> defending the BS 1363 power plug that needed an embedded fuse because their domestic postwar electrical wiring was Not Great
Where would you put the fuse, then?
Also, if you think that's "Not Great", just take a look at the concentrated pile of sketchiness that passes for domestic wiring in the US. Every single house in the US is an electrical fire waiting to happen - and with "balloon frame" construction which is purpose-designed to both reduce construction costs and ensure the complete destruction of the building with even a minor fire, you've got plenty for that to work with.
> Where would you put the fuse, then?
In the electrical panels, of course. You'd only need fuses in the plug if you wired up your home with a braindamaged topology like a ring circuit. (Alas, ring circuits are very common in British home wiring.)
> In the electrical panels, of course.
So how do you know what size to fit?
Or do you just get in about your panels and replace them every time you unplug a lamp to plug in a TIG welder?
You'd have a dedicated outlet on a dedicated circuit for the TIG welder. In North America, that dedicated outlet would have a different physical plug shape than your lamp, so as to avoid confusion. Of course, if in the UK you use exactly the same plug shape for both lamp and welder, I can see how that could be unsafe...
Yes, but in America you have a lot of electrical fires, and in the UK, we don't.