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Plug vs. Plug — Which Nation's Socket Is Best?
CNETNate writes "Is the American mains socket really so much worse than the Italian design? And does the Italian socket fail at rivaling the sockets in British homes? This feature explores, in a not-at-all-parodic-and-anecdotal fashion, the designs, strengths and weaknesses of Earth's mains adapters. There is only one conclusion, and you're likely not to agree if you live in France. Or Italy. Or in fact most places." (For more plug pics and details, check out Wikipedia's list of the ones in current use.)
I did not agree with the tiny 10-page article that barely had enough substance for 1 physical paper.
The British electrical plug is the safest, but also the most expensive.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I wonder what happens when Power over Wireless becomes widely used.
From TFA:
"We do have some things going for us though. Our health system means if we get ill, we get treated -- and our power plugs are excellent. "
Right under the picture of a NEMA 5-15R.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
8 fucking pages with two small paragraphs on each page? fuck. off.
There already is an international standard. The problem is that no one is going to invest a ton of money to scrap their current system (pun?) and switch over to it.
http://gizmodo.com/5391271/giz-explains-why-every-country-has-a-different-fing-plug
We already know what Slashdot readers think.
Many laptop makers (and probably makers of other electronics too) design their power supplies to be universal. All you need to change is the (usually removable) cable that goes from the outlet to the transformer. I was able to charge my American Macbook by taking the cable out of the clock radio in my room and plugging it into the little square Macbook transformer box thingy. Since that's a feature they don't even bother advertising, I imagine it's cheap and easy enough to make no one's socket better than anyone else's.
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
UK plugs are about double the size, have significantly thicker pins and have a fuse built in.
Other than that, identical.
... and apparently the worst servers...
The British people are strangely proud of the ungainly BS 1363 plug. No surprise at all that it won the comparison.
They also completely failed to mention sheer size. British mains plugs are fucking enormous. That might be fine for AC blowers and electric kettles, which are big anyway and draw a fair bit of current; but it is annoying and ridiculous for the ever growing crop of little tiny switchmode adapters that power the gizmos and gadgets of modern life.
Seriously, why don't you just post "Nothing happened today" in big letters on the front page?
UK plugs are quite a bit more sturdy -- you can't bend a prong on a UK mains plug with hand strength. They do take up a bit more wall space though.
The voltage isn't a trivial issue either. More volts to the wall means the house wiring doesn't need to carry as many amps and less fire/electrocution risk.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
Of the various plugs and sockets I've spent time living with (Australian, US, European, British), my personal favourite is the Swiss one. Small, secure, strong and aesthetically pleasing. The habit the Swiss have of also integrating a socket with most light switches is also quite useful.
IMO the Swiss plug design is the best I've seen, compared to North America, Australia, European (France & friends), and the British. The Brit plug has to be the worst bulky design; the European design is so but very difficult when you use transformers on power bars. The Aussie design is a little on the large side.
This article sucks. This made the front page of slashdot? Really? Come on! This isn't news and my cat knows more about electricity than the writers of this crud.
Get a web developer
If there was some move to rewire the entire world with a single residential standard I'd vote for NEMA L15.
Single-phase power is a hack.
I hope their plug design allows one to yank it out fast because it's slashdotted and probably smoking right now.
Table-ized A.I.
UK size is smaller or comparable to US 220v and GFI is better then a fuse in my opinion.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Article summary (score out of 10):
10- UK
9 - Denmark
8 - Italy
2 - Australia
1 - USA (no surprise)
1 - Japan (surprise)
0 - EU
I suspect bias. I also suspect this article was meant to be humourous. BTW an American plug can handle 15 amps easily; it's how I run my spare heater.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
As a British person living in the USA I notice that the majority of my sockets outside kitchen and bathroom are not GFI protected (either at the socket or the fuse panel) and that most appliances do not use an Earth Pin.
I also am in awe that socket adapters are legally sold that convert non earthed sockets into earthed sockets and light bulb sockets into earthed sockets, the safety implications are huge. I think it is a fair assessment to use 110V non earth sockets as many home have them.
I also notice that no appliance I own in the USA uses insulation on the live pins of the plug to prevent accidental shocks when the plug is slightly out of the socket, none of the sockets contain safety shutters and that 110V cords to high wattage appliances such as vacuum cleaners get warm and the lights change brightness when I switch such appliances on and off. IMO the British home electrical system is much better than the USA system and I have tried to view it impartially over the years.
US plug design makes the cutest face. (Well, okay, the face actually looks kind of like the original Capt. Pike, but still better than theirs.)
Table-ized A.I.
and the plastic guards across the power pin sockets that only open when the earth pin is inserted.. prevents little fingers etc.
oh, and they always (almost always, not on really old sockets) have a switch next to each socket so you can turn them on/off.
Sounds like the UK ones are massively overengineered, inconvenient, and introduce extra points of failure unnecessarily.
Hm?
-Styopa
Yes, the British have "really decided" - a long time ago too! Stuff hasn't come with just bare wires for ages. I hesitate to suggest an actual number of years, because someone will come along and prove to me that there's one appliance left that still comes with bare wires for some odd reason or another, but I'll stick my neck out and say it's been well over a decade!
I agree that plenty of devices in the U.S. don't use a ground pin, but I've rarely seen appliances with no ground. Have you really seen a refrigerator or a microwave or something with no ground pin?
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
GFI outlets cost less then 10$ each for a 20amp model. If people want to save the cost of a sandwich on outlets I for one wont stop em.
But for me, its worth the extra couple bucks.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
They sell 2-prong to 3-prong adapters because you typically attach the ground to the cover screw via a small prong or wire. Since ground and neutral are tied together in the breaker box, you have the same safety of the a 3-wire system in a 2-wire system, minus the redundancy of an extra ground.
The problem is people don't hook up ground adapter.
Gone!
I think it was meant as a humorous wind-up!
Worst pick-up line ever.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Oh yes, that switch, the fuse in the plug and the protective plastic cover over the live socket must add something like 1p to each socket in whatever Chinese prison they're being made in this week. Sure, they last forever and save lives, but it's just too much of an expense for me.
To be fair, most houses have 220v as well as 110v (check behind your dryer). 220v requires MUCH more expensive wiring and the US 220v outlets & plugs are if anything more sturdy then the UK and have things like twist-to-lock safety features.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
And you know what? The number of times the average American has been shocked by his plugs: 0.
I read the internet for the articles.
And they leak oil.
In my experience a lot of brits don't even realize we have single phase 220v to most homes.
Thus they probably aren't aware that there are US 220v sockets and plugs to compare theirs with.
But without a built-in fuse and shutters in the outlet they'll still rate theirs as superior.
OTOH, considering how many times most people actually unplug their stove, water heater, or clothes dryer, I'd wager that statistically the US plug is the safer of the two.
America gave birth to the ultimate socket.
.. but I have to say (sorry never experienced the swiss socket someone posted about already) that the British plug just seems to give so much more secure a connection when plugged into the wall, very stable. When using a euro or US plug I always feel like it is just going to fall out of the wall of its own accord. And yes the on off switch we have next to each socket saves a lot of wear and tear on plugging/unplugging - you know - to save the planet. Yes, its a little bit more bulky, but is that a real reason not to like it unless you are a weakling (most /. readers maybe?). Doesn't make a difference to me. Up there with the best. Makes me proud to be British (small tear trickles down cheek).
You have to really work at electrocuting yourself on a GFI outlet. I dont consider the covers and fuse to be a better option.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
8 pages; only 11 (eleven) lines on the first page; not navigable without javascript enabled; no printable page option.
Remind me never to go to cnet's page...
--Laci
Man up.
If you can't handle a bit of unprotected metal carrying 110V and fake grounded adaptors you're not cut out for this continent.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
I started doing that when I saw them installed consistently like that in an industrial situation, but I didn't fully understand the reason. I do know that plugs are less likely to pull out due to weight on the plug like that.
Finally I asked an electrician. He said the reason is that if something falls on the plug, pulls it partly out, and makes contact with the prongs, it hits the earthing pin first rather than possibly hitting the hot lead first.
Lets not forget that the UK had to release a document covering injuries from cookies (biscuits). Seems half the nation has been injured by them at some point...
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I dunno when you last heard that from someone. Bare wire appliances haven't been sold since the 70's or early 80's in my memory (no doubt there's an exception somewhere). And the 100 plug thing is just bizarre. It's a single UK standard plug and that's it and has been since I can remember (I'm 40).
Site is pretty much slashdotted at the moment.
Yay, I've above average!
Actually, the little security flap adds about $0.08 to the cost of a socket (about $1 retail given markup). The inline fuse is differnt from a GFI, and instead of allowing the device to die a horrible death and trigger the GFI, it protects the devices from surges in the first place. They use GFI in the breaker box (as the breakers in my new house here in the US also do and it's not the builkding standard in this state as opposed to the expensive GFI sokets I needed all over the place in the old house). Their inline fuse is cheap and simple.
For the cost of a box, outlet, and cover plate, the UK socket might cost $2 more than a US one. Its safer and also protects devices with an additional surge protection barrier (so you don't need a surge stip for every fracking outlet you have more than a lamp plugged into).
Further, because they use round connectors, not flat, it's far less likely you'll bend up a plug, and it's also harder to find household objects you could stick in the hole in the first place. It;s not exactly often i bend up a connetor real bad, but when ui had a dog it more more frequent, and more than once I've had to solder on a new endpiece, which is really a bitch to do btw without the proper tools.
I'm not condoning everyone rip out all their outlets, I'm simply suggesting all new outlets come with a cover and fuse starting now, and all appliances start coming with a newer, better connector (and an adapter to use an older outlet).
People might compain, but they made the same complaint years ago when we added the 3rd prong and people started needing adapters for those. We got over it, and will again.
There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
Go with a nice IEC 309 connector. Water/dust proof and if you trip on it, it's not coming apart. Though the NEMA twis lock ones (Nema LX-YY) are nice too.
Min-Kyu Choi's Folding UK style plug. All the goodness of the UK plug, none of the bulky crap. http://www.minkyu.co.uk/Site/Product/Entries/2009/4/20_Folding_Plug_System.html
The question for Italy is "Which Italian design"? Italy has several 220V outlet styles which are in active use. The UK used to have a couple of round pin designs also in common use, but these have pretty much gone the way of the dodo (except for some specialst uses).
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
OTOH, 110 is far less likely to whack you on your ass if you DO get shocked!
Test your net with Netalyzr
I also notice that no appliance I own in the USA uses insulation on the live pins of the plug to prevent accidental shocks when the plug is slightly out of the socket,
Which it turns out is not actually a problem in real life. In 36 years in this country neither I nor anyone I know of has ever been shocked in that manner. Yes it's conceivable and I'm sure someone has done it somewhere but it really just isn't a problem. We've got a pretty detailed electrical code and I'm quite sure if it was a serious problem it would have been addressed.
none of the sockets contain safety shutters
They are available if you want them. My car (a Honda Ridgeline) has a 110V outlet with safety shutters actually. You can get them from any Home Depot or Lowes hardware store for use in your home. You also can get plugs to prevent access to the sockets when not in use. Again though, not really a serious problem.
and that 110V cords to high wattage appliances such as vacuum cleaners get warm
I suggest you buy better quality equipment then. If you buy a wire that is too small for the application this might happen. Any wire that is too thin for the power demands on it will overheat. This is how fuses work. Doesn't happen on my vacuum cleaner though - at least not that I can tell without a very accurate thermometer.
and the lights change brightness when I switch such appliances on and off.
Unless you are overloading the circuit, that almost certainly has nothing to do with the appliance. That means the power you have going to the outlet is either insufficient or of poor quality. For instance I had a loose neutral wire on my house last year which made everything flicker because the voltages were bouncing between 98V and 135V. Once the power company secured the neutral connection it's been rock steady ever since.
IMO the British home electrical system is much better than the USA system and I have tried to view it impartially over the year
Clearly...
do you know if those switches are "hot switches" that can handle repeated cutting in and out under power, like to turn a trouble light off by flipping the switch instead of pulling the power cord? My hair dryer power switch died so it's now set to always on, and I have to pull the cord to turn it off etc so the plug is getting a little arced up from the power surges. I know switches that aren't meant for that can have the same problem.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Is the use of right-angles from the wire to the socket standardised or just a result of the standard design? I find it prevents people pulling plugs out which is also good for safety (this is compared to the fairly beefy but straight plugs they use in Spain)
IranAir Flight 655 never forget!
In the 2008 NEC, nearly all outlets will be required to have combination AFCI and GFCI breakers, as well as shuttered outlets.
2008 NEC is already in effect in several states, and will be in effect nationwide in a few years. States and localities aren't forced to adopt it, but most do.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
Well, the Canada plug is better than the U.S.A. plug!
Where to begin?
"As a British person living in the USA I notice that the majority of my sockets outside kitchen and bathroom are not GFI protected (either at the socket or the fuse panel) and that most appliances do not use an Earth Pin."
I actually doubt most British circuits are GFI protected, but I could be wrong about that. Remember, though - GFI is more than a breaker or fuse. Also, per the National Electrical Code, all electrical devices without a ground plug must be double insulated - insulation on the wiring and the casing. Finally, in a 110v circuit, one of the legs IS earthed - they tie in at the panel.
"I also am in awe that socket adapters are legally sold that convert non earthed sockets into earthed sockets and light bulb sockets into earthed sockets, the safety implications are huge. I think it is a fair assessment to use 110V non earth sockets as many home have them."
Already addressed. If they get misused and a fire starts, it's the owner's fault.
"I also notice that no appliance I own in the USA uses insulation on the live pins of the plug to prevent accidental shocks when the plug is slightly out of the socket, none of the sockets contain safety shutters"
Both are available, just not mandated. If you don't have kids, why do you need the safety shutters?
" and that 110V cords to high wattage appliances such as vacuum cleaners get warm"
Something to do with Ohm's law, I think. Warm? BFD - so does British wiring, just not as much.
" and the lights change brightness when I switch such appliances on and off."
That's the house wiring, not the system wiring.
The British took the Nanny state route, and the US hasn't caught up yet. I'm not shedding any tears.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Well, it seems that BS1363 allows non-earthed plugs also, quoting from wikipedia:
"Moulded plugs for unearthed, double-insulated appliances may substitute this contact with a non-conductive plastic pin to open the shutter." So, should a fair assessment include non-grounded plugs British plugs also?
As a native of the US, I find the items you point out incomprehensible, but acceptable just due to familiarity. I would absolutely love UL and the NFPA (the non-governmental bodies that, in reality, sets most of the standards for these things in the USA) banning 2-prong plugs and outlets. 2-prong outlets have been effectively banned in new construction since 1962; I'm sorry, but if you have an old house you'll have to rewire or buy lots of adapters.
I'd love to have 220V coming out of the wall sockets as half the world does; it's unlikely to be more dangerous than the 120 we have now, and would allow for products with twice the power of currently available one (think vacuums, table saws, etc). Alternatively, products could have thinner cords - at half the amperage, the required wire diameter is smaller.
As far as light dimming, that's going to occur in Britain also if you plug in a 13 amp device. It's unavoidable, and driven by the current being drawn; the cords will get warm also. Of course, there won't be as many 13 amp devices - my 120 volt, 13 amp vacuum cleaner would become a 240 volt, 6.5 amp vacuum cleaner; the 6.5 amps is unlikely to dim the lights and unlikely to make a noticeable temperature difference to the wire.
But I just can't get over the size of that British plug. It's got to be bigger than the cellphone that my AC Adapter would be trying to charge. How about practicality - how often do the shutters on British outlets fail, jam, or break? /frank
And the worms ate into his brain.
I haven't been able to read the article yet, but one thing which is definitely different between the US and UK plugs is that no US plug has a fuse in it.
Also, the US plugs are woefully inadequate for inflicting really serious injuries when stood on with bare feet.
Dunx
Converting caffeine into code since 1982
The British people are strangely proud of the ungainly BS 1363 plug. No surprise at all that it won the comparison.
What is it with the Americans on here? The British people are not proud of their plugs, the British people take plugs for granted. It's not like there was a national vote on what plugs to use or anything.
To warp this into a issue of national pride is just wrong.
Ever been shocked by 110? No big deal. 220? You need protection.
Never go to sea with two chronometers; take one or three.
Appliances don't have to use the earth ground pin if they're double-insulated.
Yes, you can buy adaptors to eliminate the earth pin, but they have a loop that needs to be connected to the outlet plate screw, which needs to be grounded. If you don't use that, and there's a problem, it's your own fault. However, many older houses don't have 3-prong outlets and the system has no earth ground connection, so there's not much you can do. What would you suggest, every 50+ year old house being rewired? We're already bankrupt.
As for accidental shocks, remember, this is only 110 (really 120) V here. It doesn't hurt much to get shocked if you're clumsy, as long as you're not wet (which is why kitchens and bathrooms are required to have GFCI for new construction). I imagine getting zapped with 220V is a much worse experience.
As for lights changing brightness, maybe you're living in an older house or something, because I don't see that. And for vacuum cleaners, yes it kinda sucks the cord gets warm, but not many things are like that. In the typical house, very few things use that much current (the things which use lots of power, like ovens, are already 220V and have their own circuits with huge aluminum cables). 220V is massive overkill for things like alarm clocks, small lamps, TVs, or even computers.
Don't believe everything you read on wikipedia.
I don't see the advantage to fusing the plug versus a device with a replaceable fuse.
B.t.w. Christmas tree lights in the US have fused plugs with fuses on the hot and ground so that it can be plugged in upside down. Since there's no separate "device", just wires with bulbs, having the fuses in the plug makes sense.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
I have not seen appliances without dedicated ground pin and wiring. I have seen devices with metal cases or significant conductive parts acceptable to people that do not have a dedicated ground pin e.g. lamps. IIRC in the UK any device that has a conductive case parts requires a dedicated ground pin wiring to prevent shock in the event of internal mis wiring or internal wiring breaks/shorts to case.
Due to the low price these days I use GFI outlets whenever I can. Worse case is it saves you a trip to the breaker box if you overload the circuit. Best case it stops you from doing the 110v mambo.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
This article smells like it was written by the editors/hosts of Top Gear.
(as the ZR-1 cleans house...)
Your electrician screwed up, but not badly. There's no real standard about which way they must face, but there is a convention: they usually look like a face. However, if the outlet is switched by a wall switch (usually for plugging in a table lamp and being able to turn it on from the switch by the door), the outlet is supposed to be inverted so it's obvious which outlet is switched.
