Understanding the Role of Fuses in UK Plugs & Replacing them with Polish Plugs Safely

Question

Hello. 1. What are fuses in UK plugs used for? 2. Can I cut off the UK plug and replace it with a Polish one without fear? Regards.

McMarycha · Answer

As for the 2 questions, yes. You can cut off the plug from the UK and set up a Polish one. Same as to be put on an adapter.
As for the 1st question, the fuse is probably just an additional protection, but I'm not sure.

pszczyna · Answer

Answer-1 For the protection of the installation. Answer-2 I have cut such plugs many times to change to a (Polish) plug, only what you need to pay attention to is the compliance of the cores.

elpapiotr · Answer

And I ask why cut?

Łukasz-O · Answer

It is nice to paint the protective pins in the color of the wall

elpapiotr · Answer

And because it's me? Paprok arrived ... incidentally. His roller slipped off.

Anonymous · Answer

The correct answer is for receiver protection. In domestic realities, this detail does not matter much, but the mere fact that he can hold a screwdriver is definitely not enough to properly install the plug. Especially if it is a power-hungry receiver.

Łukasz-O · Answer

And where protection?

Anonymous · Answer

Strawberry flavor in your pocket. .. It so happened that the receiver is in the second class .. And the design of the sockets requires that the plug has a PE contact longer than the others, otherwise you can only insert the plug into the socket

zdzisiek1979 · Answer

Sorry, but just out of curiosity. The fuse is in the plug, not in the powered device? How much does such a fuse cost in the store?

Anonymous · Answer

The socket circuits are protected with a 32A switch. Everyone knows what the receiver cables are. Such a bow from a hair dryer or a bedside lamp can radically change the conditions of SWZ (and extension cords are 100%). Depending on the receiver, there is one of the series 3.5 10 or 13 amps in the plug. I do not know how much they cost, because in ten years I have not bought a single one

zdzisiek1979 · Answer

A ceramic fuse is probably not available for PLN 1, because for an ordinary glass fuse they charge me for 50 gr (probably cheaper when bought in a piece shop in bulk), and a ceramic fuse certainly has better switching properties than a glass one.
I wonder if the use of a fuse in the plug is an honest decision by a group of scientists or just a lobbying effect from the manufacturer.

Anonymous · Answer

This solution was born in the 1940s, when material savings in installation works were sought.

Dukas · Answer

To protect the receiver from what? I thought that the receiver could not draw a current greater than that on the rating plate ... Added after 45 : Transitions like to get lost ...

kkas12 · Answer

You thought right, but too short. What if there is a short circuit inside the receiver? What current will flow if the socket circuit is protected by a 40A circuit breaker?

BILGO · Answer

It mounts permanently to the plug

Anonymous · Answer

In Poland, the fuse in the plug (in 230V circuits) is a solution that does not comply with the regulations.

elpapiotr · Answer

Can I know these recipes?

Anonymous · Answer

And I am asking why install such crappy grommets, which are usually made in China, built U-shaped plates screwed into the rod entering our sockets with a screw not secured even with a spring washer to save money. The consequences of this are simple - you can hear sparks in the grommet over time, or a fire at some power-hungry device. Secondly, the arm becomes larger and a few movements of the cable cause this fun plug-grommet set to fall out of the socket, etc. Grommets are only good for trips. The previous standard offered fuses in plugs, which was a more expensive and therefore niche solution. With the switch to a newer system, fuses became standard. Here, the N is too short and even tight, so it will break quickly, even faster with a sleeve than without ... There was not enough space to form a gentle curve?

kkas12 · Answer

Don't write crap, buddy. Everything is as it should be. Unfortunately, the Vistula electrician is able to criticize any solution, even if he completely does not understand it. Personally, I have several of them at home and at work. And they are not crap at all. So I am asking why speak up on topics that you have a vague idea about ??? (Please don't answer this question!)

