Should a house light fuse be a 5amp?

Phil2008 · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:02

The reason I say this is normally when we have a bulb blow it trips the switch, but the last 2 times we've had a bulb blow, the trip and the fuse has gone, so Im thinking is the fuse too weak, cos we had to change it about 2 months ago cos of a bulb blowing, and now the fuse keeps going when a bulb blows. So Im thinking are we using the wrong type of fuse?? Were using 5amp fuses?

Jonnycoupe · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:09

You have 1200 Watt light bulbs?

box · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:16

5A, or preferably 3A will be fine. Wouldn't want a higher rating than that.

Have you considered moving away from filament lamps?

Dandle · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:16

The house lighting circuits are normally 5A.

Gadge · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:33

Dandle said:
The house lighting circuits are normally 5A.

or 6A...

touch · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:40

Jonnycoupe said:
You have 1200 Watt light bulbs?

Where are you from? Australia?

GeX · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:46

think his point was
5Ax230v = 1150w (or 5Ax240=1200w if you think mains is still 240v)

Bear · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:48

Jonnycoupe said:
You have 1200 Watt light bulbs?

Well technically more which is why the fuse is blowing

touch · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:52

GeX said:
think his point was
5Ax230v = 1150w (or 5Ax240=1200w if you think mains is still 240v)

Yeah, that was my point. I think Australia is one of the few places that still used 240?

Jokester · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:53

I thought his point was that he thinks that each lightbulb is individually fused?

PhillyDee · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:54

5A is normal.
Don't put a biugger one in.

Are they filament bulbs? Its common that these cause a surge when they blow that trips the fuse. You are using a flip-type fuse aren;t you? (Circuit Breaker)

GeX · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:55

touch said:
Yeah, that was my point. I think Australia is one of the few places that still used 240?

fair enough

Jonnycoupe · 24 Mar 2010 at 21:56

I was just trying to prompt a thought process for him to determine himself the relevance of 5A.

touch · 24 Mar 2010 at 22:02

Jokester said:
I thought his point was that he thinks that each lightbulb is individually fused?

Well, to be fair to him, the OP is a bit ambigious.

OP said:
the trip and the fuse has gone

I didnt think a normal lighting circuit has a trip and a fuse?
So maybe he thot the OP was talking about a free-standing lamp or something?

Phil2008 · 24 Mar 2010 at 22:24

PhillyDee said:
5A is normal.
Don't put a biugger one in.

Are they filament bulbs? Its common that these cause a surge when they blow that trips the fuse. You are using a flip-type fuse aren;t you? (Circuit Breaker)

Yeah Im using 60watt filament bulbs.. thinking of changing to energy saving bulbs, but I doubt you can get a energy bulb as bright as a 60watt filament??
I have no idea if its a flip-type fuse, but the trip switch pings off

Jonnycoupe · 24 Mar 2010 at 22:30

Bear said:
Well technically more which is why the fuse is blowing

230 x 5 = ?

Phil2008 · 24 Mar 2010 at 22:33

Sometimes the bulbs explode when they blow..hehe

Adam_151 · 24 Mar 2010 at 22:42

Phil2008 said:
Sometimes the bulbs explode when they blow..hehe

You should stop purchasing cheap lamps which probably fail to meet british/eu standards

Dr.EM · 24 Mar 2010 at 22:44

GeX said:
think his point was
5Ax230v = 1150w (or 5Ax240=1200w if you think mains is still 240v)

Last time I measured ours it was 254V! Quite near the local distribution transformer though and it has been noticably fluctuating recently.

Phil2008 · 24 Mar 2010 at 22:47

Adam_151 said:
You should stop purchasing cheap lamps which probably fail to meet british/eu standards

But candle bulbs are very hard to buy nowadays