Electrical codes in the US call for GFI only in bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoors - basically, places where there's likely to be water. (Not that it's a bad idea to have them elsewhere.)
For the adapters, the problem is that there is a huge installed base of non-grounding outlets, and of course no politician wants to be responsible for forcing them to be upgraded. Obviously you can't install a non-grounded outlet (I doubt you can even buy them), but if it's already there it's grandfathered in, until you renovate the room or otherwise work on the electrical system.
As for the lights changing brightness and such, my house does that, pretty badly. It's 40+ years old and has only 100 amp service, clearly not designed for today's usage. But, most houses I've been in of more recent vintage don't have this problem, including my brother's house that has about 40 arcade games (pinball, video games, and a classic Coke refrigerator) in his basement, even when they're all running.
To be fair, most houses have 220v as well as 110v
But only to a few points. If you want to plug your 220V lamp or radio in, in the US you'll have to reach behind the stove to do it.
220v requires MUCH more expensive wiring
Why would that be, if we're comparing apples to apples (and not wiring for stoves)? As far as copper goes, 220 would presumably take 4 wires (hot, hot, neutral, ground) rather than the 3 for 110V, but for the same (wattage) capacity the wires would be thinner, probably using less copper, since the current would be half as great. Insulation shouldn't cost any more. I don't see why outlets and fixtures would cost any more, if they were based on the same designs used for 110V, if anything they might be a little cheaper due to the lower current used by 220V.
Although this could descend into types of political governance, it may be argued that the minimum level of electrical safety could be raised in the USA such as mandatory GFI on all outlets on new home builds. As it stands it is not mandated so only fair to compare worst (and common) case US situation to the UK situation.
I take it you didn't notice the disclaimer about the word "objective"?
The one where they were using the "government approved" definition, which meant exactly the opposite of the standard definition?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
I'm British, but living in Netherlands.
Almost non of our plugs are grounded. Only those which have appliances attached to them. The plug sockets themselves aren't stable - you can easily accidently jank a plug out.
In comparison, the three pronged plugs are fantastic. Both the UK model and the one they use in South Africa (like UK but bigger with round prongs). They're almost always grounded, they can only go in one way and generally stay plugged in dispite minor knocks.
What's even better is that there's only standard in the UK. In Netherlands there are 3 different plug types. Not every plug fits in every plug type. Which is a real PITA.
Well, maybe the ones who are still alive...
Can somebody explain to me why 3-prong sockets can result in ground loop hum, and why the third prong is necessary? Shouldn't the ground part of a polarized connection be the same as the third prong, except without the potential ground loop problem due to having 2 grounds? I've read the 3rd prong is to ground a metal chassis to force a breaker trip in case of a problem, but couldn't you do that with the ground off a polarized connection instead of adding a new different ground? (Didn't learn anything about this until my PS3 started my sound system humming, have fixed the hum but still don't understand the principles involved.)
Also, why the polarized/unpolarized distinction? Why not just always polarize, even if it isn't required, since it is easy and doesn't hurt anything?
is competition good, or is duplication of effort bad?
The article is from the U.K., so what do you expect? Brits have to find something to feel superior about despite having bad teeth and breath, even if they have to "look over" things like the U.S. grounding plug and GFI sockets.
You see this as some great attack on your national pride and just have to take revenge?
Hang your head in shame..
It's a report on plugs. Historical accident and nothing more decides what plugs are most used in your country.
GFI (RCD) and a fuse do different jobs entirely. A fuse protects against high currents and an RCD protects against imbalanced currents, protecting against electric shocks which tend to go to earth.
The latest UK wiring standards require both overcurrent protection and RCDs.
Someday all the sockets in my house will be replaced with them.
And I will play Jungle Hunt from the garage ceiling plugs.
Firefox &
Well apparently UK websites are not any better than US ones or websites in any other country because the website is down. Slashdoted!
everything from the panel to the wall plates got changed out. Bedrooms now require AFCI protection at the panel or in the first outlet of a run, GFCIs protect any outlets near water (kitchen & bathroom, and 1 GFCI can protect a number of other connected outlets downstream), the non-GFCI outlets have "shutters" on them and 3 prongs. I don't quite understand why anyone would think a fuse (what year are we in anyway) is better than a GFCI/AFCI breaker. Furthermore, those thicker UK prongs are probably a bitch to plug in/out and have to almost guarantee that tripping/yanking on a wire will result in the entire flippin outlet getting ripped out of the wall with it. Thanks but I'll stick to what we got here in the USA. Oh yeah and whoever mentioned that appliances don't have grounds was kinda sorta right. My 240 volt central A/C has two hots (120 + 120) and a neutral, no ground, it was just installed a few months ago.
As a British person living in the USA I notice that the majority of my sockets outside kitchen and bathroom are not GFI protected (either at the socket or the fuse panel) and that most appliances do not use an Earth Pin.
Do note, though, that since GFCI protects everything downstream of the GFCI, any given circuit only really requires a single GFI outlet (or breaker).
I was going to just copy and paste in my older post titled "The UK plug is the nanny state run wild", but I can't find the damned thing.
The simple fact of the matter is that the pins on the US plug are so short that by the point it is far enough out of the socket to expose enough of the pins to touch them with your fingers, it's unplugged. No partially insulated pins or other wacky design contrivances are needed.
The UK plug appears to have originally been designed by someone who was laboring under the misunderstanding that they were designing a connector for welding equipment, not domestic appliances. It can safely carry 100A of current, if you replace the fuse with a solid link. Why? The plug contains a maximum 13A fuse and the ring main circuit in a UK home is limited to about 40A if I remember correctly. Why a 100A connector when it can only ever be supplied with 40A?
Shutters on the sockets are a very recent development in the US, and a probably just being copied from the UK for no other reason than shutter envy. There's no real demand for them, because Americans are somehow able to resist the temptation that apparently so often overcomes their British counterparts to stick things in the socket other than a plug.
When my family moved from the UK to the USA back in 1982, I thought the US plug was flimsy compared to the UK plugs I was used to. But, really, a Honda Civic looks flimsy compared to a Caterpillar bulldozer, but I know which one I'd buy to drive every day. (Yes, I have to get a car analogy in.)
A major advantage of the USA plug is that it's smaller - you can plug six appliances into a power strip and not have the power strip be the size of a house. If you have a laptop bag, the USA plug isn't some great big lump in the bag. The US plug is designed for its intended use, not designed to be safe even if being used by newborn babies to plug in their industrial welding equipment.
You might say, well, the US plug can't carry as much current for heavy loads. It's true that you can't get as much power through a single US plug as you can through a UK 13A plug, but that's because the voltage is higher. The US plug can carry 15A at 125V all day long. My wire feed welder works just fine plugged into a normal US 15A outlet - the plug doesn't even get warm.
Putting moderation advice in your
They sell 2-prong to 3-prong adapters because you typically attach the ground to the cover screw via a small prong or wire.
You're supposed to, but typically people don't. In fact, they overwhelmingly don't.
The problem is people don't hook up ground adapter.
I've never seen it done by anyone I've visited in an old houses, so it stands as a serious safety issue.
A possible solution is to ban the adapters, mandate that all sockets be 3 prong, make it illegal for electrical companies to start new service on a house (or transfer of service) unless the house electrical conforms to the new minimum standard (how it is done in the UK).
I would be very interested to see the stats of death per capita due to electrical shock in the home for USA and UK. You should of course, weight if possible the number of capita that have home electrical service (including generators for remote locations), though I expect it to be in the 90%+ for both countries so negligible impact on the raw death stats. I found some world wide country data but UK wasn't on the list.
Ungrounded and unpolarized sockets are grandfathered in, but no longer meet code for a new install. The adapters are SUPPOSED to be connected to the screw for grounding, but I have frequently seen that step skipped or the ground wire cut off. Grounded outlets have been the standard for decades now, but there are still a few ancient buildings that haven't updated.
Indeed. My first college dorm (built in 1946) had the two prong outlets and required adaptors for my power strip, but as long as you properly installed it and attached the screw through the ring all was well.
That said, people in general are all too quick to do things improperly. I know of at least 2 people in that dorm that just took a power strip, cut the ground pin off, and then plugged in all their stuff to the strip. Given that type of thing, hot plates burning, and hooking up WAY too much appliances in a single room, I have no idea how more college dorms don't burn to the ground.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I agree that plenty of devices in the U.S. don't use a ground pin, but I've rarely seen appliances with no ground. Have you really seen a refrigerator or a microwave or something with no ground pin?
I have.
Sure, usually the appliance cord has a ground pin on it... But you wouldn't believe how many times I've seen those appliances plugged into an adapter and then into a groundless outlet.
Our old apartment had horribly frightening wiring... None of the outlets had group plugs. We went through lightbulbs on a weekly basis. We couldn't run the microwave at the same time as the stove, because we'd trip a breaker. We complained to the landlord a few times, but they weren't interested in fixing it. We moved out as soon as it was possible. I'm kind of surprised the place is still standing... I really sort of thought it would have burned down from an electrical fire by now.
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
GFCI receptacles are NOT over-current protective devices.
I also notice that no appliance I own in the USA uses insulation on the live pins of the plug to prevent accidental shocks when the plug is slightly out of the socket,
Uh... does that actually, you know, happen ever? I've been plugging and unplugging stuff for a while now, over 25 years, often while drunk, and the only times I've been shocked while plugging or unplugging things are when I realize what a rats nest I've made around the electrical sockets.
(We're talking mentally shocked, just for clarity sake, not like zzzap.)
for aesthetic reasons alone, in my nuclear free country, we use a plug/outlet design that looks like "The Nuclear Symbol" :P
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS_3112
---
...is the one that fits the socket on the wall in front of me.
220v takes the same three wires to run as 110v. Two carriers (hot and hot hot) and a ground. There's no neutral in 220v, so you can run either 110v or 220v from the same romex wire - just not at the same time.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
my city recently started requiring GFCI at the breaker for all bedrooms and bathrooms. Currently the Consumer Product Safety Commission doesn't require either. The bedroom breaker is about $15 more than the bathroom one for some reason (more sensitive?).
"Appliances" that don't use a ground/earth pin are typically things like lamps and small DC wall-wart adapters. National electric code allows for listed and labeled appliances with double insulation "or equivalent" to forgo a grounding pin. (NEC section 250.114 if you care...) This would cover nearly all consumer grade electronics like TVs as well as small counter top kitchen appliances like toasters.
Basically there is a tradeoff: If the device can be demonstrated to have little or no risk of posing a shock hazard, it does not need to be grounded.
It is also my understanding that some appliances in the UK are also ungrounded - the earth pin is either not connected to anything or made of plastic.
It is also against NEC to install new outlets that do not have a ground pin. Essentially any house built since the 1970s or so will have 3-pin outlets. Those adapters (which are recommended against by anyone with half a brain) are for those rare occasions when you're in an old building, and used properly are still fairly safe.
I've been told the new edition of the NEC also specify Arc-fault interruption (AFCI) outlets for residences - if that's any consolation.
> I also notice that no appliance I own in the USA uses insulation on the live pins of the plug to prevent accidental shocks when the plug is slightly out of the socket
I have only ever heard anecdotal evidence of people getting shocked like this. Generally speaking, if the plug is out far enough to get your finger on the pins it's too far out to be making contact. (Maybe I just have fat fingers?) Regardless, few people seem to be in the habit of gripping the plugs in a way that would make this an issue: you only need your thumb and forefinger.
> IMO the British home electrical system is much better than the USA system and I have tried to view it impartially over the years.
It strikes me, jokingly, that the UK outlets are all baby-proof because the UK is full of babies. We call it the Nanny State for a reason :)
=Smidge=
It's a single UK standard plug and that's it and has been since I can remember (I'm 40).
Which is the age where the memory really starts to go, thus explaining why you can't remember that it was last week. ;)
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In 36 years in this country neither I nor anyone I know of has ever been shocked in that manner. Yes it's conceivable and I'm sure someone has done it somewhere but it really just isn't a problem.
I've done it trying to plug things in in the dark. Hit one prong with my thumb and the other with a finger. That is a very odd, wierd, and slightly painful feeling, something like whacking your funny bone but without the pain part.
The meek may inherit the earth, but the strong shall take the stars.
Stuff hasn't come with just bare wires for ages. I hesitate to suggest an actual number of years, because someone will come along and prove to me that there's one appliance left that still comes with bare wires for some odd reason or another, but I'll stick my neck out and say it's been well over a decade!
I think it's 15 to 20 years. I'm sure it was made illegal to sell domestic appliances without a plug. Manufactures used to sell things without plugs to cut costs and improve profits. The shops didn't mind because wiring plugs was a nice easy money spinner for them.
Even then plugs were totally standard the GP's claims that unwired plugs were due to there being a number of different plugs to choose from is total bull.
Ah yeah, I've seen that sort of thing in really old houses/apartments. I think all houses built in the last ~50 years have exclusively 3-prong outlets, though; I've only seen 2-prong outlets in pre-WW2 construction (and in Taiwan).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
They do have the convenient habit of only coming in "flat surface mount" variety though, so the cord is already against the wall. Or at least, the cord sticks no further from the wall than the plug itself does. Most US plus for some reason think it is a great idea to stick far further out from the wall than even the huge British plug due to plugging in perpendicular. You can get the smaller "flush mount" plugs for some things in the US (usually extension cords, sometimes computer power cables) but they're then next to impossible to remove because they become so flat (a bonus for the larger British plug).
I also don't recall the British plugs having the "plug falls out of the wall due to the weight of the cord" problem that FAR TOO MANY US sockets do. It could just be the house we lived in when we were in England had new enough sockets that wasn't a problem -- I don't know for sure. I do know I've experienced the plug-falls-out problem in many, many houses and apartments in the US.
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Sounds like the UK ones are massively overengineered, inconvenient, and introduce extra points of failure unnecessarily.
Hm?
I don't know that I'd say that...
The UK ones typically have a bit of insulation on the prongs. This prevents you from accidentally touching live wires or shorting anything if the plug isn't fully inserted. And I doubt if it costs too much just to add a half-inch of plastic/rubber to the prongs.
The prongs themselves are much thicker and sturdier, they aren't just metal blades. They don't fold over without a lot of effort. I'm sure those cost more than the flimsy things I've got in my house... But just about every plug in my house is at least slightly bent from use.
The fuse in the plug is very nice. For some reason we here in the US don't worry too much about that... About the only GFI outlets you'll see are in bathrooms. A lot of times you'll see outlets that aren't properly grounded. You can buy all sorts of adapters to convert lightbulb sockets into electrical outlets... Or to plug a 3-prong cord into a 2-prong outlet... It's fairly easy to do something unsafe and, at best, trip a breaker - at worst, do some real damage. Putting a fuse in the cord/outlet itself means you can stop the damage before it even gets into your wall. Again, I guess this probably costs more... But I'd gladly pay a few cents extra for the safety.
UK outlets also usually have some kind of safety flap thing, that prevents you from sticking a fork in the outlet. Again, I'm sure this extra bit of plastic costs a bit more... But I think I'd be willing to pay for that added safety.
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
A shock from an American outlet will very rarely kill you (I supposed it COULD, but I've never seen it). When I was a teenager I worked with a construction (drywall) company doing random labor tasks. Several times during things like remodels I and my brother (who also worked with me) would get assigned things like tearing out a ceiling and removing the insulation. Both of us accidentally grabbed a hot wire at least once. It hurts like a sumuma-bitch, but actually inside the home that level of current is the type of shock you can just walk off. A 5-10 minute break and we were back to work.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Having lived in the US, UK, Malaysia and France, I would concurr that the British plug system is far better. It was properly thought, and universally implemented across the country 50 years ago using an act of parliment on the premise that using anything else was dangerous and therefore potentially negligent. More features have been added since then (including household earth-leakage trip sensing).
I've had problems with a French pin snapping in a socket leaving an exposed live pin for my 3-year-old son to play with (luckily I spotted it in time and managed to cover it).
In the US I almost got used to the risk of shocks off electrical appliances. I also had a lab fire destroy some of my work because somebody had knocked out the cable of the pump supplying the coolant.
In Malaysia where the national standard specifies the british plug type, the biggest issue was that cheap Chinese imports sometimes didn't use it.
When basic safety is involved, I don't think that it's over-engineering. Your comment about extra points of failure doesn't make any sense.
and the lights change brightness when I switch such appliances on and off.
That is interesting. My last two houses I've lived in (both built after 1984), have had different circuits for lighting and outlets. The exception was the microwave mounted above the stove, it was powered by the lighting circuit in that area of the house. On another note, my current house has 12 gauge wiring with 20amp breakers and 20 amp outlets, my previous houses were 14 gauge wire with 15 amp circuits. I haven't cared to research the theory behind that. I assume it is cheaper to use 20 amp because you will have fewer home runs with the wires back to the box and fewer breakers in the box.
Also, do other countries have requirements of where and how many outlets have to be in each room? I believe in most areas of the US, an outlet has to be placed no more than 6 feet from a corner and no more than 12 ft from another outlet working around the room and evenly spaced as much as possible with exceptions for closets and such, 4 ft on the kitchen counters etc...
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Not the big ones, the small ones. You rarely see them as wall sockets, but for example behind my computer (pc, screen, speakers, router, external hdd etc.) it's great with mixed big/small sockets. Same behind the tv/pvr/stereo section, or indeed any place you have many low-power gadgets. Always using the big three-pronged contacts or fullsize europlug is a big, overengineered waste of space and money.
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Non grounded UK plugs are only allowed on items which are doubly insulated. This therefore requires two things to break before someone can be electrocuted.
If the lights dim when you switch on a 13A device then there is a problem with your wiring. Most likely because it is too thin. There are all sorts of regs here (in the UK) which dictate the losses allowed in the cables / cable thicknesses etc which if followed correctly mean that the lights should not dim as the voltage drop is minimal. Also note that here in the UK, a 13A device draw 3.1kW where as it is only 1.4kW in the US.
It is very rare for the sockets here to break and the pins on the plugs can't easily be bent unlike the US ones.
Also in the UK we use ring mains which allows the size of conductors to reduced by 30% or so which makes a considerably saving due to the price of copper.
wot no sig
Sure, but belt-and-suspenders is a good philosophy when it comes to something like this. When you take your laptop and plug it into the hotel outlet, you're trusting whoever wired that outlet to have done it to code. It almost always is, but the one time it isn't could be the one that damages the laptop or takes your life.
