British Electrical Terms

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

SketchUp Guru

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2005
Messages
3,152
Reaction score
0
Location
Rochester, MN USA
I was reading Devonwoody's thread regarding 13A fuses and I'm a bit confused. Could someone point me in the direction of a decent website that explains the electrical system you folks use.

I think I can figure some of it out but terms like 'ring' are a bit befuddling. Initially I thought I might have something to offer in that thread since I am familiar with this sort of thing in the US but I'd hate to start talking what turns out to be nonsense. :oops:
 
Hi Dave, in the UK the power ring main is a loop, usually 2.5mm cores, that starts and finishes at the distribution box.

It is usually fused/mcb at 30 amp. On newer houses there is also an earth leakage trip on the master switch, set at 30mA.

Each power socket is connected to the ring, and thus is fed from both ends of the ring. The appliance plugs are individually fused between 3 and 13 amps.

Normally there is a separate ring for major parts of the house, downstairs, upstairs, etc dependant upon the size of the house.

Some workshops are connected as a spur from one of the rings or more correctly, have their own ring back to the ditribution panel.

John
 
Normally two types of supply - the ring (or circuit),where the wiring starts at the consumer unit,goes "in and out" of all the sockets,and back to the CU.This is able to carry higher current,as it is carried in both directions (supposedly started with high copper prices as a way of using thinner wire)
Or a radial - where the wiring starts at the CU,goes "in and out" at all the sockets,but stops at the last socket

Rings normally on 30A fuse/32A MCB
Radials on same size wire (2.5mm square) normally on 15A fuse/16A MCB

These are affected by length of wire/floor area served.

Click here for useful electrical info.

Andrew
 

Latest posts

Back
Top