Can anyone explain why 5 amp cartridge fuses used in Consumer Units are so expensive compared to 5 Amp fuses used in plugs. Apart from the size I cannot see what difference there can be in them . The two I bought today locally ( Glasgow ) were 55p (each) but I have seen them much more expensive than that . Stuart
1) For the same reason that a dog licks its private parts
2) Volume
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
BS1362
BS1631 fuse has a much higher breaking capacity, as it's next upline fuse is likely to be much high higher capacity than is the case for a BS1362 fuse.
If you stick a BS1362 plugtop fuse in a consumer unit and then short out the lighting circuit, the BS1362 fuse might not be able to break the resulting high current flow, in which case the 100A main fuse will be left to do so, which will wreck the lighting wiring and might cause a fire (much more than 100A will pass).
Never had to buy one in 22years of owning such a CU .... but within a week of changing it to a MCB type, one of the 6A lighting mcbs tripped when a halogen mains bulb blew. I just wonder what fault current the fuses actually would need to blow...
Fuses have a curve like MCBs without the instantaneous trip for short circuits. They will certainly trip on the fault current caused by a short circuited ionised blowing bulb. However, they need it to flow for more than a few milliseconds, unlike an MCB.
Christian.
Funnily enough that wahy I had to buy one -when one of the halogen bulbs in the kitchen blew and the cartridge fuse went Stuart
Presumably one of the reasons is because there's not the same market for them (not many needed compared with plug size and not the same competition between manufacturers.
I'm assuming that size alone would also make a big difference to the cost.
Roger
Thx Andrew for that explanation-better take out the plug fuse which is put in yesterday and use the proper one .:-) Stuart
Well maybe on account of numbers needed but the size difference isnt that much . Stuart
Very interesting! I too had to replace the lighting fuse in the CU when a halogen bulb blew.
Steve
For *serious* fuse prices, check out those for a Fluke multimeter...
In message , Dave Plowman writes
Anyone know the best place to buy fuses from ? RS prices seem to be a complete rip off
I smoked one of my £2 Maplin DVMs last week.
Still cheaper than a fuse for the Fluke
maybe here
In message , Chris Oates writes
you want in stock, that is)
Or alternatively for maximum safety and lack of false fuse blowing you replace the 5A CU fuse with a 13A plugtop fuse as the previous owners of our house had done!!
I've bought a couple of 20mm fuse sets - one AS, one normal, off Ebay at about 1/4 of the RS price.
But for a serious user, a good DVM is a delight - same as with most tools.
Bit like a cheap cordless drill against a decent one. Until you've used a good one the cheap one seems ok.
"Andy Dingley" wrote | I smoked one of my £2 Maplin DVMs last week.
Cheaper than a cigar.
Owain
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