GFI and fuses are apples and oranges. Fuses and circuit breakers are current overload protection. Ground Fault Interruption protects against current moving in a path it was not intended to (e.g. between hot and ground rather than hot and neutral). There are plenty of ways to kill yourself with current moving between hot and neutral as intended. You can use more current on the cord than the circuit is rated for. You plug your 2A cord into a 20A circuit, and you can start a fire by drawing 10A and the GFI is happy as a clam. Your laptop is off and your frayed cord is drawing one amp because of the current that is currently melting the plastic in the cord. In that case not only is the GFI and circuit breaker happy to let you start that fire, the 2A fuse in your plug is too. You need arc-fault detection.
GFI units include a circuit breaker, so yes, there is redundancy. I'm assuming the UK codes don't let you wire buildings without circuit breakers, so it's not like the UK relies on plug fuses exclusively and the US on circuit breakers. If I am correct, then the UK has redundant current overload protection where the US does not. GFI handles ground faults, of course, but that's almost not relevant in many cases, e.g. non-grounded equipment which is supposed to have an electrically isolated case. Of course you'll want GFI if you're in the habit of using your laptop in the bathtub, but in most cases arc-fault interruption would be even more desirable.
Imagine a world where you have overload protection in your device (e.g. laptop), in the power cord plug, in the circuit breaker panel; the breaker panel also provides arc and ground fault protection. People would *still* die from electrical faults in that world, although many fewer. If you assume everything works perfectly, you can install all your protection at the breaker panel. In fact, in such a perfect world, all you'd need is current overload protection at the panel, and the odd GFI here and there to protect the people who use their laptop in the bathtub. But in the real world, you can't count on anything working, as advertised, including any of the fancy stuff you install in the panel.
In any case, the outlets in the US design wear out too quickly, in my opinion. It's a lot like the original USB design, which was fine for plugging your printer in and leaving it plugged in for the life of your system or your printer. The plug was not designed for lots of connect/disconnect cycles.
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Yes, many homes have non-earthed sockets. And they are all quite old homes, as those have not been up to code (meaning, not eligible for use in new construction) for decades. And I'm pretty sure if you find light-socket to 3-prong adapters, they most certainly are not UL listed, and not up to code. Plug in 2 to 3 prong adapters are designed to be attached to the socket mounting screw, which is supposed to be grounded.
Oh, and there are plenty of UK homes with 2-prong outlets also.
And I'm not seeing big problems with no shutters or non-insulated live pins.
Also, you have high-current branch circuits, which can have safety problems all their own.
SirWired
Compare "Major Appliances" to "Appliances". Hand mixer, blender, kettle, coffee maker, bread machine, coffee grinder, countertop boiler, ice cream maker, and so on. Plenty are made without a grounded cord.
Ground isn't "instant safety", though. Depending on circumstances, ground can make a fault worse. That's why the shift to double-insulated power tools with ungrounded plugs. (Say on a drill: the chuck is insulated from the motor, and the motor is insulated from the housing. So if you drill into a live wire, the circuit DOES NOT COMPLETE through the power tool to either ground or you--or both. (If you hit a Big Cable, it will be too much for the 16 gauge ground, so there'll be plenty of current to go through you, too.))
Mind you, I had a paper shredder "fail dangerous" when the double-insulating piece that insulated the cutters from the motor failed... and the motor fell out of its mounts... and turned on... and shorted hot to the control panel. (That unit should not have received ULC and CSA safety approval with a design that brittle. The motor should have been bolted to the case, not "propped" in place by a plastic widget.)
How many Americans have been killed, per year, by the 2" long plastic guns attached to those plastic GI Joe soldiers? Those are routinely confiscated at airports.
It must make you feel a great deal safer, knowing that plastic soldiers are not going to attack you during your next flight with their 2" long rifles.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
And I'm in the USA. OK, they could be a bit smaller. I've got a fused US (NEMA 5-15) plug that's no bigger than the unfused variety. So its possible. The receptacle shutters over the current carrying contacts are a nice idea, as is the insulated sleeve over the base of the plug blades.
The biggest advantage I've seen with the UK plugs is their orientation. Ground prong up. While this can be solved with the US version by mounting receptacles upside down. Many construction specs are starting to require this, particularly in health care facilities. But it screws up wall warts, which are designed to let the LV cord hang down in the 'ground pin down' configuration. I'm not certain if this is UK code, but every UK plug I've seen has the cord emerging from the (bottom) side of the plug. This prevents the cord from being pinched when someone slides a piece of furniture against it. I've seen a few fires and numerous damaged cord caused by this practice. Its possible to obtain US plugs in this configuration, but they are rare. It wouldn't do us much good anyway, as we have most of our receptacles the wrong way around anyway.
Have gnu, will travel.
"I also notice that no appliance I own in the USA uses insulation on the live pins of the plug to prevent accidental shocks when the plug is slightly out of the socket, none of the sockets contain safety shutters and that 110V cords to high wattage appliances such as vacuum cleaners get warm and the lights change brightness when I switch such appliances on and off.">/i>
You've either got really crappy wiring in your house, or your house is very old and not up to modern codes. There is no reason for lights to dim when you turn on any sort of appliance in a modern house. As for chords getting hot, I suggest you look at the quality of the chord on your equipment, not the sockets themselves. If the chord for vacuum gets hot, it is either not built from the correct gauge wire for the intended power, or there's a short in it somewhere causing a problem. That has nothing to do with the sockets in US households.
That said, I have never particularly thought any of the sockets were better than others whether I was in the US, Europe or Asia. They all accomplish the expected task of getting power to what I need. There is no need for any sort of "nationalist" attitude about any of them... they're just different, none necessarily better than the other.
"Growing old is inevitable; growing up is optional."
Pussy. I've been hit by 15kV. 220 is a slight tickle compared to that. Tesla Coil primary, with a capacitor, I'm lucky to be alive. Don't try it, it hurts like hell.
The first thing I do when I land in a foreign nation is strip all my plugs and jam the bare wires in the outlet.
Perhaps. But I'll guess that most 220v outlets in the US aren't protected by GFCI breakers. (Is there such a thing as a 220v GFCI outlet? I don't see them in my search.)
Perhaps in new construction and remodels.
No it doesn't. Ordinary Romex can handle 220V fine; the insulation is rated for 600V. New US 220V wiring costs more because it requires four wires rather than three (two hots, a neutral, and a ground), but that's because it's split phase, not because of the voltage. And it's probably still cheaper than what it would take to deliver the same power with 110V.
Wait till he sees how christmas tree lights are set up by average people. (See the mythbusters show about Christmas Trees).
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
That might be so, but I can't say, a Brit living in the US, that I'm especially enamoured by the little sparks that I tend to see now and then when plugging devices into the wall. When I explain to my American friends that we have little switches on the sockets to turn them off and on, they can't seem to understand the point of them.
They are comparing American tech from nearly 50 years ago, to UK current tech. Amazing. The double bladed American that they looked IS around, BUT, none of the homes built after early 1960s are allowed to use. ALL have the double blade, with a single pin (ground or earth). Whats more, since the 70's, America does not use fuses. We use Circuit Breakers, and since the mid 80's have required GFCI on all our lines. Screw the SLOW BURNING FUSE that allows a heck of a charge before blowing. I have to say that I prefer the gfci/cb approach since it is much faster acting and always assured
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Yea! I'm above average!
One thing that Americans on their first visit to the UK are amazed at is the fact that electric kettles can boil water in about half the time as their American counterparts. The penalty for this convenience of course is that their sockets are huge and their cords are heavy duty, thick and heavy.
Is there such a thing as a 220v GFCI outlet?
Yes.
I've never seen the shutter on a British outlet fail or jam.
The AC adapters for cellphones or other low voltage DC appliances are much bigger than normal British AC plugs because of all the voltage conversion stuff inside. Most of them come with a clip-on British plug that can be replaced with clip-on plugs for use in the rest of Europe. They are pretty much the same size whichever one you clip on.
US 220V appliances require two hots and a neutral. The current NEC requires a safety ground as well. The appliances typically run heating elements with the 220V, with everything else being 110V.
Lets not forget that the UK had to release a document covering injuries from cookies (biscuits). Seems half the nation has been injured by them at some point...
You mean http://www.rockybiscuit.co.uk/research.html ?
That's an advert not a serious report.
They can handle it - it's part of the job description. We have the same thing in Australia and I have yet to have a switch fail anywhere in my house (or houses I have lived in throughout my life). It works on high current kitchen appliances like kettles and toasters and it works on lights.
The falling out of the wall problem isn't the most alarming issue with US plugs. The falling slightly out, just far enough that the connection is still (poorly) made and you get sparks flying when you turn the device on problem is. How anyone could defend this design is beyond me.
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I've used power plugs in a bunch of different countries. Most have their advantages and disadvantages. US is small, Australia it's clear which direction you plug it in, Europe has some good safety features... but the british plug has nothing going for it. It's big and ugly, and when you put two on the wall next to each other, you can't work out which way is up. The authors are retarded.
Id like to see some kinda standard for domestic DC. USB is common for chargers, but they all are wall warts for AC of some type.. Mebbe an outlet with 1 AC and 1 DC with an internal rectifier?
I cant see using USB for things like your TV of DVD player, so something a bit more robust might be in order.
One fine day, I'll read a whole thread before I post to it (see my comment "Yea! I'm above average" above ...).
# Symmetrical. (i.e. you should be able to plug it in upside-down)
# The side that supplies the voltage should be the best shielded.
Many 110v appliances won't work with symmetrical-working plugs because they expect the voltage to always come in on one line and go out the other.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
The bedroom one is not a GFCI (ground fault circuit interruptor). It is AFCI (arc fault circuit interruptor).
Do you sleep on a waterbed or something? Seriously, what is the rationale for a GFCI in a BEDroom?
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
They don't save lives. Sockets in other countries don't kill anyone, and therefore there are noone to save.
UK plugs are just damn inconvenient and ugly. Carrying around chargers in the UK is a pain.
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I think you fail to understand the difference between a fuse and a surge protector. A fuse protects from over current only. It offers very limited protection for over voltage. A surge as you're describing comes from a sharp increase in voltage (from 120 to several hundred or thousand volts). A surge protector typically defeats a surge via a zener diode (One that only lets current flow if the voltage is over a threashold) shorted to ground. So if the voltage rises above the clamping voltage, all current is redirected to ground.
This also differs from a GFCI in operation. A GFCI detects ground faults. That means current leaking from the primary to the ground pin. In normal operation, this shouldn't happen. But if a circuit is shorted, or becomes damaged, the ground (which is usually connected to the chasis on metal items) can be connected to the primary lead. So the GFCI detects this leakage, and kills power. Surge protectors, GCFI and fuses are very different systems, each designed to protect from a specific hazard.
Now, a circuit breaker is a fuse. Their very nature only protects against excess current only. There are two important differences however. A breaker is a lot faster at disconnecting current than a fuse (it's designed to be fast), and it's resettable. So to say that the UK version is better because it has a fuse shows me a lack of understanding of practicality or safety. Fuses are designed to protect the wiring. That's it. Nothing else. A fuse prevents a short circuit from melting the wiring in the house and causing a fire. With the excess current required to trip a fuse, the damage to the equipment is likely damaged already. And it will be more than enough current to kill a person (It only takes about 0.015 amps to kill someone, regardless of voltage).
If a man isn't willing to take some risk for his opinions, either his opinions are no good or he's no good
round pins?
Some locations do have a standard on 20 amp circuits installing the plug "upside-down", for preventing potential fires if something manages to contact both hot pins.
Sorry, what?
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39029552,49303764-4,00.htm
These cables can only carry currents of up to 2.5A
WHAT? Where the hell did the author get this information?!
Here's a random picture that I found through Google, for those of you who don't know how European wall sockets look like: http://www.goodlogo.com/images/extended.info/b/bcc/wall_socket_NL_GE.jpg
Here's the miserable excuse for the British wall socket: http://www.made-in-china.com/image/2f0j00PvutNFZDbIcQM/Socket-A091-.jpg
1) The European socket has a plastic outside cone for insulation. If the cable is partially unplugged, you cannot touch it with your fingers. The British version has nothing.
2) The European socket allows you to plug the cables upside down (which is extremely helpful in certain situations).
3) Contrary to how it's portrayed in the article, the European socket *does* have grounding. In fact, it has two grounding pins, top and bottom.
4) Some people have mentioned the size of the plugs themselves. Here's the one with the grounding http://www.advin.com/uv-eraser-plug-FE-W512.JPG and here's the one used for small appliances and gadgets http://www.tuxgraphics.org/electronics/powersockets/power_plug_euro.jpg
What a stupid article... Stupid British arrogance.
Funny this should come up. A few days ago, I was pulling out the plug for my laptop from my surge strip, taking care not to pull out some other plugs nearby, when my fingers slipped under the plug and touched the metal. I felt a small surge before I instinctively pulled my fingers away. (Felt like a low vibration almost.) I'm guessing (since I've never experienced this before) that there was still some electrical connection and it went coursing through me. Luckily, I was fine. I do think what happened wasn't something that would commonly happen though.
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There are quite a few U.S. houses built in the 50's with 2-prong outlets. Mine is one.
Well there are OTHER plug standards in use here in the USA. Ever see a crows foot plug connector?
How about a twist-lock? Now there are plugs with BALLS!.
And while I don't know statistics, I'll throw this random anecdote in--the only person I know who was killed in an electrical fire was my friend's mum in the UK. (More safety features on the plugs, but twice the voltage... IANAE but I suppose that could cause problems.)
10 FILL MUG WITH COFFEE
20 DRINK COFFEE
30 GOTO 10
Actually I believe that they rated the EU plug as a 0 (out of "infinity"), and a US plug as a 1 (out of 10).
Wall space, and bag space. Ever traveled with one of those fuckers in your bag? Or worse, more than one? American plugs are much easier to pack and manage IMHO
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Bet it gets annoying when people constantly make wooshing noises at you and you have no idea why they are doing it.
Woosh!
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You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Seriously, what is the rationale for a GFCI in a BEDroom?
Electric blanket in a possibly wet environment where the people may be damp from shower or
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Technically, the IEC power connector, as found on the back of most computers, is one of the best. You usually see a chassis-mount IEC male connector and a cord-mount female connector, but the reverse forms are available. IEC "wall sockets" are sometimes found in rackmount server outlet strips. The plug is shrouded, and the socket has an enclosing slot for the shroud, so at no time are energized pins exposed. The shroud engages the enclosing slot before the pins make contact. That's a key safety feature. It allows a smaller plug; if exposed pins are energized while the plug is being plugged in, the plug has to be made larger to keep fingers away from the pins.
IEC is a flat-pin design, which is good. Getting a large contact area on round pins is hard, so round-pin connectors of a given size usually carry less current. Flat-pin contacts just slide between two flat spring-loaded blades, which can accommodate wear on both surfaces. The split-cylinder contacts of round-pin female connectors have to match closely, so as they wear, the inside radius of the cylinder increases and no longer properly matches the pin. Round pins vs. flat contact blades are sometimes used; they wear better, but the the contact area is small.
The older round-pin European connectors are only rated for 10A, sometimes only 7.5A. At 240V, this is adequate. IEC connectors are rated for 15A, and there's a 20A form.
Today we expect connectors to just work, but it took considerable engineering to get to that point. As late as 1980, computers had serious problems with connector unreliability.
He's probably talking about blenders, toasters, food processors, etc. as appliances, not major appliances like fridges and stoves.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
The article was a Joke :- Like Jeremy Clarkson type Joke.
Have you yanks lost your sense of humour?
(btw. My Australian plug which I love was upside down and got 2 out of 10!)
46137
That's not entirely true. The neutral has a current running through it and therefore is at an elevated voltage. The independant ground should have no current running through it and should be at ground potential. You can't rely on the neutral for safety. I have seen them floating as high as 8 volts due to IR drop in the system. Relying on the neutral to be a ground, you could easily become the return path for all the current.
Please quantify "almost nothing", the number of "lives" saved, and the value of a human life. The latter is subjective, of course, but critical in determining whether a regulation intended to save lives is worth the cost.
Some would say that $1 is "almost no investment". So should we tax the entire population of the US (300M people), and spend that 300M to catch a single serial killer? Maybe save 5 lives? But it's just $1 right? Surely $1 is worth 5 lives!
Rubbish, I've been shocked numerous times by 240v, and while it's unpleasant it's not as big a deal as you make it out to be.
I am surprised by how serious people take this light-hearted article. It clearly states:
where the footnote clarifies: "*Objectivity in this sentence has a one-off, government-approved change in definition. Its meaning here, and only here, is the exact opposite of what it usually means." Do /. readers really recognize a tongue-in-cheek story only when the summary got the humor icon stuck on it?
It's funny that there are people in the world that can actually take some sort of pride in their electrical plug sockets.
// MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
Komatsu 930E-4 has been chosen the best car in the world. Safety of the driver was taken as the deciding factor.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Lights dimming? Not going to happen unless it's a lamp plugged into a socket as well. The lighting circuit in UK houses is separate from the outlet circuit. Dunno if it's the same in the states.
there's no "objectivity" in that article.
Shoot...just look at the Dutch plug (no pun intended): Two paragraphs, one sentence each. The UK one, it's like reading a biography.
That and there were some facts missing.
Japan uses 100V not 110V
GFCI sockets exist in the US
The British mains (aka 230V mains) are much more potent so they needed shutters 'cuz it was killing kids (oh will someone think of the children!)
Besides, the shutters are in the socket not the plug and guess what, shutters exist for other types OTHER than the British type (aka Type G).
Here's another kicker: just because there's a fuse in the plug, doesn't make it safer. A 13A fuse (the max) can fit in a 3A cord. In order for the fuse to cut the power, it has to melt but in this case, the cord will melt and catch on fire before the fuse does. FAIL
A GFCI socket (which is fair to claim as the article brings in shutters on the Type G socket) will detect current even small amounts leaking to ground (a fault) and shut the power off immediately. There are even sockets that have other kinds of resettable circuit breakers as well.
And some appliances have a fuse box on the back that's connected directly to the cord.
Now as far as shuttering goes, guess what...they have 'em for Type B too, known as tamper resistant meant to protect children from shock!
I thought they sold those adapters for guitar amps. Not really. If anyone can explain why a "ground lift" helps reduce signal noise on amplified sound, I'd be glad to hear it.
Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.
If you need higher power, the US has plugs for that. There are NEMA specs for 600 volt plugs (NEMA L9), 3 phase 60 amp plugs (NEMA 15-60) and so on. When security is needed to make sure something doesn't accidentally become unplugged, there are locking plugs and so on. You can get NEMA plugs for whatever special use you need. Indeed, in our server room it's all NEMA L5 and L6 connectors, locking 120 and 240 volt connectors.
