Fuse wire colour confusion

[KeefyD]

Hi,
The forums have been very helpful to me, this is my first post, hope someone can advise.

We recently moved into a new property, there are a number of dodgy looking bodge jobs, from decoration to electrics (eek).

The lights blew this morning upstairs and downstairs and I see we have an old style fuse box.
I know I'm going to have to change the fuse wire (and probably swap for a consumer unit when we get a quote but that's later).

However, on inspection, there are 3 white fuse plugs, which I thought was for the lighting and these haven't blown (although it looks like there are two ratings of fuse wire used, will have to sort that).

The one that has blown is the blue one and this confuses/worries me as I didn't expect the lighting to be on that one.

Any thoughts or advise?

I am waiting for an electrician to come and do a full inspection but I'd like to get the lights back on in the meantime.

In the electrics cupboard, there are wires cut, which I hope aren't live but I'm sure a pro electrician wouldn't leave it like that, so I'm a bit wary of going near it!

Thanks in advance.

 

[plugwash]

The white carriers are supposed to be for 5A and the blue carriers are supposed to be for 15A. However a domestic lighting circuit should not normally be on a 15A fuse so it's likely something dodgy is going on.

Personally I'd put 5A wire in the carrier as a short term measure and get the system properly inspected ASAP.

 

[KeefyD]

Yeah, it struck me as dodgy, so I stopped and came here instead.

I might just live without lights until the sparky gets here.
I had a mains shock off a dodgy fusebox in my youth, I can't say it was fun (once I picked myself up from the other side of the room.)

 

[riveralt]

What do the three white 5A fuses cover?
If one is a spare you could always use it in place of the 15A fuse - to allow you to see

 

[KeefyD]

Hmm, good point. They're not labelled, so it would be a process of elimination.
The more I think about it, the more I think I'm just gonna wait for the Sparky.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I have come across many lighting circuits in domestics on 15A fuses, 1.00mm
T&E will carry 16A.
The question I would ask is, what size is the cable being protected by this fuse? quite often find that it is the imperial version of 1.5mm.
It could be that this particular circuit, was designed to carry a demand of more than 5A.

 

[JohnW2]

I have come across many lighting circuits in domestics on 15A fuses, 1.00mm T&E will carry 16A.

True, but a 15A BS3036 fuse is not acceptable for protecting a cable with a CCC of 16A, is it?

Kind Regards, John