When did red BS1362 fuse colour coding come in?

[js.b1]

When did BS1362 fuse colour coding come in?

I have a B.G. (British General) BS1362 fuse which is 3A, but turquoise in colour rather than red.

[John Rumm]

I just looked at BS 1362:1973, and it seems to make no mention of colour coding - so its probably a convention rather than a standard.

[ARWadsworth]

I am sure it has been asked before on the group but I cannot find it now (or the answer if there was one)

I come across these fuses from time to time and they are almost certainly going on for 40 years old.

Julian, are there any ASTA markings on the old fuse?

[js.b1]

None.

Rolling the fuse around I get... B.G.

3A VF BS1362

What sparked (!) my question was it came off an electric blanket.

I know the blanket is at least 15 years old, most likely closer to 25 years and the unshielded plug had pins that were "pre cambrian" going by the level of corrosion on them. So went back this afternoon and chopped the cable off. Will quietly pick up a BS marked replacement blanket and fit it to the relative's spare bed tomorrow.

Thanks all.

[dennis]

That means it may not be the rating it claims to be. The ASTA standards/checks were introduced to fix the fuses as they didn't work as they were supposed to in many cases.

Low voltage?

[js.b1]

Ah, that is ok, the electric blanket heating wire provides a fusing capability to protect a non-functioning fuse :-)

I only know of 230VAC electric blankets (LV).

[ARWadsworth]

I must confess that a couple of years ago a friend of mine was worried about her elderly mother's electric blanket (and she had good reason to worry). My friend wanted to buy her mother a new blanket but her mother refused to let her. Her mother agreed that if I tested the blanket and said it was unsafe then she would allow her daughter to buy her a new one for Xmas. The test was me putting my multimeter across the LN pins on the plug whilst on the continuity setting. If it bleeped then the blanket was unsafe.

The old lady got her new electric blanket and still kept her dignity.

[dennis]

Ah, down stream current protection. ;-)

You know what I meant, if not let someone else hold your hand while shopping for a new one.

[ARWadsworth]

Bed wetting old gits need SELV blankets.

[js.b1]

Would be bed wetting old gits if the were HV blankets :-)

[ARWadsworth]

Well you would not want to hold Dennis' hand whilst he tried it out.

[<me9]

I remember inspecting my mother's electric blanket around about 1974. It consisted of an element and flex. The rest had just about completely disappeared in the previous 10 years (had the moths been active). She happily got a replacement.

The original replaced a fire damaged one belonging to my sister which caught fire whilst still under warranty. Sister refused to pay the 10/- or whatever for repair as the manufacturer reckoned the blanket had been rucked, which was denied by my sister. Mother saw the chance of cheap blanket and took it.

[Nightjar]

You might like to check the rating again. Although these days black is used for ratings other than 3A and 13A, the original system was:

2A - Blue 3A - Red 5A - Grey 10A - Yellow 13A - Brown

Colin Bignell

[Tony Bryer]

On Wed, 05 Jan 2011 03:29:09 +0000 Nightjar You might like to check the rating again. Although these days black is

IIRC there were also 7A fuses. I suspect that in those days 99% of appliances had 13A fuses in the end user fitted plugs.

[Nightjar]

Both 1A and 7A fuses are permitted, but I don't recall the old colours. I don't know if I have even seen a 1A rated BS1362 fuse.

I think the original idea was that the fuse was there to protect the equipment, while it later became accepted that all but the simplest equipment should contain its own over current protection, so the fuse only needed to protect the cable. Hence it was possible to simplify to

3A for things like lamps and 13A for everything else.

Colin Bignell

[PeterC]

All of my fuses, apart from some 13A (whay I keep those I don't know - a feww, OK, but about 30?) are form the 'good' old days of Plessey.

I have 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10, then a few 1A that are BS1362. The other oddity is a 3A, BS1362, labelled 'Alert', that is blue!

I use the 1A in soldering irons - still OTT for 10 - 25W but if there's going to be a dead short a few inches from my face...!

[js.b1]

Strange, here is a picture of the fuse. It is turquoise and 3A very clearly

wonder if YF refers to "Fast" hence the colour of 2A Blue. Dunno.

[Tabby]

can we use the pic on the wiki?

NT

[Andrew Gabriel]

1A exist, but are not ASTA approved, which is a PAT test failure in a BS1363 plug. 7A exist.

The fuse was always to protect the flex.

All current products have to be safe when moved around the EU, where they can be protected at 16A (or maybe 20A, can't recall now). That means all current UK products have to be safe with a 13A fuse, and in theory no other value is required, except for older products with longer leads than are permitted nowadays (and extention leads, which would never be allowed if someone tried inventing them today).

[js.b1]

Sure, no worries.