However, for a normal house, NEMA 5-15 or 5-20 outlets work great. They are small, easy to plug and unplug, and carry enough juice to run pretty much every household device except a dryer.
They rated the Euro plug as the worst.
Every appliance is fused according to rating and type of use, an additional fuse in the socked is not going to improve this protection in any way.
The only ' use' the fused plug has is that it could theoretically prevent a fire caused by a partial short circuit in the power cord.
Theoretical because the mains socket is protected by a fuse or breaker anyway.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
My (Great depression era) house has lots of odd plugs. I've got the combo-duplex (double T 120 outlet), 4 different types of 240 outlets, including a nema 2-15 ungrounded, not counting the stove and dryer. I also have a "1-15" ungrounded 'strip plug' where they just ran two slots the right distance apart and you could plug anywhere along its 18" length in the bathroom, but it's not live. It is part of the mirror molding though so tough to remove. I've slowly been putting in grounded receptecles where I can, and using gfci gorunded where I can't (can add normal gorunds 'past' a gfci ground outlet if there is ground wiring from outlet to outlet, and still be 'to code', but I've not done that because it's either 3 wire all the way or 2 all the way). I've converted all the weird 240s (which were for window AC or heater units, house has central air now) to 120 since they had good wiring and were run using standard 2+1 12 gauge wire. All my new outlets are shuttered, it costs like 50 cents more per. There's also a 240V twist lock plug (not socket) run out under the deck.. I traced it back and it runs near the main breaker box, but is rolled up. I think someone intended to put a generator in at some point and never got around to finishing it up.
I'm kind of surprised the place is still standing... I really sort of thought it would have burned down from an electrical fire by now.
That's because not being able to run a microwave along with a stove without tripping a breaker usually means that you have working breakers, not just that your wiring is inconvenient.
AFAIK, in most cases the difference between ground and neutral is irrelevant. It's a nice security measure, but it hardly means that your building will catch fire just because it's missing.
http://dilbert.com/2010-12-13
In the early 1960s, I lived in a house which only had those old style 2-prong outlets. Ever since then, every house, apartment or business that I have lived or worked in has had the newer style 3-prong outlets with hot, neutral and ground.
In the last few years, I have read that all bathroom outlets in the U.S., are now required to be GFI outlets. Ground fault interrupter (GFI) outlets quickly switch off if a ground fault is detected. Those outlets usually have a reset button in the center.
For many years now the voltage in the U.S. has been 120 Volts AC, instead of the 110 Volts AC which the article mentions.
I'm British, and didn't think to be proud of ours plugs until that article came up...
As well as a fuse in the plugs, we also have GFCI breakers installed on all the circuits that feed plugs, they do work, my sister once touched the live prong trying to remove a plug with a broken cover (didn't switch it off at the socket beforehand either), it tripped, everything in the house turned off, but she was unharmed.
Also everyone is taught in year 9 (13-14) how to wire up a plug to ensure all the safety features work, and change the fuse.
Come as you are, do what you must, be who you will.
I knew someone that took her hair dryer to europe and used an adapter to plug in her hair dryer.
It was basically changed from a hair dryer into a hair melter. Fortunately she wasn't seriously burned. She related how the jet turbine sound should have warned her but it was already swinging up to her head at that point.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
The little switches just mean you don't see the sparks. They're still there when you flip the switch, at the switch contacts rather than between the plug and socket contacts. Unless those things are so overengineered they're actually a switch with a relay and zero-crossing detector.
Perhaps you should go read the article.
The British people didn't all get together down the pub and write it. It does not represent their views.
And it's slashdot, nobody actually reads the articles.
Having visited the US, and used both US and UK plugs, I say what you call overengineering, I call engineering. US plugs are a step above crimped wires.
And don't get me started on US vs. UK road signs. Ours are works of art in comparison...
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Your power strip for multiple plugs like that still needs to be ginormous.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
Ah yeah, looks like I got the timeframe wrong. This book (Google Books link) says grounded outlets for residential construction were added as a requirement to the National Electrical Code around 1960 (though presumably some states added the requirement earlier).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I live in the US, and I am shocked (pun intended) that stores still sell 2-prong extension cords. I understand that many devices still only use 2-prongs, but there's no disadvantage to the 3-prong cords. It is very annoying to spend 10 minutes spelunking under furniture to the outlet, only to be thwarted by a stone-age extension cord. Just stop making the darn things! It isn't worth saving the $2 to buy them!
Don't forget paper cuts! These are deadly!
http://dilbert.com/2010-12-13
That's why the British plugs have the fuse inside them - every device has its own fuse with an appropriate rating. Fuses go from 1A up to 13A depending on whether it's a lamp or a heater.
No sig today...
I like to think of the sparks as a safety feature. They let you know it's live ;).
Admittedly, I'm an American but I will back up my points.
220V is too much for everyday electronics. Why does your vacuum cleaner or table lamp need 220V? I do understand that the amperage is lower (half) for the same wattage. However, if there's a fault in an appliance, and the current carrying lead is exposed, you can touch the conductor without anything more than severe discomfort (wouldn't even call it pain - this has happened to me with a bad light socket). I doubt you could pull this off with 220V. Obviously completing a circuit on either is a bad thing (touching between current and ground...)
Second, ring circuits are for very specific things. I understand the UK uses a ring circuit for pretty much every floor. In the US, we use home runs for important things and limit ring circuits to, say, the 4-5 outlets around the perimeter of the room, generally one room, about a foot off the floor. Those usually run at about 15 amps - enough for a powerful vacuum cleaner, but generally not a microwave. Those run off a (dedicated) 20A circuit, same as a fridge. Other appliances, generally those with electric heating elements (such as a range, water heater, furnace, machines such as a tablesaw) run off dedicated 220V circuits.
The upshot of this is the US has many more circuit breakers, and a lot more granularity. A typical house has about 30-40 circuit breakers, maybe more. But a circuit breaker controls, say, half of a room - instead of the entire first floor. UK plugs are fused, so the appliances are about as safe, but that doesn't fix the problem of not wanting to disconnect a whole floor to work on the electrical system. And you start limiting the current from the distribution point - if you drive a nail through a wire, it will only be carrying 15, maybe 20A before the circuit breaker blows. That's opposed to the 220V at 40A...
Basically, in general there's a lot less current flowing through people's walls. The appliances that need more power get their own entire circuits. I can't help but feel that this is safer, and it allows us to reduce the complexity of our plugs.
I'd honestly like to hear why people disagree - as I'm sure they will.
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
Depends on the appliance, I suppose. If the device runs purely 220v, there is no need for a neutral - just the safety ground. In the US I've used NEMA 6-15 for 220v just fine, which allows me to carry more power over the same 2 carrier, 12 ga wire normally used for 110v.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
in the corner of my mouth. Trying to unplug a night light when I was 7 years old. Yes, I used my teeth and caught a blade on the corner of my mouth. I blacked out. It's a small scar. I've always said that that was my first taste of electricity.
They are quite dangerous for little kids. I like most of the European plugs, but it does add a lot to the size. Japanese plugs are the worst.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein
Its because Americans are reflexively proud of everything with a US flag stamped on it, yet at the same time are culturally unable to make a better, standardised design widespread.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
No, it isn't just new UK sockets. The cable falling out isn't a problem in Britain for any socket or any age. They are properly engineered. They aren't ticky-tack.
Unless you are overloading the circuit, that almost certainly has nothing to do with the appliance.
Mine does this. I have an older house where the original portion of the house was all wired (daisy-chain) on only two 20 amp circuits. If I plug in a 10 amp vacuum or an iron, the lights in the front half of the house dim. It's certainly not up to modern code; but, this is pretty typical of these pre-60's or pre-70's houses that have not been re-wired yet.
This belongs in Idle. Seriously. Not at all not-seriously.
Small devices can be powered and charged over USB, and indeed many now are. For example, the EU has mandated the inclusion of Micro USB charging for all new mobiles from 2010 onwards. With its introduction for such a ubiquitous device, the standard will probably see wider usage in a number of smaller devices.
May the Maths Be with you!
Perhaps you should read it. But get yourself a sense of humour first.
Why would that be, if we're comparing apples to apples (and not wiring for stoves)? As far as copper goes, 220 would presumably take 4 wires (hot, hot, neutral, ground) rather than the 3 for 110V, but for the same (wattage) capacity the wires would be thinner, probably using less copper, since the current would be half as great.
It's not the voltage making it more expensive, it is the Amperage. 220 in the US is mainly for large appliances with a large current draw that would not be efficient or safe at 110v. Check out those big 30 amp breakers in your fuse box. Most of your 110v breakers are half that size, so the wiring can be much smaller and cheaper. Now imagine how big and expensive the wires would be to carry the same power at 110v.....
So, 220v is really only more expensive because of the application to high amp situations. (and perhaps a little bit due to the added insulation required for the doubling of the voltage) A 6 amp 220v circuit for household use would probably be identical cost or cheaper than 15 amp 110v. It's just that nobody uses that.
US plugs are safer because they only carry 110v. That, in and of itself, makes US wiring safer. 220v is much more deadly than 110v. Since all of my appliances work just fine on 110v, in what way is 220v better?
From the stats I can find, UK deaths by electrical outlets are .486 per 100,000 and US rates are .015 per 100,000, more than an order of magnitude safer, even without massive numbers of safety features. I have grabbed live wires at a plug a few times in my life, and it just jolts your arm a little bit. I suppose it's possible to die that way, but I don't know anyone who has personally. I've never even heard of it in the US but I guess it does happen (faulty wiring in the home or workplace was included in the stats above). Bottom line, I am seriously not worried one bit about grabbing live outlet lines. It hurts a little, so I don't do it for fun, but I'm really not worried about dying or anything.
I like having very small (polarized) plugs for small appliances. Who wants to carry around a ginormous brick in your bag just to plug something in? For serious appliances like microwaves, there are serious 3-pronged grounded plugs. This gives options based on the appliance rather than a one-size-fits all system of massive plugs.
If my pins get bent, I just bend them back. This happens so infrequently, it's amazing that someone even mentioned it. Also, I have NEVER had a plug "fall out". Seriously? Fall out? If someone kicks it, I would RATHER it come out of the wall so they don't go flying head over heels and really injure themselves. I have lived in the US for almost 40 years now, and I can count on one hand the times a plug was kicked out or bent.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
Most US plus for some reason think it is a great idea to stick far further out from the wall than even the huge British plug due to plugging in perpendicular.
Since most (all?) Canadian/US plugs lack any kind of cable grip to relieve stress on the pin contacts, unlike a UK plug, this is probably a safety feature since the perpendicular approach will mean that the plug can be yanked form the wall more easily if someone trips over it or pulls on it. It is safer to pull the plug from the wall than to damage the cable.
Move out of the apartment/house/building that was built 30 years ago and you'll notice a major change. All of these issues are attributed to older homes, most cities have had wiring codes that require GFI anywhere near water for a long time, even though its silly for a number of reasons. If they are going to be installed you should do it everywhere, not just near water.
If you have appliances without common grounds, then you have appliances that are old. You won't find anything sold new that doesn't require a common ground anywhere in the US, and haven't been able to for 10 to 20 years.
Not really. An issue occurs if there is a wiring problem in the appliance, in which case the Earth ground runs the risk starting a fire. A wiring fault is dangerous, regardless of backup protections in place, theres only so much you can do. GFI helps and is the best solutions, but it can fail in dangerous ways as well.
Also, before adapters were sold, the solution was to simply cut off the third prong.
Uhm, don't touch the metal on the plug and it won't matter. I'm tired of this bullshit of doing all sorts of stuff to protect stupid people.
They may use GFI breakers, so the whole circuit is protected rather than just the outlet, of course its probably back to the original problem of you being in a building thats not using current standards.
All wires get warmer as more current flows through them due to the resistance in them, just like the processor in your PC. Theres nothing wrong with it from a safety perspective as long as the cord is kept in good condition. There are plenty of reasons why its inefficient and they shouldn't cheap out on the wire, but thats another story.
The dimming you see is because the building you are in was probably wired with 14 gauge wire rather than 12 or 10. It was done when codes were didn't require heavier wire because you didn't draw as much current from the outlet with the things you plugged into them. I bought a house built in 1977, with 14 gauge wire (10 amp). Spent my first summer rewiring the house to use 10 gauge(20 amp), although code requires 12 (15 amp) because I'm aware that I draw more power than typical. You are in effect trying to run Win7 on your Pentium 66mhz machine. Or to use a car analogy, trying to pull a semi trailer full of goods with a Ford Focus.
If you look at the gauges and amperage I used above, you'll see that our codes are actually well within safe ranges. 12 gauge wire can safely care 20 amps without an issue. 10 gauge can carry 30 with no problems. Our codes however, throw in an extra layer to deal with the unexpected, but not everything was built to the current code.
All new homes will have at least 12 or they won't pass inspection in any city I'm aware of.
If you are plugging a vacuum cleaner into a socket that only has 2 flat pins and draws more than 10 amps, then your vacuum cleaner is using the wrong plug and you are putting it in the wrong outlet. If it doesn't require more than 10 amps then the wiring is sufficient, as long as the breaker or more likely in your case, fuse, is only a 10 amp breaker. Code requires one of th
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
UK website rates UK mains plug the best in the world (I am shocked, shocked ...)
IIRC in the UK any device that has a conductive case parts requires a dedicated ground pin wiring to prevent shock in the event of internal mis wiring or internal wiring breaks/shorts to case.
You don't RC.
In very basic terms, every device requires at least two layers of safety. These layers can either be two layers of insulation ("double insulated") or one of insulation and one earth.
This applies right from the plug - so all appliance cables have two layers of insulation. Contrast this with the US where 110v cables frequently have only a single layer of insulation.
You forgot the part " if chuck norris was a plug".
But i am confused because Chuck norris is a British as the pope is.
They may be larger but they are far, far safer. As most things it is a trade off. The question you need to ask is exactly how many people's lives is the convenience of a smaller plug worth?
The intention is that you *always* use the switch before unplugging anything. I've seen plenty of sockets where the wall around it has deteriorated to the point where the socket assembly isn't secure, but the switch and socket still function perfectly.
Oh, and they're top grounded rather than bottom grounded too. (Think: objects falling over prongs on partially sticking out plug.)
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
The first centimetre of the base of the connector of non-grounded plugs is covered with plastic. If you pull the plug enough to expose the conductor, it's not touching the connector inside the female plug.
Grounded plugs are fully exposed; but wall plugs accepting them are recessed at least 1cm, to the same effect.
Actually, there was kind of a national vote on plugs; a democratically elected government decided that this would be the standard plug design. And frankly, it is something to be proud of; an engineering problem was solved nationwide and that solution has lasted us decades without any real hiccups.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
This is patently untrue.
Electric clothes dryers sold in the US routinely come without a power cord. Usually the receptacle is a NEMA 14-30R or a 10-30R for either 3 or 4 wires.
Typically you have to buy the cord separately and attach it to the rear of the dryer during installation.
Get off my lawn.
I prefer the female wetware socket... it fits well and it is an international standard. Although at times care and cleaning may be required when it's reverse gets used. Also note that the third socket contains dangers such as exposed bones yet does offer effective release of energy transfer and is highly rated. Overall three potent sockets in one package. Of course if you're bent the other way you only get two sockets to work with and reportedly they are just as highly rated. Enjoy your sockets and prongs responsibly and remember to always protect your prong and sockets using the appropriate wrapper.
My favorite line was this
And that has left the US with a plug and socket system that makes Chuck Norris weep. Plugs that hang out of the wall. Pins that are so easily bent you could write off a cable just by looking at it in the wrong way. How anyone ever gets their Apple laptop to fully charge without the adaptor falling out of the wall is beyond us. We're not sure why the company bothered inventing Magsafe -- surely if anyone in the US trips over a power cable, it flies out of the wall so fast no laptop could ever be pulled to the ground.
Plugs that hang out of the wall? Unless you are living in an ancient building that has decaying sockets I don't see how that happens. None of my cords "hang out of the wall" nor have they. Pins that are so easily bent? Unless you are talking about the pins on Christmas tree lights (which manage to always have -something- wrong with them) I have never had a bent pin in my life from American plugs. And as for tripping, how fast were they running when they managed to trip something out of the wall? Its not that easy.
But in the end I think it is just the "My country is better than your country" crap that seems to be spewed a lot.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
The CPSC has little to do with whether you use GFCI breakers or not. The IEEE develops standards published in the NEC, which is adopted by any city or state government that controls building standards.
The bedroom breakers are more expensive because they're AFCI. They trip not only when there is a ground fault but when there is an arc fault as well, since the vast majority of residential electrical fires start from an arc.
In most of North America there are two hot lines, one neutral and one ground. Relative to ground, the neutral is at 0 volts. Hot 1 is at +110, and hot 2 is at -110 volts (hot1 and hot2 are opposite phases). Thus there is 220 volts from hot1 to hot2.
Neutral is not used in a 220 volt circuit. Stoves do use the neutral, because they run 110v for the oven light, the rotissery spit motor, etc.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Rubbish, I've been shocked numerous times by 240v, and while it's unpleasant it's not as big a deal as you make it out to be.
If you're lucky, it stings and your arm gets thrown back. If you're unlucky, you are dead.
But saying that a 1.5V AA battery would kill you if it was wired directly into your heart.
I totally agree and would add to it the fact that US sockets seem to get so loose over time that plugs will simply fall out and have to be balanced in the socket. Very common problem in hotels and apartment buildings. Also, I am used to seeing sparks flash and arc when inserting & removing things from the wall. Not at all comforting when the device at the other end is a laptop.
IMHO the only thing the US system has got is the nice small size of the plug itself.
yeah, except they get pulled out when you need to plug something in, and left (or dropped) on the floor. then the kid chokes on them. I ended up using these:
http://www.safety1st.com/usa/eng/Products/Home-Safety/Electrical/Details/467-10406-Swivel-Outlet-Cover
but they're about $5 each, not 50c each each like the little plastic doohickeys.
you can also get the sockets with built-in guards, but then you have to put up with the sighing and tsk-tsking of everyone who visits because they can't see the protection. seems better to me to just have it in every socket, for a few extra pence (or cents) at build time. especially when you eg visit grandparents and have to run round with a handful of plastic widgets to safe someone else's house.
don't forget that 240V is far more dangerous than 110V (especially with UK ring mains - you're exposed to 30+ amps too, instead of the 15-20A in the US). having been shocked with both at various times, 110V is painful but bearable.. 240V makes you feel like your heart's stopped!
as far as the switches, yes, they're built to be used repeatedly (eg: lamps). I haven't been able to find a socket here in the US with built in switches - it would have to be some sort of combined receptacle and faceplate..