Anonymous · Answer

You don't have to be an electrician to see a mechanical problem. Besides, if you were to use devices for a few hours a day on these plugs at work, having a cable length limit that every now and then 'ends', you would learn how to patch the cable to extend its life. As you can see, the plug-in card shows much longer tips than in the presented 'photo' of electrical correctness.

After that, do you see an insulated tip somewhere on this piece of paper? Don't you think that using one would have to correct the given lengths? Following your mindset, it's not by design.

3.1.11. Repeating a similar text will result in a warning. [retrofood]

Anonymous · Answer

Buddy, your perception of reality is flat. I mean, two-dimensional. Nothing was missing there.

kkas12 · Answer

I have been using it for five years and still use it today. And get it into your head that these plugs are not applicable at construction sites because there you cannot use receivers with such a plug.

Anonymous · Answer

If so, then ok. At first glance, it didn't look very good. I didn't mention building applications anywhere. Not everyone who works in the UK is involved in construction. There is a profession where such plugs have a maximum service life of 2-3 months and are neutral broken. Such a purely commercial use with full health & safety + risk assessment approval.

kkas12 · Answer

Stop saddening your friend, because that's not what the topic is about. About 64 million British people live on the island. Let there be an average of one receiver equipped with such a plug for each of them. None of them has so far raised any objections to its (plug) construction during proper operation. But a Pole can!

Anonymous · Answer

I did not expect such a question. It is like saying that in accordance with the regulations, when it is sparking in the socket and the plug heats up, the plug and socket should be cooled with cold water. There is no law forbidding it, so it is by law. :D The device produced for the British market is adapted to connect the phase on the right and the neutral wire on the left. In Poland, it is not standardized on which side the phase should be, and the SEP once recommended connecting the phase on the left side. As a result, when we connect the plug with a fuse in Poland and the fuse is on the neutral wire, the insulation of the device is damaged and the phase wire is connected to the earthed housing, short-circuit or overload current will flow and the fuse in the plug will not work. The use of such a fuse is harmful because it misleads the device that the device is protected by a fuse in the plug. The use of an RCD in a TNC installation, for example, is similarly harmful.

elpapiotr · Answer

Not a convincing argument, taking into account the installation made in Poland, for a socket with a protective contact, protected by a circuit breaker and an RCD.
I was hoping for an answer regarding the statement

WojcikW wrote:
In Poland, the fuse in the plug (in 230V circuits) is a solution that does not comply with the regulations.

kkas12 · Answer

I also counted on a concrete confirmation of this statement. Meanwhile, it turned out, as always, that the crap would not be able to defend itself. Even when, without thinking, another crap is quoted to justify the correctness of the crap preached first. Before you continue to wade in raspberries, I suggest you invest a few zlotys in the plug and extension / grommet in order to see tangibly how my friend on the Vistula-electric theory does not agree with practice in any way! I really did not expect such nonsense in my colleague's edition.

Łukasz-O · Answer

Since you refer to any regulations, it is normal for questions to be asked. So we are waiting impatiently for the specifics, buddy WojcikW . I wonder how the internal device fuses in some devices relate to this.

Anonymous · Answer

For me, it is obvious that when a Polish device is connected in England via an adapter, this device is protected by a fuse, e.g. 40A, and the manufacturer has provided a max. 16A. Connecting an English device in Poland through an adapter causes the device to be improperly powered, because these devices are adapted to installations in Great Britain, where the position of the phase and neutral contact is standardized. I do not know why you say that connecting the device to the wrong electrical installation (to the installation that the manufacturer of the device does not provide for connection to) complies with the regulations. Each 230V electrical device undergoes tests before it reaches the market. As in England the plugs are not symmetrical and the sockets have a standardized position of the L and N contacts, the test does not include the reverse power supply of L and N. In Poland, such a test is provided for and this is the answer about the device fuses in the device. If there is only one device fuse, the device should be short-circuit proof without the fuse. Thus, the device either has no metal grounded parts or has reinforced insulation to these components. Otherwise there should be two fuses. An example of using two fuses is a surge protector.

Understanding the Role of Fuses in UK Plugs & Replacing them with Polish Plugs Safely

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