I never really thought of wall switches from an electrocution standpoint. They are useful because when you plug something in you know there is no chance the appliance is automatically come on. Comes in useful when you’ve got stuff in a food processor and the lid’s not on.
I never quite understood why placing RCD/GFCI before circuit breakers is a good idea. I only have GFCI plugs/switches in the bathroom. Experimenting at a younger age, I found that microwave and CRT TV will trip the GFCI quite reliably when starting up. So, if a single GFCI protected all downstairs sockets, wouldn’t it have to be less sensitive and less safe?
Modern GFCI’s are better about nuisance-tripping from inductive loads. They can still be a pain in the ass for things with big motors, though.
What is the rate of forgetting to turn the wall switch off while unplugging a device and putting it back in the cabinet?
Next plugging in with dim lighting, someone will see that the switch is in the wrong place?
Are appliances normally turned off & on by bending down behind the chair and using the wall switch instead of the on/off switch on the appliance/device?
No one in England ever unplugs the hover by just pulling the cord straight out? They always walk around the chairs and unplug at the wall after turning the wall switch off??? :rolleyes:
All plugins are above furniture height and totally visible on the expensive wood paneling in the parlor with cords dangling?
High. No. No. Yes. No. No. But the fact that it isn’t a perfect solution doesn’t mean it isn’t still much better than the alternative. For the record, it’s fairly hard to pull out a UK 3-prong plug by just grabbing the cord, because they generally enter the plug housing at the bottom (and thus point “down” instead of out). You have to grab the plug and pull.
I’m an American, have lived in the US, UK and continental Europe.
I was told at some point that historical UK standard ring wiring approach, often one ring per floor, was used because it was cheaper. It uses less wire than the European and American system of home run (or hub and spoke) wiring and so there’s a lower material and labor costs. Because of the ring arrangement, there’s no way to protect individual sockets or nodes (as with a central home run panel) and so fused plugs are required. With the home run approach, each individual circuit can have a fuse or these days a circuit breaker.
With 220 power, you can plug anything in anywhere instead of needing a dedicated circuit for stuff needing more power (washers/dryers/ovens), that’s an advantage. Also, heat producing appliances (like toasters and electric kettles) work MUCH faster and more conveniently.
For gosh sakes, 30 years ago, most British homes didn’t even have central heating. It wasn’t because of the balmy climate, that you can be sure of. British construction techniques are like British car design and manufacturing. If you ask the locals, their way is best, but no one else follows their examples.
As for technical differences, I don’t know the pluses or minutes. From my experience re convenience of use, I’d say the European system first, the US second, UK last.
Most items are left plugged in. Permanently.
Where would be the ‘wrong place’ ? Relative to what ?
Most people seem to work out where the on/off switch is on an appliance within a few seconds, if that’s what you mean.
One generally turns off the appliance first, then the wall switch if needed.
So Yanks just yank on it until it pulls from the wall ? Explains a lot.
We call them plugs here. They are usually about 8" to 12" above the floor level. Except in the kitchen. The English invented electric distribution, light bulbs, public lighting, boilers, heating etc . *, so you must allow them some experience.
- Particularly old Armstrong of Cragside.
Early systems had used low pressure water systems, which required very large pipes. One of the first modern hot water central heating systems to remedy this deficiency were installed by Angier March Perkins in London in the 1830s. At that time central heating was coming into fashion in Britain, with steam or hot air systems generally being used.
You won’t. Mostly, they are in kitchens, behind the refrigerator, microwave, etc. – not easily seen.
Certainly qgrees with what I have been told by US electricians – they say 240V is the most dangerous.
‘At 120V, you can let go and get away. 480V will throw you away. But 240V is strong enough that you can’t let go, but not strong enough to throw you. So you sit there and fry.’
Electricity’s not always lethal though. Sometimes it raises eleven-year-old corpses that then walk around and talk so convincingly that no-one even notices they were dead.
Total bollocks. I have been shocked by 220 volts many times over the years. Believe me - you do not hang on and fry, you jump back PDQ. That’s why electricians fall off ladders.
I guess that we will all believe that “Our way is best.” I do wonder, though, when I see that “nob and post system???”
Knob and tube. Nobody thinks knob and tube is the best.
Sockets, actually, although most people will call them plugs or plugsockets.
I read that electrocution deaths are several times higher (per capita) in the UK. The reason for all this safety stuff is that 240 volt is a lot more likely to kill you than 110/120. It’s possible for 110/120 to kill, but it requires specific conditions. I know electricians and other service techs who have told me they get shocked pretty routinely - 110 AC 60 hz isn’t enough to usually cause more than a brief bit of discomfort. I myself have been shocked a few times - painful but it requires a circuit across your heart or a setup where you can’t let go to kill you.
I’ve also heard this. But I have never experienced it. And I am at a loss to explain why an overly-inductive load would cause a GFCI to falsely trip.
Inductors resist changes in current. Flip on a switch that starts a big inductor charging, and the charging inductor doesn’t return as much current as it draws? Or vice versa on discharge? I think that’s what it is - a GFCI is a detector that measures the difference in current between the hot wire and the neutral. Any time there is more than a tiny difference it turns off the circuit, because it means electrons are taking another path besides the neutral wire to return to the transformer.
Not in this context anyway.
It happens. People occasionally plug some device (that is itself already switched on) into a socket that is switched on, and give themselves a surprise, which tends to reinforce the habit of checking before plugging in.
The device is switched off, then the socket is switched off, then the plug is withdrawn. Not everyone does it that way, I guess.
The plugs are designed specifically not to pull out easily in that way. I’m unsure why that required a rolleyes.
The UK 3 pin plug system is actually quite a clever bit of safety design, considering its vintage; one of the other features is that the internal wiring of the plug is such that, if the cable is pulled out, the Live terminal detaches first, then Neutral, then Earth.
It’s not perfect, and it is possible to abuse it, but considering that the standard was fomulated at the end of ww2, I’d say it’s pretty remarkable.
NEMA plugs are designed that way as well. Except we call it “ground” because we’re better.
But it’s not British, so it’s obviously crap.