Americans make the best butt plug!
The best system in the world, for real, is a combination of the Europlug and the Schuko plug. Proper Europlugs and Schuko plugs have bodies which fit partly into the wall so the load is not taken by the pins. The Europlug pins are partly insulated so if you can see metal, it's safe. You can fit lots of them onto a power strip, so a strip for electronics can have many connectors in a small space while a power extender can give you 16A in a small footprint.
The reason the UK still has the BS1363 plug is because it has square pins, and the manufacturers thought the Chinese would not want to invest in special tooling to make them when they had the world of round pins or cheap strip pins (as in US) to go after. Then Mrs. Thatcher came along and they decided to let the Chinese make them anyway.
Every time you buy a computer in the UK you get a BS 1363 to IEC lead and a Schuko to IEC lead. That's how cheap they are: manufacturers throw them away rather than be bothered to have two different SKUs.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Many Japanese plugs have the same British style "shielding" on the prongs due to the stricter standards imposed by PSE, MITI and JIS in Japan. The "shielding" is a dielectric covering about 2mm end of the blade closest to the plastic part you grab on. This, like the BS1363 plug, is safer in case the plug decides to partially fall off the wall outlet and reduces electrocution/shorting hazards. My Japanese Playstation2 came with this style of plug but is unpolarized unlike the US version which has a polarized plug without the "shielding". Same thing goes for the Nikon camera battery charger that I got (also Japan market).
It's laughable that many DC driven appliances uses the annoying polarized plug when it is completely unnecessary in the safety perspective. It makes it difficult to use items you bring with you from the US to an overseas hotel because their special outlets have unpolarized plugs (and practially all outlets in Japan for that matter). Even some of the socket adapters are that way too, which forces me to grind off the "fatter" polarized blade before I get on the plane!
On another note, I'd like to correct that mains voltage in North America is now 120V... it used to be 110 a long long time ago, but it is now 120 to better account for transmission losses. Japan's voltage is also 100V (not 110 as the article stated), the lowest in the world. The article also fails to mention that there are still some BS546 plugs in existence in the UK due to older installation or preferred use in some industries (apparently) such as theaters, due to the lack of internal fuse and non-requirement for a earthing pin to be pushed first to allow plug insertion The BS546 plugs look like the current "euro" plug, but with different spacing and size. These plugs were also well used into the mid-80s in some British colonies.
As for those who bitch about their plugs falling off their American style outlets due to frequent use, get rid of the 50 cent standard issue POS that is allowed in residential installations with industrial or hospital grade ones. FWIW, many home theater enthusiasts prefer to use hospital grade plugs and outlets due to the high insertion and retaining force, heavy duty wear rate, and the fact that some outlets have a built in TVSS and minimal noise filtering. Hospital grade plugs/outlets practically have the same level of force as the BS1363 plugs in practice but they are very hard to find. Industrial grade plugs are the next best thing and aren't that bad despite the lower grade. However, if you're just a cheap bastard, any commercial grade outlet is better than the el cheapo 50 cent residential one!
It has actually been 240 volts and 120 volts in most parts of the U.S. for the last several decades now. At least that has been true here in Arizona for many years. People frequently say 110 Volts out of habit, because that what they remember it being roughly 40 or 50 years ago. They article claimed that the U.S. only uses 110 volts. Besides that minor error, nearly every home or business built within the last 40 years, has had the newer style 3-prong outlets with hot neutral and ground.
The higher the voltage, the smaller the wires can be, for the same amount of loss or a certain distance. However, our "wimpy" lower outlets are somewhat safer, from an electrical shock standpoint. With 120 volts or less, I have heard of electricians occasionally working on a circuit without shutting the power down first. I know of two instances where electricians stood on a very dry piece of wood, for insulation while working on the hot wires with their bare hands. In one case the electrician got a very slight electrical shock, that he described as being about like licking a small 9-volt smoke detector battery, to see if is still good. I doubt that they would try that with 220 volts or 240 volts. Electricians usually also have special soles in their shoes.
By the way, I am not an electrician or an expert on any of that.
Oh, and there are plenty of UK homes with 2-prong outlets also..
Really? I'd love to know where, because I've never in my life seen a 2-pin outlet in a UK home. Electrical standards have mandated 3 rectangular-pinned earthed outlets for about 50 years. Prior to that they were fairly similar but had round pins.
This twit is annoying and incorrect! I have a 6.3L V8 in my daily driver. My wife has a 7.3L Turbo Diesel in her Excursion.
Damn Brits! Get it right and drive on the Right as well!!
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
A 15A device only draws 15A current, even in a 30A socket. A 30A socket just has thicker wires and a bigger fuse than a 15A socket, so there isn't a problem.
These things blow along the line. Fuses will blow faster than breakers; fuses can blow due to the current spike caused by turning a device on, which is harmless.
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or! or what? What else could possibly get you wet in bed!? Slashdot has got to know!
Yes here in UK have a ground wire, a fuse in the plug and also a fusebox at the mains. Historically the "fusebox" has been fuse wire but they've been replaced with GFI circuit breakers (though we call them RCD) - a fuse box in the mains is rare now. In blocks of flats/apartments there is a further set of shared controls but I'm not sure what's there.
Additionally many products are double-insulated though AFAIK this is more a result of products generally being designed for the global market. I gather this is the reason for the earth pin generally being made of plastic on foreign-made electricals.
For what it's worth people's houses are still being burned to the ground because they left their mobile phone charging.
In the U.S. about seven children per day are treated in emergency rooms for injuries caused by contact with an electrical socket.
More information here.
Perhaps those children just aren't "average" enough?
"Euro Arrogance"? Thats a chuckle.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
The combination of proper double insulation and GFS are regarding electrocution the best electrical safety one can get, it's near-intrinsic.
Here in The netherlands there have been no fatalities since over thirty years ago 30mA. GFS were made mandatory.
For fire safety we still need fuses and/or fused breakers.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
That wouldn't tell you anything re: the 2-prong vs. 3-prong debate unless the data is broken out by how the electrical shock occurred.
The purpose of the third ground prong is to provide a path to ground for the appliance's casing. Interestingly enough, most appliances are built reasonably carefully so that their case won't become electrified. Crispy chunks of long pig do not buy new blenders, so they've got an incentive to do so. I imagine most deaths due to electric shock occur when the homeowner is dicking around with the wiring in the wall or ceiling while adding a ceiling fan or a hot tub, not from getting a fatal jolt of juice from the Cuisinart.
It's not that serious of a safety issue. It will sort itself out in time, without Chicken Littling everybody to death.
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
I don't know if there are regulations on that kind of thing in Ireland (or here in the UK for that matter) but it seems just plain neglegent to put a socket above a sink, especially at 240V. You might want to find out who the electrician was that did that.
I have seen quite a few newer homes where a GFI was installed in the bedroom. This was not just in homes build near the water either. I am not sure why this is the case. My sister's house the whole house is on GFIs. It was a pre-fab. Maybe that is code for that type of home?
As a British person living in the USA I notice that the majority of my sockets outside kitchen and bathroom are not GFI protected (either at the socket or the fuse panel) and that most appliances do not use an Earth Pin.
Because a GFI will cause the entire rest of the circuit to fail, so they're only needed in a few locations. Not sure how grounding a toaster helps, but maybe there's a reason to..
I also am in awe that socket adapters are legally sold that convert non earthed sockets into earthed sockets and light bulb sockets into earthed sockets, the safety implications are huge. I think it is a fair assessment to use 110V non earth sockets as many home have them.
Well, our cities don't seem to be burning constantly due to electrical fires, so perhaps your fears are overblown.
I also notice that no appliance I own in the USA uses insulation on the live pins of the plug to prevent accidental shocks when the plug is slightly out of the socket
You should be sure the plug is fully inserted, and the plug should provide a "grip" that keeps it in place. If the plug falls out of the socket, its time to replace the socket. Oh, and don't stick your fingers into a live socket.
none of the sockets contain safety shutters
You can buy plastic plugs for that, if its a concern. But as a rule, we teach people not to stick things into them. Call it "common sense," if you will.
110V cords to high wattage appliances such as vacuum cleaners get warm
So? Your laptop gets warm using it too..
the lights change brightness when I switch such appliances on and off
Bad wiring plan. Applicances that can do that should be on their very own circuit, not part of other circuits.
IMO the British home electrical system is much better than the USA system and I have tried to view it impartially over the years.
Good effort, maybe some of the points I raise will give you a clearer picture of the other side.
After all it' s not unheard of that someone gets a shock fiddling with the wireing or a ceiling lamp...
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Hrm... well, if you're talking about 40 sockets, and GFIs are 9.99 or standard ones are $0.49.. well I'll use GFI where appropriate, but nowhere else.
Nor do they need to be as there are fuses or fused breakers at the switch board.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
In dunno about that. In every house/apartment I've ever lived in the upside-down plugs were connected to a wall switch. I was told by an inspector/electrician that it's done that way so it's easy to locate which outlet is controlled by the wall switch.
If I recall correctly, the power companies provide between 110-120V, usually ending up around 115V in most areas. So it's really interchangeable.
http://www.theiet.org/publishing/books/wir-reg/17th-edition.cfm
Basically ALL electrical wiring, home or hotel or workplace, has to meet the standard.
Yes, UK plugs have fuses, sockets have switches, L/N are shielded, the plug has a cable anchor, and if you REALLY pull the wires out of the plug it is designed so the live, being shortest, comes out first.
But before the power gets to the socket it has to go through the "consumer unit" which carries RCD AND (over current) Breakers for each wiring loop.
People dying of electrocution in the UK is so rare I can't remember the last incident.
http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
NEC and CSA specifies 14 gauge wiring for 15 amp installations and 12 gauge wiring for 20 amp installations IIRC. This is apparent if you visit a Home Depot and look at the boxes of romex wiring ;)
Then the electrician fucked up. He is supposed to know that breaker should not allow higher currents than the line and outlet can handle.
The electrician has no control on how many devices you hook up to the circuit. A circuit probably has 5 - 12 outlets/lights on it. The circuit breaker is protecting the entire circuit against current exceeding the safe range for the wiring. Per-plug fuses allow the manufacturer to place a lower limit per appliance - no reason why a TV would need more than a 5A fuse, whereas a kettle or microwave is probably pushing 10A+. Also, a light appliance (say a radio) probably has wiring that only copes with Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
This looks brilliant, but I am curious if the plug can handle much current, given the tiny rotating sleeve type connections. Also, how durable are those connections?
If you want to see it right side up, go to China ;)
Other than that, identical.
Not true. The UK ones don't smile.
You can get sturdier and/or fused plugs of the US variety, too. They just cost more.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Don't forget - US plugs also have a smile or shocked face, reminding you not to touch them!
They don't save lives. Sockets in other countries don't kill anyone, and therefore there are noone to save.
[citation needed]
Yeah, that's what I figured. However, I have seen a convention (not a requirement at all) that many house electricians use where they put the ground pin on the bottom (like a face) for most receptacles, except those which are switched by a wall switch. This makes it easy to figure out which receptacle in a bedroom is switched by the 2nd wall switch, so you know which one to plug the lamp into. Also, it's always the top of the two receptacles that is switched; the bottom is always on.
In 10th grade electronics, I was poking fun at a flyback transformer, and it poked back. Hard. Nothing can say "leave me alone" like electronics.
Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
Those adapters are designed so that the ground pin screws into hole in the middle of the outlet, which is connected to the metal shell of the outlet, which is grounded.
People don't, but they are designed to be used this way. Not properly grounding the adapter is, as you said, a safety hazard and I'm sure it violates quite a few electrical codes.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
The UK plug is that way up by default - with the earth pin on top. The earth pin is also longer than the live and neutral pins so it is the first pin to make electrical contact in the socket and the last to break it.
The earth pin also opens the shutters on the socket that allow the live and neutral pins to connect.
So different countries have different plugs. They also have different voltages. Don't you think its a good idea to prevent appliances designed for 110VAC to be plugged into 220-249V outlets?
hi,
the device has already shorted out. a short circuit has nearly zero resistance, and thus nearly infinite current will flow. nearly infinity (ok well probably more like 100 Amps) is much larger than 15 or 30 so a short circuit will trip the circuit breaker no matter what it is rated for.
However, many older houses don't have 3-prong outlets and the system has no earth ground connection, so there's not much you can do.
The problem with older homes is not that the outlets are only 3-prong, it's that the wiring in the walls has no ground. Some two-prong outlets are installed in metal boxes that are grounded. If that is the case you can safely use a 3-prong adapter connected to the screw in the faceplate. On those it is possible to upgrade the outlet without rewiring the house.
And FWIW, when you do have a properly wired 3-prong outlet, you just have parallel grounds going back to the circuit panel. The white and bare copper ground are connected to the same bus.
Another bit of useless trivia; it has become standard practice to install the 3-prong outlet 'upside down' so that the ground prong is on the top. Since the ground prong is slightly longer on cords it aids in safely plugging in a device.
Another day, another update to a Google android app.
Someone modded me troll. Troll doesn't mean 'has a differing opinion' you know. Unless you are a libertarian of course :)
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
There are audiophiles who run the case of their amps "hot", because they are retarded. Outside of that, people do deeply stupid things to avoid ground loop noise problems. Instead, avoid ground loops (if you have two pieces of audio equipment that both use 3-prong sockets and will be connected in any way, and you plug them into different outlets, you create a large and efficient antenna that can receive all sorts of noise, so plug em into the same outlet if there is a problem). For pro audio setups get a pro electrician, or go out in a blaze of glory, either way will entertain.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
The circuit breakers in my house are 30 amps, they protect against current overload in the wiring in my house. The fuses in my plugs are between 3 and 13 amps (as appropriate to the particular appliance) they protect against circuit overload in the appliance and associated wiring. This is not redundancy it is 2 different fuses/breakers that serve totally different purposes.
I have never, ever, ever had a shutter jam on a plug socket I have used, and I have used more than my fair share.
Your "lights dimming" thing is also total rubbish - the lighting circuit is completely different to the mains circuit in UK houses, and is managed by a separate breaker, so the current draw on one (or a light bulb blowing on the other) won't affect the other circuit in the slightest.
When a light bulb pops in the UK, you'll likely trip out the RCD for that circuit (so all your upstairs lights go out) but your sockets are not affected. Similarly, if you plug in an appliance with an earth fault either its fuse will burn out in the plug (if you have the right fuse) or you'll trip the mains breaker, but your lights stay on.
The new US outlets with the mandatory earth pin are much better - but as many people here have said, can you be *really* sure that they are actually wired properly? One of the benefits of the UK system, as mature as it is, is that you know an installed socket is earthed, and whatever you plug into it, the plug will never fall out.
The non-grounded plugs are for doubly insulated devices, and only require neutral and live connections. These special plugs are moulded onto cords either directly attached to the appliance it was designed for, or terminate in a "figure 8" connector to connect up to a device with the appropriate power input. You cannot buy them without a flex to connect up to a cord with an earth wire - all replacement fitted plugs are the full earthed type, even if you don't wire the earth since the flex you have is lacking one (but you'd never use this on a non-double insulated device).
This is a fairly simple EE design problem, to understand the issues you need just to understand four issues (a) center tapped 230V 3 phase, (b) Current density, (c) ground make first, (d) over-current prevention or fusing.
... No Fuse, is good
The UK plug is the most idiotic, since it makes room for a local fuse, in the plug, and assume that 13A is a nominative current drain; this is idiotic since the need to make room for a consumer changeable fuse, 13A slow-blow, makes the plug HUGE. It also assumes that the consumer will down-rate the plug fuse to obtain fusing descrimination (never happens, and if it does it is invalidated by the first idiot to change fuse, (no 3A use 13A). Thus both plugs and receptacles are too big.
[Beware] in the Arab World eg Saudi uk shape is used to indicate 130V 1/2 phase, half unknown !!! US 230 is 230V bi-phase, phase unknown !
EU Round and Swiss, round triangular, allow far closer packing, and are much more sensible with lights, TV, radio, computer
US 115/230 are also small, no fuse but 115 has no ground and 230 you dont know the polarity or phase without test gear.
Three old EE comments, transistors protect fuses, not the other way round,
Murphy is alive and well, UK fuses are are almost uniformly WRONGLY installed/replaced. The UK design is klunky and based in invalid prejudiced against round pin, which has been a solved problem for 50 years. With UK you do know polarity, but that is very easily tested with a multi-meter. The Swiss, but not the EU plug, which is reversible, enforce neutral continuity.
Everything >10A should be hard-wired or special, its too risky to allow reverse L/N incase N (only) gets fused
Local fusing never works for the normal average joe
Modern over-current, current balance, distribution is better, safer and allows the use of unfused plugs, with L/N balance and overcurrent detection do soft shutdown or force fuse blow at the discretion of the designer.
Doh!
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No way. Unless you're talking about Henry VIII's plugs - before we had 13A 3-pin square, the UK used 5A 3-pin round, so in an ancient house with asbestos wiring you'll see sockets with three round pins
I have been traveling in Europe and especially in Italy and I can tell you the plugs are not really like that:
- what they call the "Euro Plug" is not a standard for real equipment. You'll never find for example a desktop computer with that plug. You can find mobile phone chargers and small equipment. There is no wall socket for this plug (except maybe still in Italy), as it fits the "real" Euro socket and the Swiss and some more.
- the real Euro plug is like the French, Czech or Italian for example (like this one: http://www.more-shop.co.uk/images/EUpccable.png). Of course some Countries in Europe do not comply (Switzerland for example: http://www.travelplugs.co.uk/products/uk/sw/sw1_200x150.jpg)
- the Italian plug they mention is not in use anymore and is being replaced by the above European plug. So Italy has 2 types of sockets (used to have 3).
- they forgot to mention that "hybrid" wall sockets exist in Europe. For instance you can accomodate both a Swiss plug and a (real) Euro plug, or in Italy, all the 3 types of plugs onto the same socket (it has both a ground pin and hole).
Article is mostly chauvinistic crap. I've been living in Europe, working there, in strict contact with electricians in several Countries. It is a mess and the standards change in space and time, you cannot just google "Euro plug" and pretend you know.
It's because actual Americans realize that this is only a problem with two-prong plugs in worn-out receptacles. If you don't replace worn out wiring and receptacles, you deserve what you get.
