4 ms·

It also has a fuse in it that is completely useless in almost all world except UK. So no thanks, you can keep it. We prefer not to burn our houses down.

• thebruce87m 2y ago
  Can you explain how an added safety feature of a fuse increases the risk of a house burning down?
  • 112233 2y ago
    That "added safety feature" is only because of ring circuits, which are a cute hack sure, but not only have real fun failure modes, they make it impossible to use correctly rated MCBs. Your breaker won't trip unless you exceed total ring capacity.
    • thebruce87m 2y ago
      Everything I am reading says the fuse is there to protect the device, or more specifically the cable between the plug and the device. https://www.workshopshed.com/2024/09/why-do-we-have-fuses-in-plugs/ https://www.workshopshed.com/2024/09/why-do-we-have-fuses-in... > So this is why there is a need for a fuse, it is there to protect the cable running between the plug and the appliance. The alternative would be to have 32A tolerant cables on every device. > they make it impossible to use correctly rated MCBs. It looks like UK is 32A standard but US us 20 or 15A - is that a significant enough difference that the US is safer? 15/20A is still chunky.
      • lazide 2y ago
        The US is 15/20 at 120v. UK is 32A @ 220v. A massive difference in wattage.
        • thebruce87m 2y ago
          If anything that argues in the other direction since an equivalent US appliance at the same wattage will draw almost twice the current as a UK one. If we’re talking about the risk of overheating then current is the big factor. In the UK we can put a fuse of e.g. 3A in the plug of a device that is suited for the devices expected draw, but if I understand correctly this could be 15A for the same device in the US?
          • lazide 2y ago
            It would need to be a 6A fuse in the US. Watts = Amps * Volts, or Watts / Volts == amps. US (and really, everywhere except the UK/Singapore/Malaysia, and I think HK) doesn’t use plug fuses, preferring circuit level protection, because they typically have non-insane circuit power levels. It does result in more branch circuit wiring (albeit thinner gauge) and breakers though, and saving on copper post WW2 was the primary motivation for UK style ring circuits anyway. Many houses in the US were 50A/120V (for the whole panel/house!) until the 60’s, because that was a lot of power - 6kw. It wasn’t until electric appliances that it started to change, and the modern 200A split phase panels (typically 22/44kw)didn’t start to become the norm until whole house HVAC became normal. Think 80’s/90’s. A lot of houses still don’t have modern panels. A single UK ring circuit at 32A@220v is 7kw, or more than enough to run a very beefy welder, and more than a whole house service in the US at the time. A breaker on each of those ring circuits is essentially a ‘whole house breaker’, and would not trip on a whole host of ‘everything is melting’ situations. So you need per-appliance fuses to protect the wiring for appliances and not burn the place down, or run 6 gauge wire everywhere in your appliances too, which would remove any cost savings in material.
            • thebruce87m 2y ago
              > It would need to be a 6A fuse in the US. Watts = Amps * Volts, or Watts / Volts == amps. My point was that the (up to) 3A UK device gets 3A fuse in the plug in the UK. In the US that device becomes a 6A device but (essentially) gets a 15A fuse in the breaker box, is that the case? Because that seems worse. A fault in the device blows the plug fuse in the UK. The same fault needs to trip the 15A one in the US. > A breaker on each of those ring circuits is essentially a ‘whole house breaker’, and would not trip on a whole host of ‘everything is melting’ situations. I don’t know what this means. It will trip for currents greater than its rating. Nothing should be melting under its rating.
• moebrowne 2y ago
  A fuse? The plug accepts fuses rated from 1A to 13A. It can be tailored to the requirements of the appliance
• Sullok 2y ago
  Yeah mate, lost count the of number of times I've burnt my house down using these plugs over the past 30 odd years.