how do i test that an electrical appliance won't electrocute me?

Hi James , I am fraser , i have been reading your comment and i think what you are saying is right . i also think what you are saying is very interesting , email me if you find a way to find out if you won't get electricuted. sorry about my spelling , i am not very good at spelling , please excuse that .

please reply back to me at my email address snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.co.uk Yours sincerly FRASER McKINLAY

Use an ohm meter put one wire from the ohm meter on one side of the plug and there other wire from the ohm meter to the metal on the oven you should get no reading if its ok and then do the same thing with the other side of the plug.

Well .... if the metal case is solidly grounded you're not going to get electrocuted by it.

Graham

Then, check that you do have a connection from the metal case of the device to the ground pin on the plug, and when it's plugged in, from the metal case to an earth ground like a water pipe. The resistance should be < 0.5 ohm. If it's higher than that, it will keep you from getting little shocks, but the equipment might be dangerous if it gets an internal short.

If it doesn't have a three-wire plug, you should probably only use it with a GFCI outlet.

-- John

If you bought it at a legitmate store, and it has a grounding plug, then it's very likely safe just the way it is.

If you're truly paranoid, put it on the countertop next to the sink, plug it in, turn it on using only the plastic part of the knob, and put your meter on AC volts and measure from the sink to any exposed metal part of the oven.

If you get volts, then just plug it into a GFI outlet.

Good Luck! Rich

All of you posters missed the "yahoo.co.uk" part of the Address !

They use a slightly different Grounding System ! than North America ! and its 220 to boot. Is this a "Domestic electric oven" that the poster is trying to adapt ?

Yukio YANO

It's a 3 prong plug.. i don't know what it means but i think the top prong is ground.

anyhow... i have the 2 wires from my multimeter. red and black. I put the red to the appliance and the black to a prong. Then to the other prong. Then the wires the other way.. black on appliance, red on a prong.

i actually have a picture that illustrates that on th back of my multimeter i got from maplin. as one of the things i can do with it!

I get 0 on the multimeter, but i got 0 before. So i guess it passes the test. assuming i did the test right. But since an OK shows nothing, it's not that convincing 'cos it could be that i haven't tested it right.

Ah, you're from the UK.

Unless you bought this microwave oven second hand and are suspicious that it's been fiddled with you can be confident that it's safe.

Unlike in the USA, the earth in UK wiring is very reliable and *always* present and equipment like microwaves is *always* properly earthed.

Graham

Stick your finger in it. If you die, then it will electrocute you.

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It will also depend on whether the OP is using the appliance on an extension cord. If he is using an extension cord then the continuity and correct termination of all three wires in it must be verified.

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I bought it from a shop called Pound something.. They mostly sell little things for a =A3. This was about =A310. And things are more expensive in the UK than in the US.

Considering the appliance it is, they were almost giving it away!

But even if I can be 'confident' in the shop and the uk plug system. I want to be able to test that it's ok.

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Why would you think this is not the case in the USA? Two prong, potentially ungrounded outlets were history in the early 1960's. Ground is always present unless some idiot disconnected the wire.

Not at all. Grounded outlets were required on all new installations from the '60s all right, but many houses are older than that. New work has to be done to the new code, of course, but there's no requirement to upgrade old wiring just because it's old. Many houses in my area (Ventura Co., CA) still have the old two-pronged outlets.

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I'm late with this but just in case someone with a similar question does a search, for completeness I'd like to offer this...

Basically, what you have is a class 1 appliance, (as opposed to a class 2, like a mobile/cell phone charger for example), and in the UK equipment has to be routinely tested.

You may have noticed a small green label ?Tested For Electrical Safety? complete with a date and someone?s initials or signature on equipment used at your workplace or out in the big world.

I have the qualification to do this and could go into more detail but if you just Google ?Portable Appliance Test? you should find plenty of information and resources to help.

Take care