in force.
In any event, I think in due course the UK socket may end up in the same grave as the British pound!

Tex,
Most such vintage equipment sold here came with instructions to the buyer for fitting a plug. They usually stated that if a 13A (BS1363) plug were used that a 2A or 3A fuse be fitted, or that if any other type of plug is used that protection at the panel must be no more than 5A.

The latter case would usually mean use of a BS546 (round-pin) 5A plug. It's an interesting contradiction though, because IEE Regs. permitted 5A BS546 receptacles to be wired on circuits rated at up to 15A.

I remember such instructions from a recent Philips radio/cd/tape combo. Most funny was the part: "If the plug doesn't fit your socket, cut it off and install a new one."
In Austria this would violate the law because only licensed electricians are allowed to work with plugs.