electrical deaths

There are thousands of 240VAC to 110VAC transformers in the UK. You can buy or hire them. They are mandatory for site work. IOW, builders who need mains power for their drills and saws etc have to use these transformers for safety reasons. They're not really practical for me, though, since they're industrial jobs and weigh about 30lb each. Hence I'd use my variac for anything up to 1hp load. It only handles up to 3.15A max but at least I can move it around with ease.

American drug stores back in the day were amazing. Tube testers and sodas along with all the drugs. What a business model! :-)

Sounds boring. You want quality shows like Rocky & Bullwinkle, Deputy Dog and Casey Jones.

I don't believe the volcano in the first one was actually real.

Do you suspect they may try to whack him yet again? That's my chief concern. Trump knows how to keep world peace in tact without recourse to military action. That's very good! Biden - or rather his controllers - seem hell-bent on starting WW3 before January and the scheduled handover.

We have polarized line plugs in the US, but the wiring old and new isn't consistent, or becomes so over time. And so people often intentionally defeat the polarization.

Part of the problem is that for many small appliances, the plug was bigger than the appliance. Probably more expensive too.

Anyway, my instinct is that not polarizing plugs and sockets is more realistic, as it forces manufacturers to pass safety regardless of hoe things are plugged in.

Joe Gwinn

Surströmming?

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Joe Gwinn

Very likely. I have eaten it many times. With mandelpotatis & vodka as required by tradition.

John

In some countries the two contacts are between phases on a three-phase supply, so there is no neutral at the socket.

John

Huh? Why would they want to use their power tools at half the voltage and at least half the power? Running a 240 volt drill at 110?

It would make sense to use a 240:240 isolation transformer, though.

We had that situation for some years. Many houses were wired at 127, while others were wired for 220, from the same 4 distribution wires. I was learning as a teenager and with my first multimeter I found out we had two lives, contrary to what my books said.

If the tin was swollen it could be anything inside, already spoiled and fermenting.

No, the power tools will be designed for 115V Building sites require nothing above 60V (the exact number may be 55, not sure) between you and ground. So 240V to 120V isolation transformer with secondary centre tapped to ground. Public display christmas tree lights may require the same. Nothing above 60V so you can't get your hand on the open circuit end end of a string which has 240V on the other end.

One of the problems was identified as an insulating layer building up between the bulk of the cathode coating and the surface layer. If I remember correctly it was caused by molecules of occluded gas (mainly oxygen) being released from the electrodes. Better de-gassing methods, which included induction heating the electrodes while the valve was on the pump, coupled with improved getters, improved valve life - but these improvements only came at the end of the valve era and didn't benefit

The problem was made worse by the set designers trying to screw the maximum performance out of each valve and component ...and then some. Over-run screen grid resistors changed value, which overheated the screen grid and released gasses, which caused ionisation, increased the anode cureent and overheated the anode - which released more gas etc.

Ah, it is a building code somewhere. USA? Ah, no, you said UK. Well, that is a surprise to me. I had no idea.

But they are using the two semiphases, so 120 volts tools?

Interesting idea. Wise. Unless some idiot forgets to install the ground connection because he is on a hurry.

No, here (Spain) we use full voltage (230) at building sites. Some machines, like the crane, may have the three phases, ie, 300 volts between phases. Of course, I suppose many workers are using battery powered tools.

Me neither, but life is boring outside of it.

We also have time shift, on all channels. The tiny box at home sends a command to the server farm, and the time stops or goes backwards. Of course, the response time is sluggish, but it works, with relatively dumb hardware at home.

Reminds me. Over a decade ago I bought a Gigaset M740 AV terrestrial digital tv tuner. It could record or time shift using an external usb hard disk (not provided) or a Windows or Linux computer sharing a directory.

It had two tuners. It was capable of recording from two stations at the same time as playing a previous recording.

And it had a community of developers, so that there were alternative firmwares more powerful than the original.

Unfortunately, the digital broadcasting system in Spain has been improved to HD (high definition), and the machine does not work any more (as a tuner/recorder). I have not found a modern replacement with similar capabilities.

On DVDs?

I don't think there are DVD libraries here. I should ask.

I did not study valves in college, nor saw them in the field. It was the transistor and IC era. But I looked at valves with some interest.

Another good reason.

Joe Gwinn

Yes, the tools are designed to run at half the normal mains supply voltage.

Not possible unless someone deliberately tampers with it.

In Spain the ground is usually a *lot* drier than in the UK! I know you have your 'cold drop' in October, but the rest of the year is generally pretty dry.