Blade Fuses - Fire Risk

[AlanJ]

I recently purchased a box of 120 blade fuses from Halfords. These are made of very inferior plastic as even those rated at 20 Amps the plastic casing melted on drawing only 3 Amps. I have reported this to Halfords but one week on they have not responded.

I purchased new fuses (made in Germany) from my dealer and have not had problem.

I was very lucky that my caravan power supply unit did not catch fire.

Many thanks to Bailey and BCA (manufacture of PSU) for their help in isolating this major fire risk.

 

[AlanJ]

Have received following from Halfords...

Thank you for your e-mail.

Please accept my apologies for the delay in our response.

Following receipt of your e-mail, I contacted our Quality Manager.

As a precautionary measure, we have immediately bonded all of our warehouse stock and recalled the boxes from our stores.

We are in touch with the suppliers and the units will undergo controlled tests in the near future. Of course, any action deemed necessary following these tests will be taken.

Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention and please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused.

 

[PeaJay]

Thanks for the info.I've just bought a box of assorted fuses as spares.

Is there any easy way of testing them without putting the caravan at risk?

Thanks Peter

 

[AlanJ]

Afraid not that I know of. I have just heard from a journalist friend that he has just encountered the same on a brand new van he is testing today.

It would appear that this problem is far more widespread than first thought.

As a safety measure I am only buying small pre-packed fuses which are made in Germany. Cannot prove it, at this stage, but I suspect maybe all of these 120 boxed sets of assorted fuses ?may be a problem.

 

[gary]

I'm trying to fathom why a 20A fuse can get so hot with only 3A being drawn?, the fuse part itself cannot be the problem but if the blade connections are thin?, or socket sprained open by earlier fitted thicker blades?, then this would cause a loose therefore high resistance connection and heat would be the result. Dirt or corrosion will have a similar effect.

Rather then than worrying about if the plastic could catch fire, to my mind better to make sure both ends of each fuse are held firmly in their sockets and all is clean

 

[AlanJ]

Hi

It is a brand new Bailey Caravan and the fuse holders are perfectly tight.

I tried fuses from 20, 25, 30 Amp ranges (under strict controlled setting) and the same happend to each of these in the Main Van + Batt slot.

I have been investigating this with Andrew Dillon of Caravan Mag who has experienced same on a brand new van from another main caravan manufacturer - so it "appears" that there are whole batch of inferior blade fuses about - no doubt it will be tracked back to Far East somewhere using sub standard plastic or some such.

I measured the current with an Ammeter across the contacs and each time the fuse started to melt at approx 3-4 Amps (I have about 10 fuses of various amperage as evidence). I replaced the fuses with new ones made in Germany (the three in the pack variety) and carried out the same procedure and took the Amps up to 15.8 which was everything 12v in my Bailey Pageantand all was ok.

 

[gary]

Melting plastic is the result Alan, not the cause!, the point is the plastics function is to insulate, hold the metal bit rigid, and give you some grip.

It's the metal part that carries the current and a 20A should not get particularly hot before it becomes overloaded and about to blow, certainly no hotter than the wiring either side.

However in your case the metal is getting hot which can only mean a high resistance within or about the fuse, blaming the plastic, your putting the kart before the horse!!

 

[AlanJ]

Agree with you it must be the fuse metal that is getting very very hot which causes the plastic casing to melt.

The cabling on each side is more than adequate for the job (the input is rated for 36 Amps and the output for 20+ Amps (have already checked this with technical head of BCA who manufacture the power supply units and wiring harnesses. He said Bailey actually insist on a very high specification in their vans.

All that said the first thing anyone will notice as a result of this will be the plastic fuse surround smouldering and then melting! It might be the cart before the horse but that is the symptom first seen.

This lot took a week to track down as to the cause - hence the problem will affect motorists as well as caravaners as these blade fuses are now common.

The problem is now in the hands of the experts to bench test various scenarios and if found faulty to do recalls and publish warnings etc.

Perfectly ok with the German made blade fuses.

