Should rewirable fuses be pensioned off?

[oracle]

The 3036 re-wireable fuse link was invented long, long, ago, but according to the standards list became a BS standard about 1957.

Tried and trusted in standard form, it has probably been the most abused electrical component, with wrong fuse wire, paper clips, hair clips, copper wire etc fitted.

Yet even the 18th edition includes tables for them. Let's take this poor old, badly abused fuse and put it into retirement. Like the ghost of Christmas past it's past its heydays.

 

[Rpa07]

The Oracle has spoken!

 

[Spoon]

I'm sure the government will pay to have them all changed.....

 

[buzzlightyear]

No stills protect the cable why would you retire them its the. Idiots who putthe wrong fuse wire put in .

 

[Andy78]

I see them abused and misused only as often as I see mcbs misused.

You can't idiot proof the world so don't even try.

 

[Octopus]

duplicate

 

[Octopus]

Nothing wrong with them .... in fact the boards are far better made than the carp we install today

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

You cant account for stupid and dangerous people using the wrong fuse wire or using an old nail. They are simple and made well for its intended purpose.
most of the older stuff is made to last and in my experience outlasts a lot of the modern stuff that seemingly goes wrong, I am not going to say they purposely build obsolescence into the things like mcb's etc.. but they are mass produced and at lowest possible price. Its inevitable when you make thousands of the same thing on a production line in the far east that failures will come through.
Beyond a fuse wire going I cant think of a time I have had to replace a rewireable. mcbs, rcds etc, I have had a few that have needed replacing, some have been product failures but normally its due to incorrect termination causing the case to melt at the terminals.

 

[Toneyz]

I think all of the above. Although they are not readily installed as protective devices there are thousands still in use. I see no reason BS7671 not to include them in the max Zs tables.

 

[Michael Sands]

What’s the rating of smoke paper in a plugtop and maybe some tinfoil still come across this in older peoples property have found nails in 3 phase boards
If someone wants to circumvent a mcb they just put wire from top to bottom of tripping mcb only seen this once but still there you have it nothing is foolproof

 

[The Ghost]

Personally, I think yes they should be taken out of use. Apart from the problem of anything being placed in the fuse holder, there are other problems. The tendency when the fuse blows and wire replaced, which is really insanely fiddly, with a torch often, to replace the holder under load and get another blow out when inserted. Quite dangerous I think. Often missing covers which may constitute a fire risk. I think elderly people may struggle to pull and replace the fuse, an MCB is so much easier.

 

[snowhead]

How many Rewireable Fuse boxes and C..U's have gone up in smoke, compared to Modern MCB C.U's I wonder?

 

[Wilko]

A good question Snow !
My very non scientific internet audit has revealed only one pic of a heat damaged one, compared with well more than I've fingers and toes of MCB variety.
Here 'tis

 

[oracle]

I did say they were tried and trusted correctly used. Problem is, people seem to be determined to find any way to defeat the very things designed to protect them.

The worst examples I have seen is a suppliers BS 1361 cartridge fuse replaced with a short piece of pipe

Another guy used the 16mm earth conductor to connect the supply from the intake supply to the CCU main switch, bypassing the meter

 

[sam400]

As a bit of a laugh I had my last niceic assessment on a 3036 CU, well I enjoyed it but the inspector was most uncomfortable! I am not sure why?

 

[Octopus]

As a bit of a laugh I had my last niceic assessment on a 3036 CU, well I enjoyed it but the inspector was most uncomfortable! I am not sure why?

What were you showing him ?

 

[Octopus]

duplicate deleted

 

[oracle]

As a bit of a laugh I had my last niceic assessment on a 3036 CU, well I enjoyed it but the inspector was most uncomfortable! I am not sure why?

Was it a EICR? He might have hoped to see you doing a bit of wiring.

 

[littlespark]

On my old caravan site, one of our permanent customers replaced our 16A MCB supplying his unit with a 32A.
He then sawed off the toggle switches, which had the rating moulded into the plastic and superglued it to the other MCB

On a casual glance, you couldn't see the difference... not until I was meter reading one day and could smell the burning in the hook up unit.

I think we kicked him off the site for that one

 

[sam400]

It was a new circuit I put in to supply boiler in loft at my house.
He was adamant it needed an RCD but couldn't back it up with any regs. then we moved on to why I haven't got any bonding to water service. All good fun,
I've got plenty of decent jobs I could have showed him but couldn't be bothered to go anywhere.