To clear up some issues i'm sure many of you have about currents and cable ratings on the ring main.
First, the rating of the appliance is the wattage divided by 240 (volts) and not the Plug fuse rating.
With this in mind, you can safely (please correct me...) connect any number (within reason) of low wattage spurs to the ring main.
For example, outlets for TVs (my 14" is rated 75 watts), lights (average 100 watts), etc. can be safely connected.
Also, take account of 'diversity', which means calculating the chance that you will be using all appliances at the same time. For example, if i used my shower, cooker, 30 max on the ring main, lights, electric water heater, it would surely blow a fuse somewhere along the line, (if my fuse didn't blow first because of the triple figure bill at the end of the month), but after all, how many of us actually cook a meal for eight, and boil the kettle, while washing ourselves in the shower, with all the lights in the house on?
All this applies the same with extension cables - i was once told not to put a triple adaptor in my 6 way strip extension, but this does not pose any risk so long as the total load on the extension cable is less than 13 amps.
So just use a little common sense - e.g. not connecting an electric cooker and three-bar fire to a 50m run of 13 amp extension cable.
First, the rating of the appliance is the wattage divided by 240 (volts) and not the Plug fuse rating.
With this in mind, you can safely (please correct me...) connect any number (within reason) of low wattage spurs to the ring main.
For example, outlets for TVs (my 14" is rated 75 watts), lights (average 100 watts), etc. can be safely connected.
Also, take account of 'diversity', which means calculating the chance that you will be using all appliances at the same time. For example, if i used my shower, cooker, 30 max on the ring main, lights, electric water heater, it would surely blow a fuse somewhere along the line, (if my fuse didn't blow first because of the triple figure bill at the end of the month), but after all, how many of us actually cook a meal for eight, and boil the kettle, while washing ourselves in the shower, with all the lights in the house on?
All this applies the same with extension cables - i was once told not to put a triple adaptor in my 6 way strip extension, but this does not pose any risk so long as the total load on the extension cable is less than 13 amps.
So just use a little common sense - e.g. not connecting an electric cooker and three-bar fire to a 50m run of 13 amp extension cable.
