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Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details. |
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#41 |
Octode
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Morden, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 1,561
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#42 |
Pentode
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 168
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That is a lot of current going through a 0.75mm flex for low loading appliances.
Makes you wonder if our electrical system is so much safer than everywhere else. I think it probably is . . . . |
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#43 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Yet the Continentals (and the USA) where 16A radials and unfused plugs are the norm don't seem to be any more-likely to burst into flame due to overloaded flexes than us Brits: one could make the observation that compared to RoW the UK appears significantly overfused!
I've got some 1A and 7A mains-plug fuses here: honestly I can't think of any circumstance where I've felt the need to use them. |
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#44 |
Pentode
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 168
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The reason people use so called specialist hifi mains cables, is because for most of them you can use a 13 amp fuse. The idea being the greater the value the fuse, the lower the impedance you get. There is an argument that says this improves sound quality due to the lower impedance.
I make all of my own mains cables using 1.5mm three core flex, which is good up to 15amps. But I still only use 5 amp fuses. Interestingly the IEC connectors I have used have a max rating of 10 amps. I certainly don't feel comfortable using 13 amp with hifi, even if the cable is specified for that size fuse. It also got me thinking. What about the wire that runs from an IEC socket in an amplifier to the transformer. How are you to know how many amps that can withstand before over heating, and catching fire. I think 5 amp fuses max for hifi is plenty. |
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#45 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Oxfordshire, UK.
Posts: 4,311
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Cheers, GJ
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#46 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Derby, UK.
Posts: 7,735
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Generally, you can get away with a few more amps through a short piece of wire than you could through a longer one. Hence the weedy-looking power leads on things like kettles (often just 0.75 or 1mm2, but kept under 1m. to prevent loop formation).
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#47 |
Pentode
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 168
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I never knew that, thank you for the information
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#48 |
Pentode
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 168
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What would you use a 7 amp fuse for ?
These days it is normally 3 amp 5 amp 13 amp. A 7 amp fuse is not something I have come across before. |
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#49 |
Octode
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Morden, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 1,561
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Always used to be used on electric Irons if I remember.
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#50 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,724
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For those who didn't have the questionable privilege of working with them: https://www.flameport.com/electric_m..._main_plug.cs4
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#51 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,289
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Please stay on topic.
This thread is about plug fuses to BS1362.
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#52 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,215
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Thinking about the colour of 3A fuses :
I remember an adaptor that was bought from Woolworths in the early 1970s. It had 13A plug pins on one side, 13A socket (unfused) on the other and a 2 pin 5A socket on each side. The last 2 were protected by a BS1362 cartridge fuse (one fuse for both sockets in parallel). The adapter got nicknamed 'the elephant' in my family. The 2 pin sockets had oval flanges, a bit like the ears of said animal, the 3 pins of the 13A plug looked like the tusks and trunk. Anyway, We had 2 of them, bought a couple of months aparts. One had a blue 3A fuse, the other a red 3A fuse. So blue 3A fuses were still arounds in the early 1970s. Don't ask me to find them and see if there are BS1362 numbers on the fuse cartridges though! |
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#53 |
Pentode
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 168
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There must be a lot of counterfeit fuses around. I purchased what I thought were genuine bussmann fuses from my local hardware store. When I opened them up, I had a hunch they were counterfeit. They had shiny end caps with a dimple in each end. To confirm my suspicion I broke one of the 13 amp fuses open, and found it had no sand filling inside.
So I stick with vintage, made in England fuses if I can find them. |
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#54 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Oxfordshire, UK.
Posts: 4,311
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A quick check through my BS1362 fuse drawer, which includes quite a few scavenged from old equipment over the years, reveals that I have 13A ones bearing the brand names:
ALERT ASHLEY BG (one of the BG ones also says ALERT on it) BUSSMANN D (a solid D-shape with a clear equilateral triangle as the 'hole' in the middle) EVER READY LACO (I can't be sure of the first letter - the printing's failed and it could be e.g. BACO) LYVIA MARBO METWAY MK NETTLE PENCON PMS SAFE (this must be recent as it also says Lead Free) SEM (this must be recent as it also says Lead Free) VF (not sure if this is the manufacturer or some sort of descriptor as I have a BG one which also says VF) VOLEX VT W&G WINFIELD (the Woolworth's brand ?) That was more than I would have guessed ! I wonder how many different manufacturers there actually were. Apart from the brand names a lot of them appear to share one of just a few different generic graphic styles. Cheers, GJ
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#55 |
Octode
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Belper Derbyshire
Posts: 1,936
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I too bought some counterfeit fuses. Wire poking out between the caps and the ceramic tube. Slightly different size when laid next to a genuine one. Broke it open and found no sand filling inside.
You can buy genuine 1A and 2A fuses from RS Components at a decent price which is where I bought mine from. I use them in the plugs for valve radios where the total set current doesn't rise more than a few hundred milliamps. Christopher Capener
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#56 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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The problem with these was that over time the larger brass cap - which was distorted by the presence of the wire - developed a longitudinal split. . . |
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#57 |
Pentode
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 168
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SEM are a Chinese brand
MARBO the ones I have are printed made in the uk. Factory was in Hartlepool, closed 2000. Still made, but I don't know which company owns the brand now. Naim use 13 amp Marbo for their components. Atlas are a German company. One of the vintage fuses I have not seen on ebay, even though I look is Crabtree. Other ones I have are MK EVER READY NIGLON BG ATLAS MARBO SAFEWAY THORN LAWSON RICHSTAR ALERT VINTAGE DUAL CAPPED (still in use) NETTLE VOLEX LYVIA I just bought some vintage EVER READY fuses no ASTA markings, only BS1362. What stands out on these, is that the end caps are gold or could be brass. Certainly different to any fuse I have come across before. |
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#58 |
Hexode
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Northampton, Northants, UK.
Posts: 380
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I remember 7A BS1362 fuses but I cannot bring to mind when I last saw one.
I also remember in a theatre I worked at, in the early 80s we found a box of tiny 2A "Grelco" adaptors, the old toblerone shaped stackable ones actually manufactured by Grelco. They were unbearably adorable. |
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#59 |
Heptode
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 874
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They are possibly fakes or designed for fused outlets, like what a washing machine or small water heater would use.
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#60 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Croydon, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 7,578
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There is no such thing as a BS1362 15A fuse.....by definition BS1362 covers domestic fuses suitable for 13A plugs...1A - 13A, no higher.
I think BS1361 covers 5A - 100A but they are shorter or fatter than BS1362...can't remember which so that there is no danger of them being fitted to a 13 amp plug.
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