In my (1980's) consumer unit, there are red labelled fuses for the mains sockets, white ones for the lighting, and a blue one that I haven't managed to trace anywhere. Is there some kind of standard or convention that might suggest where it goes to?
The fuse holders are colour coded so they can be easily recognised, 5 amp (white), 15 amp (blue), 20 amp (yellow), 30 amp (red) and 45 amp (green)
Ah, I see. Thanks.
15A feed. Normally a radial circuit. Immersion Heater ?
it's 15 amp fuse, possibly immersion heater? which may have got re-purposed over the years for e.g a shower pump ...
These are wylex rewireable fuse carriers which can be rewired with any grade of fusewire, so don't assume anything from the colour of the dot.
Blue is usually 15amp (*), and the Wylex carriers are also marked 5amp, 15amp or 30amp but you do not know if a previous owner has used the wrong grade of fusewire or even a length of non-fusewire !!! :-(. The colour code and printed amperage is no proof of the type of fusewire inside it.
You can still buy fusewire in a pack of 5,15 and 30 amp in Robert Dyas. I would suggest that you buy one (only £2.99) and carefully pull out the white and blue carriers and make a visual comparison of what is in them with what you have in the new pack. They are quite stiff to remove and re-insert.
I assume this is not a landlords property because that type of fuse arrangement is no longer allowed and apart from which it sounds like this property needs an upgrade to its electrical system anyway.
(*) Almost certainly for the immersion heater which is
3Kw, so draws about 12amps.
Oh, says who?
On 09/05/2023 15:33, Andrew wrote: ..
The rules are not applied retrospectively, so it is allowed if it was compliant when the property was first let out.
and apart
Quite possibly.
The colour coding is really for the CB rating. Red 30A, White 6A, and your unidentified Blue is 16A. Garage?
Don't rental properties need a EICR thingy ?. It is possible that a whole house RCD has been added, but is that realistic ?
Yes, but fuses would only warrant an advisory on it.
They do.
An RCD doesn't need adding to pass an EICR, unless some other work has been done which requires bringing protection up to date. So by themselves BS3063 fuses aren't an immediate fail, just an opportunity for improvement, some sparkies might not phrase it that way though ...
However, if
- there's an electric shower OR
- supplementary bonding is missing from the bathroom OR
- a socket can be used for outdoor equipment
then lack of RCD would usually be a C2 defect which requires rectification under the letting rules.
Most houses and flats will fail one of the above criteria.
Owain
Thanks all. I'm going to go with the suggestion that it's for the immersion heater. We have one, but never use it.
Well, I cannot see that, but if you have ever had economy 7 or maybe an immersion heater which uses a bit more than 13 amps, then its probably one of those. Its the rating, I'm sure somebody knows the colour codes off by heart by now.Cookers also can have different ones, depending on the way the house is wired I have noticed in the past, but now of course it would be more handy to me to have a button or lever with a tactile symbol on it instead. Brian
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