Found a strange socket!

Padster90s

Hi, gutted a spare room today and found a socket with three round pin holes instead of the normal rectangular ones. Looks like this..
https://www.yesss.co.uk/images/products/zoom/1400676172-07842200.jpg
The other half said there are 2 of them in her home house(old house) and that they were the norm up to the 70s she was told when she asked about them. Just wondering, can I get a new socket wired into it or should I just leave it be?

Homer

Pretty sure that's for lamps only. Not sure if it can be re wired for standard use but I'm sure somebody will clarify

colm_mcm

We have similar to that for lamps, it's connected to a wall light switch.

If it's new looking, it's probably that, if it's ancient looking it's probably not. My grans house had these in it

afatbollix

Ya its usually wired to a wall switch.

colm_mcm

If it's just an old socket, you wouldn't know what the wiring is capable of. It could have been wired by Uncle Grandad when he came back from the war. I'd be wary of just putting a new socket on it.

SeanPuddin_

The Muppet wrote: »

It's called a 15 amp socket . They predate the square socket.

You can't put a round peg in a square hole, so keep them.

Whosthis

BS 546, predates the modern 3 pin plug. They're still installed in some new homes for powering lamps, I would assume for antique lighting but that's just a guess. I've only ever encountered them in theaters where they're still used for certain stage lights.

KK4SAM

6A Socket ? Still available

Whosthis

colm_mcm wrote: »

Would it definitely be a 15a though. I'd assume it's not 100% identical to the one in the pic.

No, there were also 10a and 5a versions, each was a different size but the 15a became common/standard afaik.

KK4SAM

The MK K2871ALM is actually 5A

https://www.mkelectric.com/Documents/English/EN%20MK%20Catalogue/Metalclad%20Plus.pdf

Whosthis

KK4SAM wrote: »

The MK K2871ALM is actually 5A

https://www.mkelectric.com/Documents/English/EN%20MK%20Catalogue/Metalclad%20Plus.pdf

I just thanked your post and I do appreciate it however its not long after midnight on a Friday and I'm sitting here reading a pdf about electrical sockets. What the $£%^ has happened to me? I'm off to re-evaluate my life.

gctest50

KK4SAM wrote: »

The MK K2871ALM is actually 5A

its an MK K843 - 15A though no ?

needs to be on a radial instead of a ring or have a nice little breaker for itself

Padster90s wrote: »

Hi, gutted a spare room today and found a socket with three round pin holes instead of the normal rectangular ones. Looks like this..
https://www.yesss.co.uk/images/products/zoom/1400676172-07842200.jpg
The other half said there are 2 of them in her home house(old house) and that they were the norm up to the 70s she was told when she asked about them. Just wondering, can I get a new socket wired into it or should I just leave it be?

KK4SAM

5A & 15A
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brightspark

If it's a 5A round pin, it is probably connected to your lighting circuit and controlled by the light switch. (Useful for a standard or table lamp). If you wanted to replace it with a regular 13A socket you would need to get the wiring changed as you can't put a 13A socket on a lighting circuit.

If it's a 15A you should get an electrician to check it out, it may be possible to just change it, or you may need the wiring changed also.

(The 5A socket is significantly smaller than a 15A socket)

Padster90s

Thanks for the advice guys! That picture was just to give people an idea of what it looked like, it's decades old by the looks of it, no switch for a lamp in the room. I think I'll have it removed to be honest and new wires and socket put in its place.
Interesting to know they were the standard in the past. Also heard off dad when I asked him about it that donkeys years ago you could have this type of plug installed, the British one we have today or a 2 pin European plug, choice was yours!

Padster90s

gctest50 wrote: »

its an MK K843 - 15A though no ?

needs to be on a radial instead of a ring or have a nice little breaker for itself

Apologies, the picture was just to give an idea of what it looked like, the one I have looks like a very weathered version of this but no MK on it.

Risteard81

KK4SAM wrote: »

5A & 15A

There is also a 2A version.

coylemj

The socket with the switch in those pictures is probably the one that takes the little triangular plugs that they use in hotels for table and standard lamps. I think even before people started using laptops that they installed those sockets for lamps to stop the cleaners plugging in vacuum cleaners that would have blown the fuse or circuit breaker.

seankb

15a is still used I a lot of theartres around the country as patch panels for lighting.

brightspark

seankb wrote: »

15a is still used I a lot of theartres around the country as patch panels for lighting.

True, but not permitted in domestic installations for quite a while, and installation with existing 15A sockets is probably long overdue a re wire etc.

Nichard Dixon

Padster90s wrote: »

Thanks for the advice guys! That picture was just to give people an idea of what it looked like, it's decades old by the looks of it, no switch for a lamp in the room. I think I'll have it removed to be honest and new wires and socket put in its place.
Interesting to know they were the standard in the past. Also heard off dad when I asked him about it that donkeys years ago you could have this type of plug installed, the British one we have today or a 2 pin European plug, choice was yours!

Indeed, at one time the Schuko plug was popular owing to Siemens having a role in the early electrification projects, while the British 15A was also used, probably more so towards border regions. The 15A plug is still standard in South Africa.

gctest50

Those schuko type of plugs are much better than any of those yokes