Apart from things with heating elements, and large motor driven appliances such as fridges and vacuum cleaners, I can't think of anything in my house that draws much over 1 Amp.

Going back 20 years or so, I guess there were far fewer low-powered gadgets such as set-top boxes and PC peripherals. That raises the interesting question; what would have happened if you plugged a dozen high current devices into a German extension lead? In England, the plug fuse would pop. In Germany, I guess either the main fuse popped or the haus burned down? I'm only familiar with French electrics, and in that case the fuse for the spur would go - or more likely, the incredibly bad junction boxes they use would over heat and set fire to the roof.

Err wtf?

Why would you not want a fuse in your plug?

Sure, any appliance will work without one but if it fails then the whole circuit is going to cut out, and could take something else with it. Computers perhaps, or the fridge when you are on holiday! In my case, if a circuit tripped and stopped my fish filters and heaters working I would be devastated!

I do find your attitude amusing though.

So, is it a party to see how far you can launch Windows 7?

Just the install disc or the whole box?

I'm washing my hair

Sorry

Apart from a lightning strike, I've never experienced one of the switches in the fuse box jumping and I've never experienced any devices being damaged.

In my old office, I had 3 PCs, 4 monitors, 2 printers, 2 lamps, 2 sets of speakers, 2 mice and a fan plugged into the wall outlet.

Isn't the fuse and the overloading of the ring something to do with the way they tried to save money and material when rebuilding houses after the war? Is it really still needed these days?

LOL no! The current power plugs we used were only made a standard after the way! When the war ended, houses would have been using a different plug completely.

Do you honestly believe that you can't get all the equipment you just listed on to one circuit? I think you've been out of the country for too long!

As I said, for me it's common sense. I've only ever had one electrical appliance fail. It was a VCR player, and it kept blowing it's fuse. If the plug wasn't fused, then what would have happened? Either the circuit would trip and my fish would die if I was out of the house, or if the player drew more power than it should but not enough to trip the circuit, then it could have caught fire.

Quite why you wouldn't want a fuse is beyond me, and sounds lethal.

Yes, I know. The current plug was introduced in the 60s, ISTR. I was asking whether the ring main and the fuse were a hangover from the need to spare the use of copper on cabling after the war...


No, as I said, that was one wall socket.


The internal fuse would have blown - most electronic devices have onboard fuses - my Amiga blew several internal fuses, it never blew the fuse on the plug.

The nanny, working for a friend, plugged a vacuum cleaner in with wet hands, the moisture caused the plug to short out, but the cleaner and the rest of the house were unaffected...


Given that a lot of devices need a lot less than 1 amp these days, the fuses in the plugs are pretty useless at protecting the equipment, the device is more likely to be damaged, or the internal fuse will blow, long before the plug fuse blows - the Amiga fuses were less than 0.5 Amp, as far as I can remember, the 3A fuse built into the plug was totally useless.

Okay, so in that case, you've shifted the fuse out of the plug and 2m up the cable into the device. Does every device you own have a fuse in it?

The fuse in the plug is not there to protect the equipment; it's there to protect the cable.

Frayed power leads are not unheard of. If the power lead became damaged at the point of entry into the device, it would short the circuit before the internal fuse. Although the device itself might have a very low current rating, the power lead will definitely be rated at over 3Amps and thus the plug fuse will blow before the power lead catches fire.

Ooh, I never knew that, I should put that in the "something new I learned today" thread.

The Game.

You lose.

Thanks Heather, that made me chuckle

Also, I think someone's angling for a free signature edition copy of Windows 7

Where in the world are you again, Mr mcman?