 

[JamesMorris]

We bought fuses last week at halfords and had our caravan out this weekend. Our water pump was not working and we changed the fuse. We smelt burning and the fuse that we had just put in had melted away. The fuse was extremely hot. Am about to go to halfords with them. Could have been very serious.

 

[AlanJ]

We bought fuses last week at halfords and had our caravan out this weekend. Our water pump was not working and we changed the fuse. We smelt burning and the fuse that we had just put in had melted away. The fuse was extremely hot. Am about to go to halfords with them. Could have been very serious.

Thanks for the notification James I have passed your experience onto the caravan expert looking into this problem.

Halfords have bonded all existing stocks in their shops as of last Friday (so they informed me).

 

[Glenn_5132962]

We bought fuses last week at halfords and had our caravan out this weekend. Our water pump was not working and we changed the fuse. We smelt burning and the fuse that we had just put in had melted away. The fuse was extremely hot. Am about to go to halfords with them. Could have been very serious.

Alan & James,

The fact that you were both replacing fuses in the first place suggests you have electrical faults in your vans does it not?

Fuses don't just blow for nothing.

 

[Gafferbill]

A tip to all caravaners who are cost cutters and have access to a scrap yard.

Get your bulbs and blade fuses from one .......

they have been tested already on the donor vehicle and are unlikely to give problems.

 

[AlanJ]

Alan & James,

The fact that you were both replacing fuses in the first place suggests you have electrical faults in your vans does it not?

Fuses don't just blow for nothing.

Very easy to blow a fuse - that's what they do. Mine originally was switching on the extractor and not noticing that it was on setting 3 which the handbook does state will blow the fuse - and it did!

That is why I needed to replace it and so the saga starts. But regardless of this it is obvious that there are a very dodgy batch of fuses on the market - so just as well we blew the fuse to find out in the first place!

I have just bought a batch from Towsure and tested them in the wifes 12v hairdryer - they are ok. However, rechecked the Halfords ones in the hairdryer and sure enough they get very hot and melt the plastic.

 

[JamesMorris]

Glenn

The External Water Pump had failed which was why the fuse had blown.

I replaced the fuse as sometimes a power surge can cause a fuse to blow. Initially the fuse was fine, but after a few minutes the plastic on the fuse had melted - note that the fuse had not blown and the metal was fully intact.

Suspecting the external water pump was at fault I purchased a new pump and some new fuses, all working again.

The issue that concerns me is that if the fuse gets hot enough to melt the plastic then is should really have blown.

 

[AlanJ]

Hi James

You will see the second item on this topic the response I had from Halfords. From correspondance I have had with a few others outside of this forum ours is not an isolated occurance. There appears to be a large batch of these blade fuses on the market.

I have now found a good way of testing them (not from a scrap yard though!!) My wifes 12v hairdryer has a blade fuse holder in the supply cable. I have used this to test new batch of fuses from Towsure and they are fine. I retested some of those from the Halfords 120 box set and sure enough the plastic casing still melts without blowing the fuse. Caravan Magazine has taken up the issue and maybe through this forum Practical Caravan would like to do the same as it a potentially very serious problem which could kill someone in a caravan fire!

 

[JamesMorris]

in todays mail there is a product recall from halfords. Looks like they have taken note

James

 

[ValA.]

This should be publicised in the Practical Caravan magazine, and the various Caravan Clubs informed - it's so serious and knowing about it could be a potential life-saver.

 

[JamesMorris]

I agree. We only noticed as we had the cupboard door open so the acrid smell from the burning fuses could escape.

These fuses are a fire waiting to happen. The more people that are ware of this issue the better.

James

 

[J.Lo]

A recall notice for these fuses appears in todays Daily Mail.J.Lo

 

[Rick_5041348]

Also in todays Sun there is a recall of several different fuse numbers from Halfords all of the blade type

 

[AlanJ]

Hi All

As some of you have spotted Halfords have issued a product recall on four versions of blade fuses.

Halfords web address for recall is:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_langId_-1_partNumber_ST_FUSESRECALL
Caravan Magazine is following this up - I would hope that Practical Caravan is doing the same??