[Gllug] OT: Mains electricity colour coding.

[James Courtier-Dutton]

On 25 October 2010 23:39, David L Neil <GLLUG at getaroundtoit.co.uk> wrote:
>
> =valid point. Traveling frequently I adopted a policy of buying
> multi-voltage equipment (another free lesson: ALWAYS check your PC power
> supply for a manual setting BEFORE plugging it in!) and even so quickly
> became irritated by the need to replace plugs every time I moved. So now
> I have a bunch of distribution boards (pls translate to word in your
> dialect) and thus only have to change one plug (into the wall) and not
> for every single appliance, eg system unit, screen, printer power pack,
> and speakers' transformer - my desktop is currently running of an ex-UK
> board whose power cord has been tricked-out with a New
> Zealand/Australian 3-pin plug (which, true to expectation, has its earth
> pin at the bottom instead of the top, per 'proper' (or UK) equipment!)
> Currently the German equivalent is enjoying discarded-toy status, which
> may mean that I have finally achieved nirvana (or nicht-ordnung?)
>

In the UK we have a fused plug.
In Australia they do not have a fused plug.
So, I thought that the UK must be safer than Australia.

But, this is not necessarily the case.
Australia just wires the house completely differently from us.
The UK has ring mains, so the central fuse box might have a 30A fuse,
and then each plug has 5A or 13A fuses depending on their use.
In Australia, they do not have ring mains, they have a direct
point-to-point link from the wall socket to the fuse box, and then put
the 5A or 13A fuse at the fuse box.
So, if something fuses, you can go to the fuse box and see which fuse
as blown and therefore which device has caused it. It seems easier to
find a fault.
In the UK, certain faults cause the central fuse box to click off, but
it can be any device on the ring main that caused it, making location
of the fault more difficult.

Cheers

James
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