this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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197
What is this plug on my wall for? (lemmy.zip)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by Adamsky@lemmy.zip to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
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Noticed this plug on my wall from when I moved into this house, and I just started wondering again about what it's actually for. This is in the UK, if that helps. It's on a big bulky box hanging on the wall below my desk next to two regular plug sockets.

Edit: best suggestion I've seen here is that it could be a fuse box for an alarm system. Makes sense since this house did have several security systems before I moved in. Also, for added context, this is in a bedroom and the wire coming out of it goes straight into the wall.

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[–] sondarondondon@lemmy.world 98 points 3 months ago (1 children)

._.

[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 36 points 3 months ago

Super Meat Boy lookin mfer

[–] Hellinabucket@lemmy.world 71 points 3 months ago

https://youtu.be/S8O1sruSO2U?si=GQ3OLDdrTUoB_bYl

Fuse box for a alarm system it looks like. Shows up at 28 seconds

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 69 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Ah, that's a European headphone outlet. It's for listening to authentic house music.

[–] Lupus 2 points 3 months ago (10 children)

Fuck you! upvotes

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[–] raef@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Wouldn't authentic house music be from Chicago and European be derivative?

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 48 points 3 months ago (2 children)

KnightsBridge 13A White Connection Unit 3 Amp Fused & Flex Outlet Electric Wall Plate

[–] fartsparkles@sh.itjust.works 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Thanks Satan’s Maggoty Cum Fart.

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I read the mod log, and I notice that many communities ban you, only citing your screen name as the only reason.

Stay classy, Lemmy!

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There’s a bit more to the story than just that, but I’ll share a saying my grandmother taught me.

Fuck them if they can’t take a joke.

[–] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 5 points 3 months ago

I like your grandmother.

[–] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 4 points 3 months ago

Sounds like this could be Lemmy's r/rimjobsteve.

I liked that sub.

[–] Beacon@fedia.io 14 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 months ago

A flex outlet is a type of electrical socket that allows you to wire high-powered appliances straight into your walls. Boilers, water heaters, and other electrical unit that require a continuous power source, would be wired through a flex outlet. Flex outlets are often used in a situation where a plug socket would be difficult to access. Or with appliances that do not come with a 13A plug socket as standard.

[source]

Still not sure I really get why this exists, but okay.

[–] Zier@fedia.io 47 points 3 months ago (3 children)

That's the secret internet off switch, DON'T TOUCH IT JEN!

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago

toggles switch

THE INTERNET!

screaming and chaos

(the elders of the internet ain't got shit on me 😎)

[–] DemBoSain@midwest.social 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Can't be. The internet's wireless.

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

Sits in big ben, to get the best reception

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Actually OP is named Adam Sky.

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 37 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Fuse box for one line. Fuses weren't put in as standard when electricity was introduced. Many old houses just had live wires coming in with no breaker like today. For expensive electrical items added when there was no fuse, an electrician with install it with a dedicated fuse. If the electrical system has been updated where it enters the house, it may no longer be needed. However, if it is on a different circuit, it may be. Old fuse boxes were a bunch of replaceable physical fuses. Nowadays they are breaker switches for easy resetting and less waste.

Anyway, if whatever is connected to this gets a power surge, the fuse could trip and you would need to replace it. However it is not a plug, to add a different device or appliance, but just a safety pass through for the wire coming out the other end.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

Early electrical grids were fucking wild lol. In my city, there were 3 different grids, with different voltages competing for customers (one was DC!) In the early days before it was standardized.

[–] OfCourseNot@fedia.io 32 points 3 months ago

This is a fuse box, with a flathead you should be able to open it and/or pull a small tray with the fuse itself inside. You Brits do your electrical wiring with ring-shaped circuits and put a fuse in every outlet.

This kind of outlet is intended for things you don't unplug and a socket doesn't make sense, usually boilers, ovens, stoves, ACs, alarm systems as already commented...

[–] Ledivin@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Not a plug, but a fuse box - that small panel would open up/pull out to let you replace the fuse. Couldn't tell you what it's for without more info

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

Anything is a plug if you're brave enough to stick your penis in the hole!

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 17 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Here's how to find out: use a small flat screwdriver to pull the central white thing out. It's a cradle for a cylindrical fuse.

If there's no fuse, it's for something that's been removed and they couldn't be bothered to remove the fuse box and its wiring.

If there's a fuse, you have disconnected the power by pulling the fuse out of the circuit. Check if something electrical stops working - alarm, shower, cooker, immersion heater, whatever's on the other side of the wall, loft lights?

Maybe the fuse is there but has already fused, in which case you may want to find or purchase a replacement of the same rating, and find out what electrical thing started working! The fuse rating is written in faint text on the side of the cylinder. If the replace with a higher rated fuse, you allow things to happen in the device that someone thought shouldn't happen and could blow the fuse to prevent damage or injury. If you replace with a lower rated fuse you risk it going in normal use, i.e. too frequently.

[–] MindTraveller@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Make sure the screwdriver has a plastic or rubber grip lmao

[–] davidagain@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Agreed. Always best to use an insulated screwdriver with anything near live electricity.

In this case, if the fusebox is manufactured correctly, there should be very little risk indeed, but you can't be sure that some unscrupulous corporation made something that disintegrates or weirdly exposes live connections where it absolutely needn't. It doesn't look super well made because the little tray for the fuse should be flush with the front of the plate and not recessed like that!

[–] eclipse@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

I'd probably turn off the power first especially if I didn't already know what was behind it and whether it is properly grounded.

[–] recapitated@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

Pluggin'

[–] original_reader@lemm.ee 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Awww. It looks happy.

[–] Louisoix@lemm.ee 2 points 3 months ago

I'd say it looks conFUSED

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

PlayStation memory card?

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

My metal gear solid save files!

[–] neidu2@feddit.nl 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Holding fuses. Probably something else too, but at least I'm partially right.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 2 points 3 months ago

This panel has a distinctly UK look about it, and I was already thinking that before I read your confirmation. I think only the UK and Ireland use things that look even remotely like this. The rounded appearance also puts it post-war, pre-1980-something because everything changed to be more flat around that time.

As for its purpose, would a bathroom be at the other side of that wall, by any chance? Or was it at some point in the house's history? Heated towel rail is a good bet, for example. You don't want anything vaguely like an outlet in the bathroom (shaver sockets notwithstanding), so wall panels tend to go in a neighbouring hallway or room.

Note that some bathrooms have the light switch on the outside for similar reasons. Others have a pull cord inside the room, which is less able to cause electrocution.

(If you know of a bathroom with a regular light switch inside it, you've found a room that was once something other than a bathroom and whoever remodelled didn't finish the job properly. Or maybe it's in a very badly built house.)

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago

Melba toast