It’s true that water for the domestic hot water system and toilet flush is stored in a tank in the attic, but I wouldn’t say the water coming from it is necessarily dirty (unless there actually is a dead bird in it, which seems unlikely). The tank sees a reasonably high turnover of water (typically of the order of one change per day), and the rate at which dirt enters the tank is presumably very low. I would be quite happy to drink a glass of water from the bathroom tap or even directly from the storage tank.
See Tom Scott (warning: YouTube video) on the advantages of the BS plug design. The robustness of the plug itself is not the key safety feature - it is the shuttered socket holes that have probably saved far more lives.
Thirty years ago I was was designing an exhibit to be used in the UK. We had to use plywood stamped as, all US plywood is by its very nature, safe by British standards. Easy; we had an art department. OTOH, 240 leads needed to be EXPOSED, and separated. It made no sense and made electrocution inevitable, but there was no internet where I could ask, "WTF? " so my electrician followed my directions and nobody died.
Note: “Nobody died” is a win in my life, like “nothing caught fire.”
Dunno if it’s changed, but an American low power plug/socket/circuit was 15A.
Australian standard plugs go up to 2.4KW (10A), and even our 15A (3.6KW) plugs are not as clunky as the UK 13A version.
Bakelite continued to be the material of choice quite late into the 20th century - and by that time, there was also the inertia of familarity and the size of the established pool of already-deployed devices. Change is hard.
I think the robust design is also partly a side-effect of the shuttered socket holes - in order to engage the shutter properly, a little force is required (so the pins can’t be too bendy, and it needs to be possible to get a postitive grip on the plug body), and it’s also necessary for the pins to enter the socket completely perpendicular to the face - which was achieved by making them rectangular in cross section, and making the sockets fit this profile exactly.
(of course, none of those design choices are the only way these safety criteria could be solved)
I do have one comment on this:
It should be no particular surprise to any American if the British are using electrical standards that might be considered out of date in a modern world. After all, we stubbornly insist upon using feet, inches, miles, etc., and refuse to give up the dollar bill or the penny, despite numerous perfectly reasonable reasons for doing so. As someone said above, change is hard.
:eek: That seems very overbearing! To each government his own, I suppose.
On the other hand, in your estimation how many people tend to ignore this? We’re subject to an inspection for certain things, but it doesn’t matter who performs the work; only that it passes inspection (and a lot of people ignore permitting requirements for minor tasks, thus no inspection).
As someone that uses the British standard, I’m actually kind of surprised people are arguing for the American standard.
One notable thing that really drove the point home for me was child safety. As all child rearing books (most often written in the US) say, put safety covers over your child accessible sockets. I never questioned it and did so, until one day I looked at the socket. The live and neutral holes are covered by shutters, so they can’t be opened. The shutters only open when the earth is inserted, so there’s no danger of a child sticking a fork in the live. There is a switch that is always kept off when unused. Prongs are insulated when partially removed, so there’s no chance of a yanked plug being live.
At this point, am I really adding anything by using a socket cover? I left them off.
It annoys the hell out of me that there is such a thing as a ‘safety cover’ for UK 3 pin sockets - consisting typically of an often-flimsy, all-plastic, set of three prongs arranged on a thinnish plastic plate that is hard to grip and pull out - like this.
These things just make the sockets generally less safe when used, for a number of reasons, including: the plastic earth pin can snap off and remain in the socket, and (unlike a proper plug), these can often be inserted upside down by bending them a little, so that only the earth pin is engaged.
I totally agree, Mangetout, those safety covers are worse than useless.
I like the British plugs, clunky covers and internal fuses and all.
Turns out we’re in good company -
http://www.fatallyflawed.org.uk/
On that site, it is demonstrated how two of the most popular brands of ‘safety cover’ actually permit straight-line access to live terminals when inserted (whereas the socket without the inserted device is very safe).
Ah yes. The trick to getting a 2 pin to work in a 3 prong socket - jimmy the earth with an upside down “safety cover”.
Seriously though, it’s nice for when you want to use EU style 2 pin plugs. Another plus - you get cross national compatibility, wheras I don’t think US style is compatible with anything. Japan? Thailand?
These days though, EU style plugs often come with an earth, so the standards are evolving, I guess.
My favourite part was the ‘Clippasafe’ product is not only piss-easy for children to remove, but it’s also easy for them to reinsert upside down, whereupon it snaps - becoming harder to remove and leaving the live and neutral socket hole shutters wide open.
There are no approved ‘safety covers’ for UK sockets, because they are all less safe than the inbuilt safety.
“British” plugs, finger thick prongs, integrated fuses , earthing, “safety” shutters,
safety covers …
it’s getting more and more ridiculous. PAT tests … FFS.
What’s next ? Security guards ? Licence to plug TV into a wall outlet ?
Oh, yeah TV licence is already there.
Safety is good paranoia is not.
Why the scare quotes around safety? I mean, now that I’m off your lawn.
It just reflects my dislike for the British obsession with safety ( real or perceived) at any cost.
Except when it is required to be 20A such as the kitchen counter top circuits or the separate microwave circuit.
Of course it is, it’s made of metal. Typically nickel, copper, or zinc. Whereas cash is a cotton and paper blend so it is softer.
I see no reason to paint with such a broad brush.
The plug in socket covers are idiotic do-goodery that is actually likely to do harm.
The safety shutters in the sockets are a brilliant idea, well-implemented. And seriously, you have a problem with fuses and earthing?
Nope,no problem with fuses and earthling in general, but how on earth :rolleyes:
the entire world lives without fuses in the plugs and shutters in the sockets and only in the UK standard-setting bodies (IEE?) concern about people’s safety so much ?
Painting with a * broad brush*
I could provide dozens and dozens of examples of excessive and unnecessary health and safety regulations that do nothing but cover the assess of jobsworthes creating them.
my first installment:
-PAT tests (waste of resources and cost)
-using 110V power tools on the construction sites ( carrying stupid heavy transformers around)
- expensive YEARLY(!) millimeters testing ( ridiculous)
-using tools,equipment and materials that haven’t been *approved *by bureaucrats even when they are cheaper and better quality ( market protection)
-
excessive contractor’s insurance (cost)
-
step leaders can’t be used if a “safety check” sticker is not legible ( idiotic )
-
bathroom lights antiquated pull switches … no comments
-
yearly MOT Why ???
-
20miles /hour speed limit (populists measure)
-
canceling schools, public transport when temperature “plummets” to minus one !
Wow ! That’s an Extreme weather. Everything becomes *treacherous *.
In North Europe minus 20 degrees and two feet overnight snow is hardly noticeable if at all.
-parents are suing the Government because British military vesicles in Iraq could not withstand IEDs… can you imagine … not safe !!!
-sacrosanct " for health and safety reasons" could cover just about any stupid restriction and is not negotiable.
Do I need to continue ?