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mkissin:
In general, I agree, but there’s lots of corner cases. What about the tiny cord for my alarm clock? It’s probably 1mm2, and being protected by the upstream 20a MCB? It’s very possible for the cord to become damaged and by the time the MCB trips it could be very hot.
It’s obviously not a huge problem, but one that is protected against by shifting the fuse into the plug rather than the alarm clock.
Chances of a fault that is not a short inside the alarm clock causing only 25-30 amps to flow for long enough that the cable is a concern before the clock melts itself is something I cant think of an occurrence that would cause to happen.
Mechanical fault to the cable will either blow itself clear, or trip the breaker, or both.
The issue is double adapters still being sold and putting those at the end of a 1mm cable and then sticking 2 heaters on it. That wont overload the breaker. That will cook the cable. Thats why double adapters are a stupid idea and need to go away.
roobarb: It used to be very common for mains powered consumer devices to be sold without a plug and you had to attach it yourself.
Before you do any work, make sure that:
- you have the necessary knowledge and skills
- the power is turned off
- you are not working where conductors or terminals are live or could become live.
Interesting that the Worksafe page says you can change the plug on a flexible under the DIY exemption , but I don't think the regulations say that. Maybe someone can clarify? It's no harder than changing a socket outlet, which is allowed under the regs.
McLean
Bung: Likely to be maintenance of appliances under ESR 2010 Reg 80 and ECP 50 Sect 3.
Ah, yes, NZECP 50:2004 allows it.
McLean
shk292:I can't remember why this was done - maybe because there had previously been different types of plug in use - but it makes me wonder what proportion of home-fitted plugs were safe and how many accidents were caused. Fitting a plug has never been a challenged to me but I'd agree that if you don't understand what the third wire is for, maybe get an expert in to do it for you
For the ten-year period 1980-1989, there were nearly 3,000 hospitalisations due to incorrectly-wired plugs, and 32 deaths.
Rumour has it it was done because at one point there were so many incompatible plugs that appliances were sold with bare mains flex to deal with it, but everyone knows it was really a British homage to the Spartan concept of agoge, if you survived mains-plug roulette you got to play nailgun tag, and if you survived that you were OK to drive Vauxhalls.
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