anyone in UK using US plug mains?

[Supra]

Thanks all for the comments, very interesting discussions. I just completed the internal decorations of my house but I did not have major work done so didnt have the chance to make a separate line for the hifi gears. So for now I think it's much easier and cost effective to use a UK plug mains to a mains block.

[Supra]

It's the modern view on safety, such as SIL (Safety Integrity Level) reviews and similar.  It's easy to say, 'if the electrical kit has a fault then the circuit breaker will trip and all will be well', but you then have to ask the question 'what are the chances of the circuit breaker having a fault and not tripping'.  The answer to that is that they are very reliable but do sometimes fail.  So what if the circuit breaker does fail when the electrical kit has a fault?  The answer is the fuse in the plug will blow.  OK, the chances of the kit having a fault and the circuit breaker failing is low, but it is not zero.  What are the consequences of both the kit and the circuit breaker having a fault if you do not have a fuse?  Potentially fire, resulting in casualties and death.  Low probability of it happening, but very serious consequences if it does.  I guess that's why we keep the old fashioned, simple, and very reliable fuses in the UK.  You then have to consider how the power supplies in electronic products work, typically the electronics will be taking it's power from capacitors, not direct from the mains, so as long as enough current is making it's way to keep the capacitors charged, the electronics will work as designed.   A Devialet amp, for example, will work with anything from 110v to 250v, is it going to notice the tiny amount of resistance in the fuse?  I suspect not, but having said that I have listened to Devialet amps running from mains conditioners and the result was poor, with the mains conditioners sucking the life and dynamics out of the amps and music, so there is a limit somewhere, I'm just not sure if it is at the level of the resistance of a fuse.  Clearly from 'an everything matters' approach, getting rid of the fuses can only be of benefit or at worse cause no harm, so I fully understand the desire to take this approach, to have a system where every last detail has been optimised has obvious appeal.  But as others have stated earlier in this thread, do not forget safety, get everything checked out by a professional if electrical engineering is not your thing.  It's probably a better bet than burning your house to the ground and explaining to the kids that the kittens have been burnt to death or something.

Not sure if people compared same model but with UK and US plugs for any differences, but I think the more bits within the chain the more varies, ie, you can also upgrade the fuse in the plug etc?

But I agree safety comes first so I'm glad that I asked here before I 'm hands on, especially with the complication of having building insurance involved.

[Axel]

I've often thought about using the old 15A round pin plugs. These have an earth prong and no fuse. The plugs and sockets are easy to come by, new on eBay. I've got a double gang socket and two plugs floating around in the shed, so I could power both of my amps from them. The dedicated spur feeding the existing sockets has its own fuse, so it should be safe to use, I guess. I might get round to trying them one day!
Has anybody used these?

Are you referring to these ?
They are very good

Im my mains cables who fitted with plugs  I use copper or silver plate that push the cable and than i solder   it or use locktight to prevent the screw to open.

Yes! Those are the ones. Good idea to use solder or Loctite on the connections. The plugs I've got use very solid brass prongs and the fit into the socket feels a lot better than standard 13A plugs.

[GuillaumeB]

I've just booked in my electricians for a full electrical installation test, or "periodic inspection and testing". This will include dead tests of every circuit in the house including all the AV stuff.

Apparently this should be done every 10 years or so.

I strongly recommend this to everyone particularly those with unconventional setups.

Guillaume

[Hifi_swlon]

I'm not an electrician or expert, but I looked at the regs previously for something.

My understanding is in the UK at least the fuse in the plug is specifically there to protect the power cord itself, and only for that purpose. The current rating should match the current rating of the cord. The appliance should have its own fuse for protection, but in the event of catastrophic failure, the plug fuse stops the cord melting.
I always used to thing the plug fuse was for the appliances protection. I believe this to be a general misunderstanding.

[Rufus McDufus]

The fuse is there to protect the power cord. The reason why the UK has fuses in the plug is because of the common use of ring circuits, which virtually all other countries do not use. Ring circuits enable the use of thinner mains cable in the wall. Anecdotally the reason the UK adopted ring circuits was to conserve copper usage during and just after WW2. Typically ring circuits have 30A or 32A fuses/breakers, which is quite a bit in excess of the capability of most thin electrical cables supplied with gadgets, so a fuse is needed at the plug as well.
In Guillaume's and my case, we're specifically using radial circuits (commonly known as spurs) which do not require such high current breakers at the consumer unit (we both have 10A breakers), so the need for a fuse in the plug is negated. This is basically emulating the system used in most other countries in the world, though 10A or thereabouts is usually considered a 'low current' circuit and is quite easy to trip. I trip mine turning the amp on sometimes, which is both reassuring and a bit annoying. Putting a non-fused cable on a ring circuit would be a very bad idea (edit - though it's worth pointing out that audio power cables are typically much thicker and capable of carrying much higher currents than the usual thin power cord).