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But really, what the hell for? My Delta (hybrid) tablesaw does just for normal use on 110v*, as does my vacuum cleaner. I mean, like any red-blooded American, I'd love for my electrical penis to be bigger - but rationally I cannot come up with any other reason.
*My experience is that people having problems with their saws are usually using a misaligned cheap ass saw with a dull piece-of-shit blade. If they had 220V available, they'd still have the same problem.
You see this as some great attack on your national pride and just have to take revenge?
So pointing out bad journalism has something to do with national pride? No wonder Brits live in a nanny state. Probably too scared to question what they are told.
Sockets don't kill people, electricity does!
For larger voltages and amperages than 120v, 15 amp, a GFI breaker is used.
Live to be Moderated
> I actually doubt most British circuits are GFI protected
They all are. All houses have a central ground-fault trip system.
> one of the legs IS earthed
It's the other one that gets you.
> If they get misused and a fire starts, it's the owner's fault.
You could say the same about guns.
>Both are available, just not mandated. If you don't have kids, why do you need the safety shutters?
That's not very imaginative. Come on - you have no kids now, but are there scenarios between now and 2200AD where kids might be at risk - not to mention careless adults?
> Ohm's law, I think. Warm? BFD - so does British wiring, just not as much.
Heating in UK power cords is imperceptible. You just never notice it. Perhaps below perception level. In North America I was appalled to find vacuum and iron leads getting warm, and plugs getting hot.
>" and the lights change brightness when I switch such appliances on and off."
> That's the house wiring, not the system wiring.
It is the system design. At 110/120V you have double the current compared to 240V, and so double the voltage loss in wiring due to resistance (and 4x the heating due to Ohm's law as you say, since heating is prop. to I*I/R). So fluctuations are much more noticeable in 110V systems.
>The British took the Nanny state route. I'm not shedding any tears.
Not really, just good/better engineering standards (for once).
North American wiring standards talk about avoiding sharp bends in wires to reduce fire hazards. Probably due to high currents required of 110V systems.
I'd love to know the real reason, if there is one, but I've always assumed that the US went for 110V because:
1. Choice of voltage affects copper losses, combated by having more copper to carry current, so in a country with ample copper resources, why not have lower voltage and more copper?
2. Most US homes have timber construction more at risk from electrical shorting. So why not use a lower voltage to lower shorting risks? Whereas most UK homes are brick construction (used to be anyway) and a little more tolerant in this respect.
TFA is completely jingoistic, sure. It's great to read if you're a Brit but the style would get up your nose if you were from just about anywhere else, but there is some truth that the UK system is better engineered - not just for safety, but for other reasons. Perhaps it is over-engineered. UK plugs really are huge, after all. UK police are generally good too. Hmm... I'm having trouble thinking of things after that. Oh yes - pay-as-you-go minutes that don't expire - that's good.
So to say that the UK version is better because it has a fuse shows me a lack of understanding of practicality or safety.
I had a nice long response to this but a f$%^&ing network error ate it so here's the cliffnotes version:
My outlet and circuit breakers are rated at 20A. Most of my devices will fry above 1-5A (think wall warts and stuff). The fuse will fail gracefully while the breaker happily supplies current up to 20A.
Since I've had in-device fuses save my ass more than once without tripping a breaker, I'd say there is more to fuses than you say. The breaker doesn't know what's plugged into it.
-b
No offense, but I've stopped responding to AC's.
I'm not dead! I'm not! I'm getting better!
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Noting some guy further up. Higher voltage means less current running through the wires. This means there is less of a fire risk.
There are such things ar high impedance faults. Think of a motor, intsead of a fault happening at the terminals of the motor, it happened half why through the winding. That means half the resistance, and twice the current, but nowhere near a true short circuit.
Or to plug a 3-prong cord into a 2-prong outlet..
I believe most of those adapters have a metal contact that will touch the screw in the middle of the outlet, which is grounded,
UK outlets also usually have some kind of safety flap thing, that prevents you from sticking a fork in the outlet. Again, I'm sure this extra bit of plastic costs a bit more... But I think I'd be willing to pay for that added safety.
You can get those in the US too.
I love it when someone used a logical fallacy to arrive at a provable incorrect conclusion~
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Yeah agreed. Good thing Apple doesn't show the size of the plug in their Air adverts. Fucking plug has about twice the internal volume of the laptop. You can't fit that monster in any laptop bag without defacing something valuable.
I wouldn't mind having the monster socket for monster permanent appliances (stove, water heater, escalator, arc welder) but for anything you want to transport it's nice if the weight of the socket is a negligible fraction. Look at USB wall chargers. They are larger than most any chargeable device!
Smaller plugs please! Especially for modern day portable low-power devices.
In the UK I think we call GFCI RCDs (Residual Current Devices). All new electrical installations, alterations and additions designed after 1st July 2008 for domestic houses have had to comply with the new BS 7671: 2008 requirements, and mean that RCDs now need to be provided to nearly all circuits within dwellings - at least, all those for use by 'ordinary persons'.
Basically any major electrical work done for about the last year and forwards means you need a new main consumer unit fitted to your house (the point where the single cable comes into your house and then splits off through the fuse box to the different circuits). The consumer unit has to have RCDs / GFCIs covering everything. Even the circuit that is dedicated to my little tiny front door electric bell needs one, as well as the lighting circuits and the mains power plug socket circuits.
They are better than US plugs and can take two types of plugs. The US type plug and the round pins used in European and Asian countries.
I think having a plug system that is compatible with foreign plugs is a better system than the UK system which needs adapter plugs.
Also the US plug in the article is based on the plug system they had before the three prong grounded plug system. For washers and dryers we have the 220 volt plugs. We use 110 Volts because it saves energy for small appliances and use the 220 Volt plugs for the heavy duty stuff like washers and drivers and industrial machinery.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
It's worse than that. I hate to spoil the ending for you but he comes to the conclusion that the British outlet is the greatest with a 10 out of 10 score. Why? Safety features. Features like shuttering and built in fuses. Both of which are optional on American outlets as well -- I'm sure -- as they are on outlets around the world. Maybe they're standard in the UK but they're optional in the US. I'd rather have the option than even more regulation.
Why?
I mean, I can see arguments for preferring a central fusebox or breaker panel, but I am completely flummoxed about why someone would prefer to have the option to go without shuttering. I mean, what advantage do you get other than the warm, fuzzy feeling of "You're not the boss of me!"
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Sounds like the progressives' platform for universal health care, the stimulus package... heck, everything! Just raise the taxes a little more!
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
The discussion seems to assume that each country/region has a SINGLE plug standard for households, with the only mixed-use being countries that have adopted the SINGLE plug standard from two different regions. (Not talking industrial use here, only household use.)
This is certainly not true in the US, where there is the standard 110v household plug (3-prong and upward-compatible 2-prong variations), and then the 220v heavier-duty plug which is used for things like washing machines. We're not talking heavier-duty industrial twist-lock kinds of plugs, but rather two plugs for two kinds of uses within a household. Obviously, only a select few plugs in a US house will be 220v, but then again only one or two items in a house might require 220v.
Perhaps Britain only has one kind of plug (220v) for all uses in the house? Which, as others have remarked, is rather overkill for laptops, lights, and most anything that you could actually pick up and carry yourself.
The metal the screw threads into is typically linked to the neutral side of the wall-socket, as well as the gang-box it's installed in.
Gone!
I've never had a plug fall out, even with the weight of "wall warts" or even the 3 way blocks with wall warts attached.
One downside is that if you trip over a cable - although the plug is designed for the wire to pull out of the plug safely - this doesn't happen as the plug and socket are so robust. Instead you send some device flying off a countertop or something.
Also sometimes if you have something plugged in for some time, it can actually be quite hard to unplug.
Nevertheless, I'd choose this over flakey falling-out plugs anyday.
-- *~()____) This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds...
Again, Slashdot nonsense,
...
I have been working on >= 130v for more than 80% of my lifetime, hints:
1. it isnt always voltage, 45V at INF amps, or eg a car battery can be VERY dangerous
2. <30V AC/DC pussy
3. You will feel 130VAC but it dosnt hurt and wont kill healthy people
4. 250V hurts DC>AC and is borderline dangerous, but I still get shocks at 65
5. 440VAC is potenially lethal, be very careful
6. 11,000 V+ I hope your affairs are in order, RIP, Insulated tools, gloves, rubber mat, one hand behind your back
Less pride, more "appreciation of good design and engineering".
On the other hand, I really hate our standard light fittings (bayonet). Edison screws are much nicer.
I've never used a vacuum cleaner that sounded anything like a hot chord.
I HAVE flown with a few UK plugs and adapters as a matter of fact. Considering every piece of gear has a relatively bulky switching power supply, it's really not the most annoying thing you have to carry, particularly since all the UK plugs are right-angle and though they take up wall space they don't generally have a thick wall profile, which ain't generally so of US union plugs.
OTOH, the integrated fuse in every UK plug is just about the height of obnoxiousness.
When reading the article I think the most striking one was Denmark's, mainly because it forms an almost perfect smiley face, a bit like the more "shocked" expression the US jack. Of course the problem with making a power jack looking "friendly" is that it might attract little children's fingers.
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
My late/mid 19th century house (depends on which part you're in) still has a lot of tube and post wiring, and there are no grounded outlets anywhere in the house. The only legal retrofit is to replace every two-prong outlet with a GFCI with the ground not attached, and that's what I've done. I'd love to pull new wiring all through the house, but we need a new roof first. And it's remarkable how well everything holds together. Our fuse boxes (there are three of them cascading down the wall from the 1920's one to the 1950's one) are mounted on the exterior of the house, out under the eaves of the back porch.
The water and electric service in this house are all retrofitted from earlier times. The electric pump and tank for the water source are down in the cellar.
I like the switch on Aussie sockets, but you have to be real careful to switch off unused sockets or a lot of electricity leaks out costing you $$$.
Sounds like something line that should be on the Transformers movie.
And yet if you decide to use it then you probably have a British accent, which is enough for 90% of American girls.
And it will be more than enough current to kill a person (It only takes about 0.015 amps to kill someone, regardless of voltage).
I don't know whether your 0.015 A figure is accurate, but the amount of current available most definitely depends on the voltage, due to a person's innate resistance.
Stop! Dremel time!
A one-hand shock like that keeps the current path localized to one extremity. The really dangerous shocks are from one hand to the other, because the current path then travels through your heart region.
Actually, a marketing opportunity in search of a government mandate.
There's money to be made in many ways, and if you can argue 'increased safety' as the motivator, all the better.
Frankly this article is appaling
* The danish system and some variants of the italian system have the dangerous characteristic of accepting german and french earthed plugs but not earthing them!
* There is no mention of the german and french earthed plugs at all
* Putting europlugs into british sockets is NOT TO BE RECCOMENDED. They may well be protected by only a 30A rewirable fuse
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
Plug ratings depend on the amount of power that can safely be drawn over the wires. It doesn't push 30A out the plug into whatever is being powered, it just lets the device draw up to 30A.
Power is drawn, not pushed.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
So if an adult doesn't replace the worn out receptacles (a problem which is amusingly alien to a UK reader, by the way) then their 4 year old child 'deserves' to be fatally electrocuted? Why don't you think before you bash your fists on the keyboard next time?
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Really? The reaction / response time curves I've seen for general-purpose fuses & circuit breakers show that fuses are almost always faster than an equivalently-rated circuit breaker, particularly with high fault currents.
Yes, you can get fast-acting breakers. You can also get fast acting fuses, which again are generally faster than fast-acting breakers, except for very specific and expensive versions. It's worth noting that power electronics - and I'm talking things like 500~1000A rectifiers, power converters, UPSs, and SMPSs here - almost exclusively use fuses internally for protection, with breakers only on the input and output.
I don't know if he points this out in the article (10 pages? A sentence or 2 per page? C'mon!), but a fuse in the plug also protects the rest of the circuit against damage to the cord. Which bit of an appliance is most likely to get damaged and cause a risk of short circuit? Yeah, the cord. I'd say that shows quite a bit of understanding of practicality and safety, at least on the part of the original designer.
And note: I'm Australian, so I have no particular attachment to UK-style plugs.
What part of "a well regulated militia" do you not understand?
The gene pool needs chlorine.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I'm sorry, but if you have an old house you'll have to rewire or buy lots of adapters.
The code allows you to simply replace all the two-prong outlets with GFCIs, and leave the GFCI's with the ground disconnected. It's the best thing you can do if you don't have the ground wire in the wall, and it is a vast improvement over just using those three-wire adapters. I've replaced just about every two prong outlet in our 19th century house with GFCIs already. One at a time at my leisure.
Circuit Breaker
http://www.weidmuller.com/webfm_send/1
Fast Blow Fuse:
http://www.cooperbussmann.com/pdf/d2ab7442-15c0-4fb0-a097-345e95695061.pdf
Slow Blow Fuse:
http://www.littelfuse.com/data/en/Data_Sheets/325P_326P.pdf
until Apple releases their greedy mitts over the smartest (dc) plug ever invented. http://www.tomsguide.com/us/apple-patent-laptop,news-964.html
The Internet needs fewer obese basement dwellers callously advocating eugenics because they can't get a date.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
The reason why 110V is safer is that V = IR. Given the resistance of the human body as a constant, then with half the voltage, you receive half the current through your body. It is the current that kills you rather than the voltage. Of course, if you dramatically lower your resistance by being dripping wet, it probably won't matter if you have 110V or 220V.
Great Windows SFTP Server!
3 phase transmission systems mainly use earth (as opposed to system ground) returns; the US 3 phase transformers are all common centre taped to earth, in europe neutral is an earth tap at the transformer, isolated from the transformer. So, if you measure AT the transformer, in Europe, N===E, but not away from the transformer. In the US neutral is, by definition, building (not transformer) earth.
The plug was designed so that as well as unfolding to plug into british sockets it could plug into special sockets while still folded.
Not that I think they have much chance of getting it past the regulators and produced in sufficiant quantities to make a difference. The article doesn't even make it clear if they have a functioning prototype yet or just mockups.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
For all those idiots who keep saying 110/120 V is not lethal, I have a classmate whose father would like to disagree with you (but he can't because he is dead).
It's not exactly a truck, just sort of.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
110 has higher line losses which causes heating and is a fire hazard.
220 is much more dangerous if a person completes the circuit.
The first thing asked at the ER in an electrocution is what was the voltage. Under 220 and you are low priority. If you lived through the shock the damage is very likely minor.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Min-Kyu Choi's Folding UK style plug. All the goodness of the UK plug, none of the bulky crap. http://www.minkyu.co.uk/Site/Product/Entries/2009/4/20_Folding_Plug_System.html
Amazing! Can you buy them anywhere, or is it just a drool-over-it prototype?
Both you ACs need to reread Ohms law and understand that people are not constant power loads.
Higher voltage == higher electrocution hazard == lower wiring heat hazard.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Apparently, it's a common feature in the UK to have a single high current line supplying most of the house. In the US, there would be several breakers and several wires for the same purpose.
I like the UK scheme. It's more economical and more rugged. Protection is provided where it's needed, at the individual plug. The big disadvantage is that if you do manage to make a good solid short at one outlet, you trip the main breaker and the whole house goes dark.
The UK uses 240 V, which also reduces wiring losses in the house This is a big deal in these days of conservation, and it's nice not to have the lights dim when you switch on a vacuum cleaner.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Sounds like the UK ones are massively overengineered, inconvenient, and introduce extra points of failure unnecessarily.
Ah yes, of course, because having lethal and fire-igniting electricity points all around every wall in your house, it's not reasonable to take some safety steps to prevent catastrophic failure. No, not at all...
It might be something that differs by region. I've seen the convention I referred to in various houses in Arizona, built in the 80s. As for the switch-connected receptacles, it makes sense. Otherwise, how do you tell which is the one that is switch-connected? Running around and trying them all is rather clumsy when you can just invert that one to make it obvious.
If the standard UK mains plug is so great, then why did an industrial designer have to come up with this innovation in order to make it fit into the same non-humongous form factor as plugs from other countries?
So, we're all in agreement then?
First of all, current kills, not potential difference (=voltage). Both 110 and 220V are plenty to overcome the resistance of the human body so from that perspective there's hardly a difference.
Yes, current kills... about 0.1 amps across the chest cavity would be lethal. So does it make any difference whatsoever if the outlet is rated for 15 A @ 220 vs 30 amps at 110? No.
Ohms law: I = V/R
Current is proportional to voltage. On contact with 220V, all else being equal, DOUBLE the current goes through your body as compared to 110V. That's double the pain, or half the skin resistance needed to be lethal. This is simple ohms law, it is NOT a situation like a spark gap where there is some threshold to "overcome" the resistance. Also, skin resistance is not a fixed value, it depends on moisture, the amount of contact area, and the amount of pressure on contact.
I've noticed the "warm wire" problem on lots of high wattage appliances. As I recall, this would happen on the shop vac, on an electric flour mill, and other high wattage appliances. (don't remember exactly which, I just recall I've had this happen lots of times in my life)
However, the added safety of only using 110 VAC rather than 220 is probably worth a little wasted energy in wire heating.
Making the rounds of the blogs and TV shows is the story of William Kamkwamba, a young man from Malawi who, at age 14, taught himself enough about electricity to build a windmill generator for his house. But what kills me is that he made a GFCI from ... nails, wire and a magnet. Look at this video of his appearance on The Daily Show last month, specifically starting 2 minutes in, and note his description of what it does. (here's a picture) He calls it a circuit breaker, but that is functionally actually a GFCI! Jesus H. Christ, that is brilliant!
One simple rule for its versus it's
My credit goes to the UK, which has a fuse in the socket, also, the attached cable always facing downwards to save space, you can also buy ultra flat socket to make even more close to the wall, which really helps when you don't want leave a margin between your table/bed and the wall. Also, all wall socket in the UK has a safety switch which you turn-off before you plug / unplug, and it holds the plug much more tightly in comparison with the US plug.
They are *not* properly engineered. They are redundant, cumbersome, and altogether many design decisions are unnecessary. I say this as someone who has lived in the UK for a good many years.
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
It is house fires, not electrocution, that is the problem. The fuse stops excessive currents causing fires, the better design prevents shorts and the higher voltage reduces currents. For the US electrical fires are the third leading cause of house fires and the second leading cause of fire deaths (Google "leading cause house fires" - many pages). However I cannot find any statistics for the leading UK causes nor actual rates of fires with causes for more accurate comparisons between the US and UK.
It's nothing to do with being cheap Chinese imports, any double insulated equipment in Malaysia seems to be sold with a Europlug rather than a UK plug with a plastic Earth pin.
