Hi,
I'm trying to replace a 1 amp cartridge fuse, the 1" type normally found in appliance plugs and fused switches if that's imprecise. I've loads of 2A, 3A, 5A, and 13A but the one that's blown is 1A.
My `Two Ronnies' hardware store only goes down to 2A, the local radio/TV repair shop doesn't have them. Screwfix and Maplin only go down to 3A.
I only need one. Pointers welcome.
Cheers,
The plug fuse is only there to protect the cable. The appliance, if it needs protecting with a 1 amp fuse, should be done separately with the correct fuse for the job - perhaps fast blow etc. And the smallest mains cable you'll find is 3 amps.
For use in appliance plugs, the BS1362 cartidge fuses have to be marked ASTA (Association of Short-circuit Test Authorities, IIRC). This is a tiny diamond symbol with the letters overprinted on it, usually illegably on something that small. Whilst BS1362 cartidge fuses are available in 1A ratings, I never saw any approved by ASTA, which means they would fail a PAT test.
What is the application where it's used, and does it claim a 1A fuse is required? Normally they are used for protecting appliance flexs, and there's no flex which needs anything as low as 1A (unless it was a very long length).
Hi Chris,
Thanks, they do. But the GBP3.50 postage is a bit steep given the item's price.
Thanks anyway.
Shaver adapter plug perhaps?
Peter
Mine has a fuse physically smaller than a normal 13A plug top one.
In message , Ralph Corderoy writes
RS ?
try here
Hi Andrew,
Sorry for not replying sooner but it had to initially wait until I had a chance to search through the bin in which I disposed of the fuse having tested it was duff :-) Naturally, I couldn't find it so it must have been empty before I grabbed the contents for later searching.
There's a MCB for the garage supply labelled
hager ________ B16 |__6000__| 230/400 V~ |__3__| MT 116 450116
The thick cable from this appears through the garage wall where it goes to a single wall socket. Next to that socket on the wall is a fused switch and cables join the two within the pattresses. From the switch a thinner cable runs to a 100W bulb ceiling light and from there to a second switch at the other end of the garage; it's wired in series.
The 1A fuse has lasted since the house was new in 1994. What's a PAT test and did they exist back then? I've inspected the thinner cable and it has no markings that I can see, unlike, e.g. CAT5 cable.
Cheers,
OK, that's a normal 16A quick-response MCB to protect the garage circuit; and from your description, the garage lighting is teed off from that circuit through a fused connection unit. In which case, replacing the 1A cartridge fuse which was there with a 3A one will be fine. The fixed wiring you describe for the lights will be at worst 1mmsq, maybe 1.5mmsq; a 3A fuse is quite sensitive enough to protect that wiring, and they're a lot easier to get hold of than 1A jobbies. (Which are available at places like RS and Farnell; but there's no need to monkey with such exotica.)
PAT = Portable Appliance Testing. Depending on your worldview, either a major contribution to electrical safety in practice, or a scam for barely-trained monkeys to connect cables and appliances up to testing kit they don't understand and produce Sistificates. (Truth, as always, is between these extremes: it's lawyer-driven overkill for most office environments, and probably not done stringently enough in toolhire and construction-site environments. Oh well...) Only relevance of PAT testing to your query is that an appliance whose flex was so wimpy as to really need a 1A rather than a 3A fuse would fail PAT testing, were it carried out by a sensible and competent person who considers visual inspection and assessment of the conditions of use to be 90% of the job... as opposed to the "plug it in and see the needle stay in the Green Zone" tribe...
HTH, Stefek
Hi Stefek,
Thanks for letting me know. I'm running with a 2A at the moment as that was the closest I could buy.
Oh, yep, I know what you mean. They put lots of `tested' stickers on things. I didn't realise that would apply to a fused switch on the wall compared to a `portable' TV or kettle.
I guess the builder spec'd the fuse at 1A and, since they were building lots of garages, had a lot of 1A fuses bought in.
Cheers,
That'll be fine too.
It doesn't apply; think of it as a mildly pink herring for the porpoises of this discussion ;-) Yes, a supply of green "TESTED: RETEST: (many more mouths to feed Guv'nor)" stickers is essential for the PATter...
From the description you gave, it sounds to me much more like a (perfectly competent) d-i-y job by someone who was a little paranoid and had access to a source of 1A fuses, than something the original builder would have done. Could be, too, that whoever did the wiring put in a 3A ("normal") plug-top-style fuse in the FCU, and that it was later replaced by the paranoid...
Cheers, Stefek
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