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Old 15th Jul 2013, 10:28 am   #212
broadgage
Nonode
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: North Somerset, UK.
Posts: 2,129
Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Oh yes they did !
Back in the good old days, when power sockets were rather a new idea, fuses blew regularly.
Some appliances used a full 15 amps and therefore got through 13 amp fuses regularly.

And of course mains voltages differed, I doubt that a 110 volt heater would have survived long on 240 volts, but many old 210 or 220 volt heaters got used in 240 volt districts and used 16 amps or so.

I remember a relative who had an old fashioned 3 bar electric heater in which I noticed that the elements seemed bright orange rather than dull red.
I found out later that the elements were designed for 200/210 volts.
They threw it out when moving to a house with the new fangled 13 amp sockets because it kept blowing fuses. It worked fine on a 15 amp plug, probably with a 20 amp fuse at the fuseboard.
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