The fuse in the UK mains plug merely protects the power cord between the equipment fuse and the mains plug.
Without such a fuse, i.e. back in the UK era of round pin plugs when there wasn't a ring main and the cable went directly back to the consumer unit. That cable had to be of sufficient current carrying capacity for the consumer unit fuse to blow safely.
The UK fused plugs do essentially increase safety but you could argue that as long as the installed cables have a good margin of current carrying capacity whereby the consumer unit RCD trips without any other issues you're good to go.
Of course thats a controversial viewpoint!
|