I think it's 15 to 20 years. I'm sure it was made illegal to sell domestic appliances without a plug. Manufactures used to sell things without plugs to cut costs and improve profits. The shops didn't mind because wiring plugs was a nice easy money spinner for them.
Additionally, depending on the layout of your kitchen, for instance, you'd would often have to take the plug off to pass it through the worktop to reach the socket. That, or have it plugged into an awkward location underneath the worktop. So it would often not hurt to supply the appliance without a plug, which could be easily bought separately anyway.
There are quite a few U.S. houses built in the 50's with 2-prong outlets. Mine is one.
Yeah, mine was too. But oddly enough, there are ground wires run to each outlet anyway. These were used to ground the metal boxes in which the outlets themselves are installed. Turns out that this was commonly done even back as far as the 1950s. Pull a cover off one of your outlets and you might find the same thing. It makes it very easy to put the more modern 3-hole grounded outlets. Just remember to pull the fuse or switch off the circuit breaker before you start undoing things!
This ain't rocket surgery.
Especially when you consider that you don't have to install a GFI in every outlet. One per circuit will do.
This ain't rocket surgery.
How many children are fatally electrocuted from wall outlets?
I can NOT believe someone pulled out the 'think of the children' fallacy on slashdot
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The problem is not the 2" GI-Joe guns, its comming up with an exemption that allows those guns without allowing other guns that shouldn't be allowed.
If you say that toy guns are allowed, people will start bringing full-size toy guns through (there was a news story here a while back where some kid was playing with a full-sized toy gun, someone saw it, thought it was real and called in the SWAT team.
The 110v mambo is over pretty quick*, then you laugh and get some water while the adrenalin is purged from your body.
Usually so fast people don't realize the were zapped until a moment after it's done.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Oh, I won't deny that the UK system is better engineered, but it is so not because of some inherent superiority in British engineers but the fact that Britain effectively had to rebuild their electrical system after the war. 1940's engineering vs. late 19th century. Think Ford Anglia versus a Duryea Motor Wagon.
And I certainly wasn't offended by the tone of the article - I figured that someone whose tongue is jammed that firmly in his cheek must have some kind of congenital defect.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
I didn't realise that human beings maintain a constant power drain regardless of the voltage input. I'd have expected them to more closely resemble resistive loads, where current is proportional to voltage.
I think this "no one" is Brazil. Starting in Jan/2010, all electric devices will use this new plug.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60906-1
http://translate.google.com.br/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inmetro.gov.br%2Fpluguesetomadas%2Fduvidas.asp&sl=pt&tl=en&history_state0=
Ever bought an electric shaver? The UK standard plug for bathroom appliances looks a little like the Europlug, but the pins are thicker and closer together, so it won't fit into a standard socket with the paperclip in the earth pin trick. And the adapters you can buy for them in the local pound shop clearly state "for foreign use only", because there is no way they can comply with any safety standard, with such fat holes (the width of a two year old's little finger) and no earth pin to open a gate, hence no gates.
No, a short in the appliance flex/cable could draw say 10A on a 3A rated cable, and the fuse/breaker for the circuit is going to be at a higher rating still say 15A (in the UK for a ring main it will be 32A) and will never blow/trip. Meanwhile the appliance cable heats up merrily and starts a fire.
It is a real issue in the UK with people fitting wrong sized fuses to devices (i.e. fitting a 13A fuse to a device that should be rated at 3A for example), so I simply don't believe that fires are not caused by overheating appliance flexes in other countries.
Entire wall sockets are less than £2 in the UK.
http://nextday.diy.com/app/jsp/product/productPage.jsp?productId=81793
That is actually really cool. It does a lot to make up for all the problems in the UK design... I wonder if it would pass an electrical safety testing.
The standard electrical power wall receptacle/plug (NEMA 5-15R/P) is one of many that NEMA and IEC specifies this shows only a single sample of an electrical power device which biases the whole story. I worked in England in a data center over there we had and they have several drawbacks on their higher voltage and amperage devices as standard device. However, most countries do use the IEC standard for their high voltage and amperage devices.
Here are some of NAME "straight blade" devices:
http://www.stayonline.com/reference-nema-straight-blade.aspx
Here are some of NEMA locking devices:
http://www.stayonline.com/reference-nema-locking.aspx
Here are some of IEC devices:
http://www.stayonline.com/reference-iec309-north-american.aspx
Indeed we use something called ring circuits basically out the consumer unit/fuse box around the house and back in, using 2.5mm cable and the circuit protected by a 32A breaker. They where a product of the price and scarcity of copper after the second world war.
Given the issues with copper availability long term, still a good idea.
The 240V (though in my house it is a very steady 230V) is also from an environmental perspective a good idea too.
At which point a fuse in the appliance is not going to provide any protection for the cable supplying the appliance.
The primary purpose of the fuse in the plug is to prevent overheating of the appliances cable should a fault develop in the cable that does not draw enough current to trip the main breaker for the circuit but is more than the cable can handle.
The ground pin on American outlets is an EXTRA ground. There is a ground in the fuse box of the house as well. Granted, the third prong may increase safety, but not by much. British outlets just seem like overkill to me. Anyway, those little two prong adapters are safe and necessary, as there are a lot of old houses which lack three prong outlets.
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
What's redundant? What is unnecessary?
I'm an American living in India. The standard here is bare wires into any hole in the wall. I've been zapped with unregulated 220 more times then I care to remember. But they say it's good for you...like shock therapy for mental patients. Perhaps America should switch to 220 and the Indian standard.
I think therefore I can't be ~TTNH
When I was a kid, my brother and I took the lightbulb out of a nightlight and used to see who could hold their finger in the longest. I have licked an electrical fence, the kind that kept dogs in a yard that was like a little wire around the top of the fence, I just chomped down on it hah. In high school I did my science project on circuits by running electrical current through my braces and blowing out a bunch of lights. In science class the following year I stuck my key in an electrical socket which went boom and smoke went everywhere and a girl behind me got completely showered with sparks and started screaming. I've had at least one or two stunguns broken on me because people held down the button too long. I've gotten my hand stuck inside a computer chassis before while being zapped from loose leads off of a molex and then I've probably been jolted a zillion times with various connectors and exposed wire. Pain don't hurt none.
sudo mod this one up.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
Trouble with breakers is that they are mechanical devices with moving parts. It's possible that a breaker can get stuck closed. A fuse, however, is just a piece of nichrome that will melt if the current exceeds the rating, no matter what. So if you have a major fault, and the breaker gets stuck, the fuse will melt. I've seen this happen on a 240V circuit for an unoccupied apartment - resulted in a fire. My best guess is there was a sustained high current (not enough to trip the breaker) that heated up the internal solenoid to the point where the plastic melted and held the breaker closed. By the way, the apartment owner had replaced the safety fuse with a piece of ordinary wire.
And yet, here you are... ;-)
This ain't rocket surgery.
I like how the thing folds, and there's no way to plug it in wrong and all. I don't like how flimsy and easily broken it's gonna be.
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.
3 different plug types that don't fit in every type?
What 'the Netherlands' are you living in? In fact, what Europe have you been living in? I understand British people have a hard time understanding Europe, what with their Europhobia and gereral 'island' mindset... but really? Mistaking standardized two-prong plugs for something else?
I've never encountered any other plug than the standardized "Schuko" "Type F" plugs in the Netherlands. You know, the type with two prongs (and sometimes a seperate grounding), which means you can use grounded or ungrounded plugs ons both grounded and ungrounded outlets.... you know,the types that accept any europlug?
Perhaps you've been using 80s-era belgian and french plugs here? Or you've been buying imported electronics?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector
The US doesn't have one standard plug, at least not in data centers.
For one thing, nearly every US residence is wired for 220 and Americans have 220V standard wiring, plugs and sockets. Americans only waste the extra resources on beefier wiring, plugs, sockets, and breakers where actually needed: between the main panel and large items like ovens, washers, dryers, table saws, etc. We do not need to run 220 lines and use massive plugs for our MP3 players, Televisions, radios, etc.Rather than putting a fuse into every power cord, Americans have been moving from an already good combination of fuses/breakers in devices and breakers in the main panel to arc-fault breakers in the main panel. With arc-fault breakers in the main panel, Americans have safer wiring in their homes than they would have with fused plugs; Arc-fault breakers protect against normal shorts (like fuses or normal breakers), ground faults (like the GFI breakers) and arcing (like from frayed wires, nails driven through wires in the walls etc.)
Americans can get sockets with safety shutters in them if they choose to, rather than because their government forces them to... we call this freedom; most of us are smart enough not to kill ourselves with our plugs and outlets.
British plugs with their massive prongs and built-in fuses are more akin to weapons used in the Roman circus than to consumer-friendly, low-cost, easy to store, and easy to use American plugs :-P
American buildings are also not wired in loops like many European buildings. The simple robust scheme in the US makes it so that people in the US can be trusted to do their own wiring work, which is something many Europeans (including the UK article author) are not legally permitted to do. An American can wire his basement with rugged but inexpensive parts and check the work with a simple $10 circuit checker; A Brit must hire somebody to wire his basement and then the installation must be certified with an expensive professional test device
Well, one thing the US plug has going for it here is that a plug laying on the floor doesn't tend to have the (nearly unbendable) prongs sticking straight up. Something you might appreciate in when you have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
I looked into it when the electrical code forced me to replace the illegally retrofitted three conductor grounded outlets in my house with ground-fault circuits. It didn't make any sense to me without a ground... but lo and behold, they do indeed work with no ground at all.
I think you caught the mouse but missed the 1000lb gorilla in the room.
Yes, GFCI protection will work without ground. But the ground wire was invented long before GFCI devices were used.
Imagine something goes wrong in your computer's power supply that causes the 120V wire to touch the side of the power supply case. The power supply case is touching the metal case your motherboard,etc are in. Imagine you touch the side of the case to turn the computer on.
Well, the power supply and case are connected to the ground plug on your electrical cord. Two possiblities happen:
- Your ground wire is connected to neutral at the circuit breaker panel (and only there, no where else!). You do not get electrocuted. If you have a GFCI, it will trip. If you don't, the current will be fairly high (a few amps), and either the powersupply gets fried [and melts whatever is shorting] or the circuit breaker trips (not likely).
- Your ground wire is not connected at your outlet. YOU get fried. If you are lucky, the GFCI will trip *after* several milliamps are flowing through your body. [Hint, a few milliamps for a brief instant can be deadly]
Now you are probably thinking. Well if ground and neutral are connected at the circuit breaker panel, you can be lazy and connect the outlet's ground to the netural [and not run a separate ground wire]. That way you don't get fried. Except you will largely disable GFCI protection (to an extent). But even worse things than that happen. Imagine something causes a device's "hot" wire is connected but the "neutral" is not. Well, if device and outlet are grounded properly, its not so bad, the current will return through the ground wire and the case, etc will be at zero potential. But if someone wires the ground to the neutral and the fault occurs, then the case is immediately raised to 120V potential (whether it is a metallic lamp or a computer). YOU get fried.
There are probably other considerations. I'm an electrical enginner, not an electrican. I can tell you this: don't play games with grounding. It ain't worth it.
First, the wikipedia page you reference was the one on Electric Shock not the one on Electrocution.
Second, neither of the statistics you quote specify the source of the electric shock. Are the from contact with a socket? Power lines outside a house? Industrial power cables in a factory? Lightning strike? To know which socket is safer, you would have to restrict ourselves to shocks from a socket.
Finally, the UK statistic you quote only refers to work related deaths so it says nothing about the safety of your sockets at home.
If it is a two wire socket, the screw probably won't be grounded either since the box itself probably doesn't have a ground wire coming to it. At least that's the case in my old house. I had two wire sockets virtually everywhere and worse the outlets were old enough that they weren't holding a plug properly. Short of tearing open the walls and running new wires, the only option was to replace them with GFI plugs.
I'm not from the UK but I have lived and visited many countries, and the UK plug EASILY wins. In particular:
a)Good grounding is pretty much standard
b)It is very solid. Many EU and US plugs you can accidentally bend and damage quite easily.
c)The vast majority of them are fused
d)It has a relatively slim profile and fits easily even in cramped spaces.
e)The contacts are flat pins with a large surface area, giving good contact.
f)They attach firmly into the socket so you are very unlikely to pull them out by accident
Seriously, if you have any experience with electronics and travel to Britain you are quite likely to end
up wondering "why don't we do plugs this way back home?". It's just one of those things where
you can do thing "the right way" and you can do them "the wrong way". The British did it "the right way"
and pretty much everybody else cocked it up somehow.
Yes, you'd have so many circuit breakers and fuses, all of which have a chance to 'go bad' and disable your perfectly safe system.
The nice thing about single points of failure is that you can only fail at a single point. And with a little bit of design work, it fails safe.
With your fetish for massive numbers of fuses and circuit breakers, you're gonna have a lot more dark electrical devices, and no real boost in safety.
That's because you and TFA are talking about the old, ungrounded 2-prong outlets that have not been allowed by the building code for decades. Shall we now talk about how terrible UK knob-and-tube wiring is compared to US BX wiring? It would be equally foolish.
"US plugs are safer because they only carry 110v. That, in and of itself, makes US wiring safer. 220v is much more deadly than 110v"
It makes no difference, both voltages are high enough to kill.
"I have grabbed live wires at a plug a few times in my life, and it just jolts your arm a little bit."
You can do the same thing with 220-240v with no issues in the same circumstances as 110v.
ie: keep one hand behind your back, and prevent even an accidental touch from creating a circuit across your chest. And make sure you touch things such that contracting muscles will pull you away from the current.
I know of several people that have had a hand zapped by 240v, and you'll find a lot of tv repairman that have been zapped by far worse.
It's the current that kills, the voltage just needs to be high enough to overcome the resistance of your skin, and even 110v is more than enough for this.
"Bottom line, I am seriously not worried one bit about grabbing live outlet lines. It hurts a little, so I don't do it for fun, but I'm really not worried about dying or anything."
You are ignorant or stupid I'm not sure which. It is dangerous, the fact that you have not yet been killed doesn't mean you won't be.
That's 'cause we put the insulation in the plug. The contacts in (modern) US plugs are set deep enough so that they do not make contact with the plug when the plug is slightly out of the socket.
Safety shutters are simply another point of failure that provides virtually no protection to the vast majority of users. Instead, we install devices such as safety shutters when there are small children in the house who need the protection, and don't bother when them when they serve no use.
Unfortunately, several vacuum manufacturers are going overboard with their devices for marketing purposes. The other day I ran across a 15A vacuum cleaner in a store. That would consume ALL the power for a typical household circuit, yet not do a significantly better job of cleaning the floor.
That being said, 220V standard would be better, but we're stuck with what we have since we went first.
The parent was talking about houses built in the last 50 years. IIRC, 3-prong outlets became the standard around 1960, which is 50 years ago. (well, 49 and a smidge)
You're about 30 years too late. GFI has been required on all new construction and all remodels in the US for a long, long time.
Woman.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I remember my trip to the UK is not the Buckingham Palace, the British Museum or the red buses.
Its those freaking huge plugs together with their freaking huge power racks.
Really, what where they thinking?
I've never had any problems with the US style plugs, after seeing the european, british and japanese plugs (which are like the US but with a small aberration), I don't know why people complain so much.
That's a good point now that you mention it. I guess the adapters are just a placebo then.
Kids. Just because you survived it doesn't make it less than extremely dangerous. Most car accidents don't kill either. There are more ways to die from electricity than to get spontaneously combusted... if you'd had the wrong heart condition, or just been unlucky. You don't need anything like the voltage or current available from a domestic outlet to die. I had a really nasty shock off 24 V once... you just can't respect electricity enough.
This was in all honesty a very stupid article. It's supposed to be funny- But it isn't, if I understand it right it's supposed to be in some way informative- But it's biased. My vote at the moment would go to the European plug. It's reversible, even with ground and stays where it should- Unlike the Danish plug. If you pull on it a little bit accidentally- For example by pulling a vacuum cleaner a bit too far- It comes out and your vacuum stops. Not exactly as ingenious as this useless article said.
The fuse. The size. The earthpin.
Not to mention having the pins flex would actually be a safety *advantage*.
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
No, not at all europhobic. Quite the opposite, infact. I've a pretty poor view of my fatherland and the general attitude of the inhabitants.
For the record I live slap bang in the middle of the country.
The plugs I've got:
1. Standard two pronged thin. CEE 7/16 plug with similary shaped sockets. Ever light I own has this plug.
2. Round two pronged with earth. Type F. All my kitchen stuff uses this.
3. Round two pronged without earth. Same shape as Type F but without the gaps (so it doesnt fit a type-f socket). Fairly common in electronics.
1 fits in all sockets.
2 fits in big round earthed sockets, and most (but NOT all) big round unearthed sockets (those with a molding which assume a recess).
3 fits in big rounded unearthed sockets only.
I've all three sort in house. I bought new plugs from either Gamma or Media Markt for all my UK electronic kit (the only 'imports' I've got), mixture of all the types (wasn't aware that 2/3 were different at the time.).
When we rewired the house I made sure to buy sockets which fit all of the plug types; Gamma at least has several molded in such a way that some plugs don't fit.
[sudo] password for Jarik C-Bol:
It only takes 10 milli-amps to stop your heart. Those outlets can carry 20 amps or more.
Just about everyone in the US has touched live household electricity at one time or another. We haven't died. So while it may only take 10 mA to stop your heart, there is clearly more to the story.
i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
The graphic featured as the Australian plug is the Chinese plug, though it's compatible with the Australian one AFAIK.
Funny how you yanks and limeys always start arguing amongst each other (eventually and inevitably leading to the WWII-pissing contest), while the German engineers have silently owned both your asses/arses with their Schuko....
(Incidentally, the Germans had already lost the war to the Russians, when you yanks chose to bail out the limeys, who were holding out just fine on their own.)
Lemon curry???
I thought the exact same thing too. I thought switches on wall sockets were used everywhere, and never gave it a second thought.
Nope. I had to replace all the outlets when we moved in (with new 2-prong outlets). House is done in 2 conductor, no grounds.
While it's true he said that, he also said he had not seen a post WWII house with 2-prong outlets. They were used up through the early '60's here until the building code forced the change. fwiw, my city tends to be one rev behind on the NEC code.
and it all goes back to Konrad Zuse, who's patents were taken over by IBM.
please give a price to the man or people who designed a plug so simple and effective!
