Today Tonight at it again

Feb 16, 2011 21 Replies
** This item was broadcast on Monday night:

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Just about everything the item said was wrong or very misleading.



Power points do not burst into flames when overloaded - there has to be other SERIOUS problems to cause that.



CRT type TV sets and PC monitors are known to catch fire occasionally ( cos the plastic case is flammable) but what does TT show viewers - a modern Plasma / LCD set instead.



All the "experts " were electricians of course - one implied that a home theatre system plugged into " one power board " was a fire hazard. Bollocks.



Quote:



"People need on average another 1 or 2 power points per room to cope with all the appliances we have in our homes. They'll often undertake that work themselves illegally rather than get a contractor in to do it", say David Hallet from Archicentre.



Anyone spot an obvious example of self interest masquerading as safety advice??



Do none of these " experts " know what the purpose of a " thermal magnetic" circuit breaker is and how the ratings work ?



Do none of them know why thermal breakers are fitted to every multi-way power board ?



Apparently not.


.... Phil


Err. Not all premises have multi-way load centres installed in their household 'fuse' board. Many still rely fuses either rewireble or HRC. Out of interest . In your opinion, what is purpose of a " thermal magnetic" circuit breaker and how do the ratings work ?

Metro man is who ??

** Huh ????

What the f*ck do YOU think a " multi-way power board is "?

Hint - they sell them at K-Mart for about $5.

BTW

I am not here to answer your f****it questions.

.... Phil

Hardly a surprise - it's their stock in trade.

Sylvia.

Yes I miss-read your prattle. Boy you do have a problem though. From Queensland by any chance?

Why do you watch the shut. Is it because they help you feel smart.... As you have pointed out, they don't raise the bar very high! Or are you just killing time before Home and away starts. :-)

:-P

Hey, pull your head in Peter!

"Peter the Pig "

** What question did I answer ??

"Peter the Prick "

** Who says I do??

.... Phil

The few times I have seen it, they seem to just promote scam products or services, the rest of the time it is making a mountain out of a molehill, showing bogans behaving like bogans (trashing rental properties, harassing neighbours).

Not much to see

( cos

dern

me

ks.

k

etic"

I have in the past seen plenty of home made power boards made out of 2 or more domestic power points on a length of wood Never have I seen one that is fused., but these are probably getting scarce these days with commercial power boards (including circuit breaker) being only a few $$. People might still make them in applications where they need individual switches on each socket, or spread out more but power boards with switches are readily available anyway.

As for illegally installed extra power sockets - assuming that the installer hasn't made a bad joint, or used thin wire that overheats under load and starts a fire (ie - thin fig 8 speaker wire etc) , the worst that should happen is the circuit breaker on the fuse board would open once the total current on that circuit got above 16/20a.

I also find it a bit hard to believe that the average TV / home theatre setup could ever draw enough current to cause any problems like this unless you had bad house wiring - and this is hardly the fault of the TV or domestic sound system.

I suppose one could plug in a 2400w heater and other into one side of a double socket that also feeds the home theatre, but I would think that a properly wired house should be able to cope with this situation.

Just typical TT crap.

50 years ago, we would cut off a length of standard floor board, screw on some mounting boxes, wire up twin GPOs and attach and anchor a short flexible lead and plug.

Sure it was illegal, but there was nothing around in those days that would do the same job as an off the shelf power that you see for a few bucks today.

Mind you, some of the modern ones fall to bits in your hands after a couple of years, exposing the metal power bars. Pay peanuts, get monkeys :-)

Cheers Don...

===================

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some mounting boxes, wire up twin GPOs and

d do the same job as an off the shelf power

That is true. The first I can remember coming on the market were in the mid 1970's - those large Kambrook ones. I still have 2 of them here, and they do not have fuses or circuit breakers fitted.

le of years, exposing the metal power bars. Pay

Many power points and light switches crack and break with time too it seems :(

As long as the flex cable on your homemade gizmo was rated at no less than the rating of the GPO that was feeding it, it would be have been legal. It was done many a time in the building game. Sometimes installed in a box to protect it.

Cheers Metro........

I often find TT rather entertaining. For me it is kind of real life comedy, especially since it is supposed to be serious! TT and ACA take gutter "journalism" to ever new heights.

Tony

"Metro the Moron "

** Such a home made unit breaks many laws.

Never heard of the " prescribed items " list ??

.... Phil

ok, phil, why does it break many laws ???

wanker..

Isn't that to do with importing.

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