My partner has a set of hair straightners which are rated at 35 watts, 240 volts. It stated in the manual that it was fitted with a 13 amp fuse. I double checked and indeed it was.
Plugged it in to an energy monitor and for the first 60 seconds it takes 200 watts dropping to around the 65 watt mark.
Now the initial surge when first plugged in is measured at just over 600 watts so that would lead me to think that a 5 amp fuse would be far more appropriate than a 13 amp fuse.
The fuse is rated to protect the cable Picbits, not the appliance.
Btw.. Do you have to keep switching her staraighteners off for her, like I do with my wife and daughters? LOL
Jim is quite correct, it's amazing how many people do not know that the fuse protects the cable to the appliance and not the appliance itself, that should have its own fuse. The size of the cable should be a good guide to the size of fuse required, thick washing machine cable should be fused at 13 Amps but thin bedroom lamp wire much lower, you can buy 2 Amp fuses for this purpose.
Les
Aye - I knew about the fuse protecting the cable but its still a massive overkill using a 13a fuse for a device which at most takes a surge of 3 amps.
I haven't been brave enough to open them to check if there is any internal fusing (if I broke them then the missus would kill me).
And at Jimmy - yes I had to unplug them yesterday as she'd left them on and gone to work. I was wondering what the burning smell was when I went up for a shower ......
I got fed up asking them to turn them off, so I put one of the wife's favourite shoes on the floor, and made it look like the straighteners had fallen on them.. She remembered to turn them off for at least 3 days..
hi picbits,
Some of the advice and guidance given by some of these posted answers is misleading and potentially hazardous.
eg: if for example someone had used 13Amp cable on a 35Watt appliance and a 13Amp fuse had been fitted to 'protect the cable', then if say the ON/OFF switch of the 35W appliance shorted across, you could have 13Amps flowing for a few seconds thru the 'short'.
Enough power [ about 3KW] to start a fire in the appliance.
Fit a 3amp fuse to a 35W appliance.
A good guide to the fuse required is the current rating of the cable fitted by the manufacturer.
Eric,
my reply was only to point out that the manufacturer chooses a fuse capable of protecting the appliance cable. Why they would choose a 13A fuse for PicBits straighteners,, I don't know. We have 3 pairs in my house, and they all have 5A fuses
Eric,
my reply was only to point out that the manufacturer chooses a fuse capable of protecting the appliance cable. Why they would choose a 13A fuse for PicBits straighteners,, I don't know. We have 3 pairs in my house, and they all have 5A fuses
Hi Jimmy,
The 13A fuse, a good question, no idea why they would think a 35W appliance needs a 13A fuse.
You cant say that if a manufacturer fits a 13A cable to a 35W appliance he should fit a 13A fuse to protect the cable.!
You have the right idea with the 5Amp fuses.
I dont expect your 3pairs have 13A cable.?
To be honest with you, the cable does look like it would happily take 13amps but its not just the cable that fuse has to protect if the straightners are not fused internally (as posted above).
To be honest with you, the cable does look like it would happily take 13amps but its not just the cable that fuse has to protect if the straightners are not fused internally (as posted above).
hi,
Some times cabling to hand held devices can be over rated in order to make the cable more robust against twisting and pulling.
You can buy specialised cables which are designed for twisting/pulling in daily regular use, these sometimes appear thicker/heavier.
As you say lots of appliances dont have their own internal fuse.
Some have thermal cutouts in case of overheating.
My personal rule is to fit a fuse rated as low as possible that will not blow in regular use, I dont take the cable size as 'good guide', look at the appliance data.
Either in the notes that came with the appliance or the appliance label.
There is a CE mark on it, a serial number and a picture of a bin with a cross through. It also has a picture that appears to be a "dont get this wet or you'll die" picture.
The cable entry also appears to be on slip rings as you can rotate the cable 360 degrees (and more)