The fuse isn't redundant. It fuses at say 3 Amps, whilst the circuit breaker for the ring main will be 30 or 32 Amps.
The earth pin isn't redundant. It provides an essential safety feature for products with exposed metal parts.
Flexing pins are not an advantage. It's the sign of poor engineering.
Size is on the large size. But fairly minimal at the time of design for it's features. If you look inside a plug, you can see that it's pretty tight in there. Though because it's sensibly designed with the cable coming out at 90 degrees to the pins, it uses less space from the wall than most other designs.
So, you have nothing.
The shroud engages the enclosing slot before the pins make contact.
Oh, yes, baby. You're making me hot! How about a little three-phase action? C'mon, you know you like it when the electrons flow.
... and then they built the supercollider.
Is he trolling? Have you seen the size of a British plug? It takes a foot-long power board to plug maybe 3 of the suckers!
And for all of you excited with the built-in fuse: we don't need it. Our houses weren't wired in the middle of WWII when copper was scarce and dodgy installations were the rule.
You suspect humour? I suspect that Americans do not understand it at all! I was laughing all the way! But maybe that's because I'm British and I understand that this is really just a complete piss take on the rest of the world.
I'm not British, but I cringe reading the comments here and wonder why on earth this whole story haven't been tagged "Wooosh!" yet.
Seems irony is becoming a lost art...
I lost my sig.
Really? I've only spent a few months in the USA, but I've never seen the other kind. I bought a splitter socket in the US in 2006 so the girl I was dating at the time could have her coffee grinder and toaster plugged in at the same time and it had two pins per socket as did the appliances it was connected to.
Let's talk about what's actually deployed, not what is theoretically possible.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
God, your jealousy is just pathetic.
It must be very difficult for you having such an inferiority complex that you actually think that way.
How sad for you.
Really? You decided "think of the children" was the best way to demonstrate your point?
Because you've only really demonstrated that your argument sucks and you're not very bright.
God, you really ARE suffering from a massive inferiority complex.
From the stats I can find, UK deaths by electrical outlets are .486 per 100,000 and US rates are .015 per 100,000, more than an order of magnitude safer, even without massive numbers of safety features.
Does that include death by fires stared by electrical faults? I don't know the statistics, but anecdotally, household fires are alarmingly more common in the US than anywhere else I've lived.
... and then they built the supercollider.
FYP.
No one would miss you if you introduced yourself to one of those "fatal to children" sockets either, in fact we'd enjoy it thoroughly.
What is it with the Americans on here? The British people are not proud of their plugs, the British people take plugs for granted. It's not like there was a national vote on what plugs to use or anything.
To warp this into a issue of national pride is just wrong.
The person who wrote TFA was spouting nothing more than British pride, nothing more really. I'm an American and I can concede the UK plugs are very robust and exactly the sort of thing I'd want a big arse appliance to use. TVs, ovens, washers, anything with a decent current draw that doesn't move. However to be fair they are huge, so huge that europlugs are popular in bathrooms because the damn plug is bigger than an electric razor.
To be fair, it is something to be proud of. While I can be critical of it in today's world of portable gear, the the vacuum tube era it was da-bomb.
If I owned a home in the UK, I'd be totally hip to using a hybrid system of europlugs and UK sockets. If it doesn't move, UK plug. If it does move, europlug.
Apparently, it's a common feature in the UK to have a single high current line supplying most of the house. In the US, there would be several breakers and several wires for the same purpose. I like the UK scheme. It's more economical and more rugged. Protection is provided where it's needed, at the individual plug. The big disadvantage is that if you do manage to make a good solid short at one outlet, you trip the main breaker and the whole house goes dark. The UK uses 240 V, which also reduces wiring losses in the house This is a big deal in these days of conservation, and it's nice not to have the lights dim when you switch on a vacuum cleaner.
I don't know why people seem to think UK houses don't have lots of circuit breakers. They almost always do unless some ancient granny has lived in their ancient house their whole lives and not had the wiring changed ever.
I am from the UK, and have visited the US twice... the sockets in both my Memphis and NY hotels on one trip had trouble keeping the plug in - the connection was so loose, and the weight of the cable would eventually pull the plug out of the socket.
In Florida we had a similar problem with the sockets in our villa, where any slight movement of an appliance generating motion on the cord would eventually lead to the plug coming loose in the socket.
Perhaps the scariest thing in all of this is that the plugs, once loose, can sit in a "half in-half out" position, with nice sparks flying around.
Looks awesome. But my browser warns that it requires extra plugins.
If my pins get bent, I just bend them back. This happens so infrequently, it's amazing that someone even mentioned it. Also, I have NEVER had a plug "fall out". Seriously? Fall out? If someone kicks it, I would RATHER it come out of the wall so they don't go flying head over heels and really injure themselves. I have lived in the US for almost 40 years now, and I can count on one hand the times a plug was kicked out or bent.
Ugh... I've had MANY plugs fall out. It happens all the time. This is totally a drawback to the US outlet. US prongs have holes in them, where the outlet itself has a retaining clip. These clips tend to fail. More over, when you bend the blades and unbend them they are less likely to make contact with the retaining clips, or are more likely to cause excessive wear to them.
This is a problem with heavier plugs non-grounded plugs or wall warts. Grounded plugs are better, but if you observe any outlet that used a vacuum you might note the likelihood of intermittent contact even with a grounded plug.
A good temporary resolution is to remove the wall plate and screw one of those wall wart multi-outlets.
Yeah, but we just say that so the yanks don't get too jealous of our superior plug technology. ;)
Actually, Leviton has done some wonderful things within the constraints of the single-gang Decora formfactor. Half the light switches in my house have two or three mini paddle switches that flip left and right that are either 1/2 or 1/3 the size of a standard Decora-style switch. Pass & Seymour have similar switches that flip up and down (THEIR 3-switch variant has a half-height switch on top, and two half-height half-width switches on the bottom).
2-switch -- http://www.westsidewholesale.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/8/6/861517-1_11.jpg
3-switch -- http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/large_images/253/90140253.jpg
P&S 3-switch -- http://www.homeandbeyond.com/prod-0085785-zoom.html
Although my original motivation was to avoid replacing the single-gang switchboxes with double- or triple-gang boxes, I've since come to actually prefer them. To me, my brother's newly-built house with 4-6 normal Decora-style paddle switches in a row just seems kind of tacky by comparison... even moreso when you consider that half the switches in each group hardly ever get used, and with that many switches in a row you literally have to stop and think which switch controls the main kitchen lights, as opposed to the undercabinet lights, the cove accent lights, the spotlights over the snackbar, etc.
There IS one lingering problem in America, though... what to do about prewired speaker connectors. A full-sized single-gang plate with two binding posts is WAY too big and looks horrible, but there really isn't any smaller variant that's just big enough for two binding posts. So... anyone who's prewiring for speakers ends up with two choices: put a (relatively) HUGE single-gang box with full-sized blank plate over it, or just bore a hole in the wall and pull the wires through when the day comes to install the speakers. I have more than a few friends who ended up just drilling a hole and pulling the wire pair through, and it was PRECISELY because there really isn't any good appropriately-sized alternative available in America.
I checked some US electrical codes, have you? I get back to my original point GFI is NOT mandated on EVERY outlet. As a result every house in the USA I have been in has a majority of sockets without GFI and based home inspection (including 2 homes less than 5 years old).
Yes I am aware how the GFI outlets casacde. However the protection does not reach to other circuits from the fuse box/pannel.
Most British houses would have a circuit each for upstairs lighting, downstairs lighting, sockets, maybe more.
Since the 1970s at least, each of these would have their own fuse - to replace you would isolate the supply, undo some screws, and replace a piece of fuse wire (not even in a glass cartridge).
Almost everywhere nowadays has an RCD for each circuit. Mine trips every time a halogen light blows. Which is frequent.
Nuts, isn't it? Roundabouts are so obviously the right solution to the problem. And when you think about it, the rules are no different than if it was an ordinary road: give way to traffic that's already on the road/roundabout you're joining.
I've been on a very few US roundabouts (or "rotaries"). One of them, noticably, neglected to have a marking to show you where to stop when giving way. D'oh!
Thanks to the electrical manufacturers, "shuttering" is no longer optional for residential installations that follow NEC 2008 or later (406.11).
Using two hands to push the shutters open makes it more likely the current goes across the heart when the kid does succeed in pushing in the nail, wire, screwdriver, pen or whatnot.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
I believe most of those adapters have a metal contact that can touch the screw in the middle of the outlet, which might be grounded
There you go.
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
Did you read the post you are replying to? He was pointing out that in the event of a short circuit, the 15A device wouldn't receive the circuit-breaker protection it expected.
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
Okay, I will remember that. I definitely need to learn more about the difference between the two. Despite my love for and knowledge of electronics, the electricity itself may as well be magic as far as I'm aware. Wikipedia, here I come :)
10 FILL MUG WITH COFFEE
20 DRINK COFFEE
30 GOTO 10
That's $3.11 for a single outlet, whereas the US standard double outlet, which takes up much less space, is available for $0.45, or about £0.27.
It might not seem that bad for a single one, but when you're wiring an entire house, it adds up. And it's really going to add up when you have to wire an apartment complex, or as I believe they call it, a block of flats.
And those ring mains are just freakish. I don't think anybody else in the world does that craziness.
And even if you do, unless you check, it's possible the ground isn't good anyway. That's a common problem in older rental properties. Heck, I've seen ungrounded 3-prong outlets.
In the US and in the UK, the total number of fatal electrical accidents annually is so low as to be background noise. I suspect that we've already spent far beyond the point of diminishing returns on electrical safety in both countries, but the UK is spending far more on those ridiculously expensive outlets and plugs.
Not to mention the UK plugs are more hazardous. Not electrically, they're fine there, but put one on the floor, it will tend to fall prongs up, and someone will end up with nasty puncture wounds on a foot.
Errr... last time I went to the UK, most bathrooms had a 2-pin "shaver" plug.
Was I imagining things?
SirWired
Ah, wasn't thinking about shaver sockets.
That's the only 2 pin socket you'll see, and it's also the only type of socket you're allowed in a bathroom.
The reason it's allowed is that built into that socket is an isolating transformer.
No appliance other than something that's intended to live in the bathroom (a shaver or an electric toothbrush charger, usually) will plug into it.
you still have a breaker down in the main box. The fuse is additional to it, therefore superior. Also, breakers (and surge protectors) throw fast, but only with significant overvoltage, usally in the thousands of joules. A fuse will blow in situations where overvoltage is minimal, say 140v, for an extended period of several seconds. I also understand the difference between GFCI, fuse, and breaker fully. Having ALL THREE is superior to having 1 or 2. THAT was the point.
This fuse in wall operates very much like the fuses in your electronics, except they don't require voiding warranties to open cases to replace them.
There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.
Since when is 'think of the children' an actually fallacy? In what way does having any consideration for child safety (in the context of 230v electrical outlets handily located at toddler height) automatically negate your argument? Maybe its because I'm growing up and starting a family is in my near future, that I sound so ridiculous to 18 year old slashdot trolls.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
I've been shocked multiple times at 240V, and the worst I've ever felt was a bubbling sensation up my arm. It's not the voltage that generally determines pain or death. The major safety issue affected with higher voltages are the higher risks of arcing. Likewise lower voltages require much higher currents which are more likely to overload wires. Those are the tradeoffs, not "If I get shocked, one will kill me and the other will not."
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I'm guessing from the writer's style that this article was meant to be funny, but it comes off as unprofessional and condescending. Also, I didn't laugh. This article failed to achieve anything it was going for.
Shall we now talk about how terrible UK knob-and-tube wiring is compared to US BX wiring?
As far as I know, knob-and-tube wiring never really caught on here in the UK. The oldest wiring commonly encountered here uses lead-sheafed cabling.
The purpose of the third ground prong is to provide a path to ground for the appliance's casing. Interestingly enough, most appliances are built reasonably carefully so that their case won't become electrified.
I thought so too. Then I heard about the all-American five radio receivers that were apparently common in the US. The early ones reduced costs by using the chassis as the neutral connection - and since the plugs weren't polarised, you had a 50-50 chance of plugging them in such that the entire metal chassis was live. US consumer safety history is pretty astonishing, especially compared to sensible countries like the UK.
Bottom line, I am seriously not worried one bit about grabbing live outlet lines. It hurts a little, so I don't do it for fun, but I'm really not worried about dying or anything.
Grabbing live outlet lines is dangerous and whether you have 110v or 230v actually makes little difference.
What matters is the current that goes through you, normally your body has a huge resistance and so not much current passes through you. However this varies hugely, moist hands will have orders of magnitude less resistance than dry ones and you'll easily get fatal currents from as low as 60 volts in such a situation.
Basically...stop touching those live wires!
I think the [MS Word] paperclip is a great idea. - Miguel de Icaza
Finally, a salacious snark. Took you guys long enough.
I have surge protectors on my computers.
I have a fuse in each plug.
I have circuit breakers on each circuit (one lights, one downstairs circuit, one upstairs circuit, one kitchen/heating circuit).
I have a tripswitch on the feed in from the outside world.
Maybe you think that's overkill, but it works pretty well for me. Other than the surge protectors (and possibly number of circuits) that's pretty standard for UK houses.
They also completely failed to mention sheer size.
British mains plugs are fucking enormous. That might be fine for AC blowers and electric kettles, which are big anyway and draw a fair bit of current; but it is annoying and ridiculous for the ever growing crop of little tiny switchmode adapters that power the gizmos and gadgets of modern life.
Actually, it's quite nice, because AC/DC "bricks" fit nicely in the space of a normal outlet without blocking adjacent sockets.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
The UK standard plug for bathroom appliances looks a little like the Europlug, but the pins are thicker and closer together
Yeah, it's some old legacy standard, apparently. Most shaver sockets are cross-compatible anyway.
And the adapters you can buy for them in the local pound shop clearly state "for foreign use only", because there is no way they can comply with any safety standard, with such fat holes (the width of a two year old's little finger) and no earth pin to open a gate, hence no gates.
The proper UK shaver adapters have shutters on the holes, even if they're not particularly effective ones. I'm guessing the pound shop was cheaping out.
Adapters are even funnier, unless you step on one. Not only are all these plugs and mating jacks bad, but the combinations in adapters are truly sick, look like alien babies, nescafé?
I have a plug tattoo. Three pronged American style. I was in a band called plug. I like my tattoo.
That is all.
"Firstly"
I stopped reading there, as it was all that's required to prove you're too stupid to have a valid opinion.
I've noticed the "warm wire" problem on lots of high wattage appliances.
It's real but if the wire is of sufficient gauge you'll be less likely to notice it. Basically any time you send current down a copper wire there are some losses to resistive heating. This is why you don't want to buy cheap little flimsy extension cords for high power applications. With a small wire there is less area to dissipate the heat and with sufficient current the wire can even melt. When we design it that way it is called a fuse. When we don't it is called a lawsuit. :-)
However, the added safety of only using 110 VAC rather than 220 is probably worth a little wasted energy in wire heating.
It's not the volts that will kill you, it's the amps. Amperage is the actual electron flow - somewhat like the actual water flowing in a pipe. Voltage is a measure of the tendency of the electrons to flow - vaguely analogous to water pressure. A stun gun has 20000 volts but very little amperage and so it doesn't fry you. Power = Volts * Amps so if the power coming down the line is equal the 220 line is actually a little bit safer. (both can easily kill you though so it's really a mute point)
Britons have a fetish for big clunky plugs; just look at electricity plug and SCART!
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
I think the switch is there for people who are paranoid about accidentally touching the prongs when plugging or unplugging something.
I read the internet for the articles.
The issue is less electrocution and far more fires. How many deaths are due to fires caused by electrical faults? The small pins and low voltage (so large currents) lead to far more heating. With 110V you might be safer from electrocution but that won't be much of a consolation if your house burns down with you in it!
First of all, I can't believe that so many people missed the humour of the article. It was meant to be FUNNY! But maybe it's too much of a British humour.
Living in London (weekends) and in Germany (working week), it's very clear to me that the UK plug is terrible. Many reasons:
1. The plug is HUGE. Why are all other plugs in the world smaller and still safe?
2. It has stupid fuses that need replacement. Why do none of the other plugs in the world need them?
3. It is terrible when travelling. Best to keep the Euro or US cables for travelling.
4. It can only plug in one way.
5. Why the hell do you need a switch on a socket? Is this a reason why the sockets are so big?
The plug just fits perfectly with some other British idiosyncracries such as the separate cold and hot water taps. You either burn your hands or freeze them. Ridiculous that this old system is still so much in use in the UK.
You can't beat British humour though (like this article showed).
You follow the faulty British ' thinking' which gave them the fused plug.
Every appliance is fused according to rating and type of use, an additional fuse in the socked is not going to improve this protection in any way.
Except that were not talking about adding an additional fuse, we're talking about moving the fuse into the plug, for captive leads at least. Obviously, if the fuse in the appliance is rated equal or higher it offers no additional protection and you might as well remove it. If the plug fuse is higher you might as well reduce it to be the same as the one in the appliance and, again, remove the appliance fuse.
For detachable leads you may really need 2 fuses for complete safety. What if a 3A lead is connected to a 13A device? And, of course, what if a detachable lead develops a fault (perhaps being dropped in water) while not connected to anything at all?
The only ' use' the fused plug has is that it could theoretically prevent a fire caused by a partial short circuit in the power cord.
Theoretical because the mains socket is protected by a fuse or breaker anyway.
No, not theoretical. The single 32A breaker in my consumer unit will not protect even a 13A flex, and certainly not a 3A flex. And I'm not keen on needing a 32A flex on every single device in order for them to not burst into flames when they die.
Of course, you could argue that the British system is overcautious, and you could argue that most of it's benefits can also be had by using separate breakers on each socket (which I can see being probably more expensive), but stop pretending that there aren't any real safety benefits
Britain's plugs were designed around exceedingly bad home wiring decisions, based upon coper limitation. U.S. homes were wired correctly from the beginning.
You are obviously correct that Americans haven't added obvious safety features over time, blame our WallMart mentality. I also feel like the British plugs have really gone overboard on safety features, blame your nanny state mentality.
I think the only true point made by the article is that Edison was a self aggrandizing twit, and 220V has major advantages over 110V. The British plus is still by far the worst plug in existence for the excessive size alone.
I lived in England for several years, but bought all my equipment in France to have europlugs, and I used French power strips in both my home and office. Britian's electrical system just isn't livable any other way.
Otoh, I guess a British woman has more fat relative to a French woman than a British plug has relative to a French plug. :P
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell