The other day my GHD straightening irons caught fire - fair enough they were 7 years old, I bought them in Brisbane so they had the right plug on.

Apart from shitting myself as I was holding them at the time and thinking I might get electrocuted or something, it made me think about the wiring in my house.

We had some bloke round at work today to check all the fire extinguishers and he told me that you can have some sort of power breaker - I cant remember what he called it, that will cut out your electricity to stop this from happening.

First of all, has anyone hear of this and if there are any electricians on the site, would you recommend it and is it very costly?

Thanks in advance

PP if you are renting - its landlords responsibility to have one fitted .depends on the law in your state.

The circuit breaker - i believe is what its called - will be in your fuse box. In the fuse box there will be a row of switches like mini versions of what you'd see in a power station. They should have little red or blue or something tiny little push-buttons on them that say "test" or "reset" if they have - then thas a circuit breaker.

they look something like this
http://www.delixi.com.au/pd-1321386679.htm?defaultVariants=search0_EQ_1%20Pole _AND_search1_EQ_10%20amp_AND_{EOL}&categoryId=4

** I am no electrician! But I am a dad, and dads know everything, clearly **

We're not renting Spalen so we have to pay

The guy called it an 'RD2' or something like that, I cant remember.

And yes you are right, Dads do know everything - that is so true.

RCD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device

R2D2 was a droid in Star Wars.

That'd be an RCD - Residual Current Device
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device

There is a nice picture there.

Im pissing myself laughing, I did make it sound a bit Star Wars I guess

Yes, thats the one! I knew it had an R and a D in it somewhere.

Is that the thing that makes our switch box trip every time we have the washing machine, microwave and oven on at the same time?

God save us when we have air-con going too, if you turn on a light bulb the whole system trips

JTL

Edit: I've heard the UK have invented a thing called a 'Fuse' which you put in a plug, and it just shuts down the one device thats overloading.

Give it 20 years, it might make it here.

Only if that one appliance is faulty. If all three appliances overload the whole circuit here in the UK, then the main fuse blows in the fuse box and not on one of the appliances.

It is easier to reset a circuit breaker than is is to rewire an old fuse here. (a trip to B&Q to buy fuse wire etc...)

Circuit breakers are more modern and safer than the good old fashioned fuse wire apparently.

old hat mate cartridge fuses are so slow that any mcb will have tripped before it so it wont work

rcd or rccd or "safety switch" is a legal requirement in qld

how do i know if i have one?
http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/fair-a...-safety-switch

sounds like an overloaded circuit
approx - washing machine 12amp microwave 10amp oven typically 20amp if there on the same circuit its a no no

light bulb taking the whole system out would normally indicate that the main switch is an rcd / main switch and what your getting is called nuisance tripping,

if its a double insulated piece of equipment usually denoted by only two pins on the plug and a box within a box symbol on the equipment
then a rcd safty switch wont be of much use

but having said that you should check if you have one fitted as they do save lives

regards mr camel toe

So PP.. whatever happened in the end ? Are you able to straighten your hair?

Em x

Lets get the priorities right

And there was us blokes talking trip switches and amps

How's your hair?

JTL

I dont think I have one, our duplex is 1970s, I would be surprised if it had one fitted as not much has been done to the place and it needs dragging into the current era.

I need to find out how much it is to get somone to fit it.

Well all but half a side was done so I have a bit of a curl but its OK, the curly look is 'in'

Well there is a bit of a shine to it and nearly all of it is ever so straight.