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Old 9th Oct 2012, 9:35 pm   #31
emeritus
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,316
Default Re: 13 amp plug question

I doubt that it is anything to do with fuses. I have some unfused MK 5A and 15A BS546 plugs which also have holes adjacent the earth pin.

Many years ago a non-BS1362 fuse (bought in the early 1960's) fitted to a 13A plug, blew when the cable insulation of my mother's iron broke down. The arc blew holes in both end caps of the fuse, but didn't break the circuit. The escaping metal vapour plated the inside of the plug with condensed copper, and set up a secondary arc inside the plug in series with the arc in the cable, but there was no tendency to blow the plug apart (a Crabtree I think). A pity I didn't keep or photograph the remains as a warning aganst the use of such fuses, the sale of which was I believe subsequently banned in the UK.
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