XPost: uk.tech.broadcast, uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.rec.audio   
   XPost: sci.electronics.repair   
   From: dave@davenoise.co.uk   
      
   In article <9oqfn7Fd5pU1@mid.individual.net>,   
      David Looser  wrote:   
   > For the last 20 years I have PAT tested every mains electrical item   
   > submitted to a charity auction that is held twice a year in the village   
   > where I live. In that time I met a fair few horrors: flexes so damaged   
   > that the bare live wire shows through, a standard lamp (with a brass   
   > fitting) wired up with two-core bell-wire, flexes extended using a bit   
   > of choc-block wrapped in insulating tape, broken plugs, mis-wired   
   > plugs, plugs with the cord-grip either missing or incorrectly used etc.   
   > But I've only ever had one example of a plug with anything other than a   
   > BS1362 fuse in it, and that had a few turns of 5A fuse-wire wrapped   
   > round the prongs of the fuse-holder. So I don't buy this idea that   
   > people are putting screws, bolts or bits of metal rod into plugs in any   
   > significant numbers at all. Its *so* much easier to nick a fuse from   
   > another appliance than to start looking for bits of metal that will fit!   
      
   Indeed. As I said, how many homes will have a plug in appliance that draws   
   more than 13 amps so needs the fuse shorted out?   
      
   I'd say it's restricted to things like some welders and compressors -   
   which a keen DIYer might buy.   
      
   --   
   *Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?   
      
       Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW   
                     To e-mail, change noise into sound.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)