Internal wiring of USA v UK mains plug

Yes. Entirely political. We are the Land of the Free. If people want to electrocute themselves, they have that right. Most of us in America are grownups, who know better, and so don't need nanny queen to wipe our ass for us.

Thanks, Rich

That is a sociologic/economic. not technical issue.

I don't know what your load is. The US load per branch circuit is 1800 W, before the circuit breaker in the box will trip. I think a GFI will trip at

Tam

"N Cook" wrote in news:f5vldk$9p4$ snipped-for-privacy@inews.gazeta.pl:

Some are used only in industrial and commercial situations though.

Not shown is the NEMA 10-xx configuration, which is used for the aformentioned 120/240V appliances that use a neutral for chassis grounding and as a return for internal 120V loads. They basically have angled hot prongs with a straight or L shaped neutral prong (appropriately sized for the load). FWIW, the NEMA 10-15 plug is exactly the same as a typical Australian plug, less safety features.

If like UK wiring of that age, rubberised cloth. Which crumbles away. Uk wiring was often lead sheathed and inside the sheath the insulation can be perfect. But the ends exposed to air etc not.

b wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com:

Not really needed, but could be a hazard due to mis-fusing.

FWIW, some lighting (especially holiday lighting) has fused plugs.

Good aftermarket or factory moulded plugs have grips.

As I said, good plugs don't have them, and wires can be twisted anti- clockwise to wrap around screws.

That is a plus. As is the shuttered recepticals, the reason for the earth pin on everything.

I can't complain there. It is just easier to deal with two prong moulded plugs, and they don't hold that bad in a decent recepticle.

In theory they could handle more, but are only limited to 13A by design. the standard US plug design can do up to 20A.

Another plus for the UK (and Aussie) system.

Here's the one I use:

But yeah, TWO types of outlets? Come on, my house has way more than just TWO types. Heck, I have at least two types of just 120v outlets. I think I have four types of 240v outlets.

snipped-for-privacy@mendelson.com (Geoffrey S. Mendelson) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@cable.mendelson.com:

In new installations maybe. There are still many hundreds of thousands of two prong recepticals still installed, or incorectly refitted to three prong recepticals.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@davenoise.co.uk:

The appliances have a two prong cord, but a 13A plug with a dummy ground pin (to open the shutters in the receptical). With the exception of those that are inteded to be plugged into the batheroom shaver outlet, and those sold in the black/grey market

"Joel Kolstad" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

They blame safety, but it is really the unions that force pipe, where pipe is mandated. Not to mention certain type of buildings requiring conduit or MC wiring.

Tim Shoppa wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

That is improper though.

At minimum it is bad practice to use solid conductor in place of a flex cord.

K&T is almost always solid copper.

" snipped-for-privacy@aol.com" wrote in news:1183051231.753923.312880 @k29g2000hsd.googlegroups.com:

Choc-Blocs or Wagos.

Two-prong receptacles may be replaced by three-prong as long as there is a GFCI on the circuit. It's common to replace the first outlet on the chain with a GFCI outlet. The grounds don't have to be connected, but according to code it has to be marked as ungrounded. I agree that many are incorrectly retrofitted (no GFCI).

will

The lead was the earthing conductor and at most points, of a tight bend, the lead would fail a few years after the bending at installation.

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

USA.

Helps ? It must be easier learning Japanese than learning to differentiate all that lot and then ominously on top of that sections marked "Reserved for Future Configurations" Is it subsets of that lot for each state or each utility company or a total mish-mash ?

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

The entire lighting circuit in my house was wired in lead when I bought it. And there was no sign of this at all. Nor can I think of a reason why it would - unless subject to continuous flexing. In which case the conductors would fail too.

The current EU standard is a 2 pin plug that looks like the one you have not seen in 20 years. The grounded version is the same with a third pin of the same diameter, but slightly longer between them but below.

The two "fat" round pins, were only used in some parts of Europe and does not fit in the U.K. outlets.

According to an answer to a previous post, modern U.K. outlets have shutters which are opened by inserting the ground pin. This is to prevent the two round pin plugs going in on their own, albeit with a little force.

I know the adaptors of which you spoke, I have several. They take a two pin "euro" plug and clamp onto them. They have to be installed with a screwdriver, so they are not for casual useage and won't fall out halfway when pulled, like the simple two pin U.S. to "euro" plug adaptors.

I recently bought a rice cooker made in the U.S. for export. It had sat unused for years. It was 220 volt, but had a U.S. plug with one of those simple adaptors on it. Since I consider the chance of it staying together while I unplugged it near zero, as soon as I tested it to make sure it worked, off came the plug and a three pin "euro" plug went on it. The third pin is of no real use, the cord is only two wire.

However, I've seen enough of them to know that I am in the very small minority. Most people just use the adaptors and be done with it. I assume the smarter but less handy ones tape them together.

Geoff.

Exactly that. The precise term is "Knob and Tube", The insulation is a mixture of silk, rubber and asphaltic tar that remains quite stable under most conditions, although it becomes brittle at temperature extremes (hot and cold). One would think from the ingredients that the insulation would burn from a sideways glance... not so at all.

I worked my way through college as an old-house electrician and ran across scads of the stuff. Some of the original lighting circuits (but nothing else) in our house are still operating from K&T wiring installed in 1906. The house was built in 1890, originally piped with gas for lighting.

Will show you it in-situ.

If you keep in mind that the conductors are typically separated by some distance, and where they penetrate boxes, walls and turn corners, there is either a ceramic insulator (knob) or ceramic/ additional woven silk/asphalt/rubber (tube), as long as the copper itself is not raised to ignition-point temperatures it is quite safe.

With reference to the NEC, it may be maintained but not installed-as- new.

And an unbelievable amount of flea-market wind-chimes are made from old ceramic tubes....

Peter Wieck Wyncote, PA

A lot. Trust me on this.

David Starr

Thanks for the exaplanation. Here in Oregon, you're not allowed to pump your own gasoline, and one of the reasons stated is due to "safety." Yeah, Oregonians must be real morons compared to the rest of the country, who all (except New Jersey, the only other no-self-service state) manage to pump their own gasoline and not routinely start themselves or others on fire, create environmental hazards, etc.

The law itself isn't necessarily bad, but the justification is.