Re: Two cables in one plug ?

In article <op.su8gkcgo4wom51@amy>, Duncanwood <nipnews@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 06:15:00 +0100, E. Lee Dickinson <lee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"Frank Wood" <frankwood95@xxxxxxx> wrote:

why the British 13A distribution is, in theory, the safest in the
world, if properly applied.

Here in France, I can plug a 60W lamp into a 16A outlet; the lamp wired
in 0.5mm cable, and 'protected' by a 16A fuse. This may be why why
there are so many building fires in France, attributed to 'electrical
origins'.

Can someone please tell me how ELSE you could possibly distribute power, and
not have to have a new breaker installed every time you bought a new gadget?

Frank seems to imply that the Brittish system is safer? How? My in-wall
wiring is protected by having a rating matched to the rating of the breaker.
Anything plugged in to the wall outlet is, obviously, going to have a
smaller rating, and thus melt before the breaker. I can't figure how else it
could be done.



That's literally what you do. Every appliance has the fuse in the plug, the sockets protected at (normally) 32A & the plug protects the appliance or extension cord. (As an extreme version I'm currently using almost the same system to connect streetllamps to a 63A 3ph power supply). (& before somebody in the UK complains, no I'm not using IP0 plugs in the streetlamps)

As an interesting aside to the original question, we have just received guidance from NICEIC (one of the "official" UK electrical contractor organisations) that equipment using 15A plugs with unshielded pins is to be condemned as unsafe.
--
Tim Mitchell
.