Re: British (european?) kitchen counter electric outlets

I like the idea of a fuse in the plug end of the cord.

I'm only aware of that for Christmas lights in the U.S.A.

The Christmas lights show that small fuses can fit in a slightly larger plug and not require anything nearly as large as European plugs that I've seen pictures / video of.

What year?

Not sure what you're asking but a UK power strip can easily handle 3KW.

They may have had switches too.

We tend to skimp on the number of socket outlet plates in buildings, but they are usually doubles, each with its own switch. There are generally fewer electrical gadgets in UK kitchens and those which are used less often are stored away in cupboards and only brought out and plugged in when needed, so a smaller number of outlets is usually sufficient.

We also have socket strips which plug into wall sockets and give four or six outlets (normally unswitched) for lighter loads. This is helpful for temporary arrangements where more sockets are needed in a hurry - but tends to become permanent, leading to a maze of wires behind the furniture. The strip is plugged into a normal wall socket with a fused plug, so if it is overloaded, the fuse will blow and protect it.

Because the UK voltage is double the US voltage, the UK current is half the US current for the same power, so our wiring tends to be lighter gauge but we are much stricter on preventing electric shock.

Quite. It's been the practice to steadily increase the number of fixed wall power outlets over the years. The sitcom could easily be 30 or 40 years old, in which case, two or three worktop double outlets would be about par for the course back then.

Electric cookers are invariably wired-in permanently with their own dedicated spur from the fuse box or consumer unit. This is because UK cookers have tended to be standalone units with (for intance) four top rings, a grill and an oven. With everything switched on (such as preparing Christmas dinner) they can draw over 12 kW.

They must have a two-pole isolating switch located close to, but not directly above, them. Often these isolators also have a built-in single socket which is handy for an electric kettle or similar appliance that is used frequently and needs to be kept near the cooker.

In the last 20 years there has been a trend towards separate units in different locations for the various function of a cooker, so some of the lower-power units can be fed from a socket instead of being permanently wired-in.

Refrigerators and microwave ovens will work off a 13 amp socket, so they are rarely 'plumbed-in' ...but the socket may be located on the wall directly behind them and inacessible unless the appliance is moved out first.

Washing machines and dishwashers are plumbed-in for water and waste but they are usually restricted to 3 kW and will therefore work off a 13 amp socket. The arrangement of water hoses, taps and fittings close to a

I heard from a domestic appliance manufacturer with international sales that the models for America, the UK and Europe differ in the design of the casing. The American models are designed to make more noise, as this gives the impression they are powerful. The UK models are quieter to give the impression of efficiency and the European models are super-quiet to give the impression of environmental friendliness.

I don't know how true that is, but it is an interesting view on national psychology.

That may be a side effect of stage sets not reflecting real life.

Historically you would have to go back to the 1960's or earlier to have as few as two mains sockets in a UK kitchen. My kitchen has 4x2 outlets above the bench and about 6 under it for fridge/freezer/washer/oven etc.

There certainly was a time when kitchens typically had only one high power socket outlet on the (hard wired in) main cooker switch. But we are talking of an era before rectangular plugs back when they were round pin. BS546 round pin was the more recent and before that Wylex which was

-o- a regional abberration in the region where I grew up.

That is no different in most of the UK. Sitcom sets don't always represent real life. That said you can find older UK kitchens with too few mains sockets. New build has to have a certain number. Those in regions prone to flooding also have to have them above a certain height. (historically most were on the skirting board)

It has become more of a problem now that everyone has an iToy that needs charging on a daily basis. Trivial loads but many sockets needed.

Wylex was a brilliant and economical system which combined all the best features of a ring main, a spur system and stackable fused plugs to avoid multiple power points or proliferated adaptors. It is a pity it wasn't adopted as a British Standard instead of the clumsy system we now have.

The different-width pin system, which prevented overloading low-current circuits, has continued to be used in the fuse carriers of Wylex consumer units until very recently.

We mostly fit double outlet sockets 20-30 cm above worktops on the wall. Each socket ( there can be several spread around the kitchen area) can supply ( in theory) 30 Amps @ 230V. Back at the main fusebox, there will be a 30 Amp MCB( miniature contact breaker). All the sockets are wired in a 'ring main' format to prevent excessive volt drops at any outlet. A kettle will have a typical power rating of 3kW so ~13 Amps draw. Other main appliances - dish washer/washing machine/oven etc mostly have thier own separate supplies. Ovens will be wired using 6mm cable.Microwave/toaster coffe maker will be plugged itto a wall socket in the kitchen. Plugs will be fitted with either 3A/5A or 13A fuses depending.

In the UK, it's common now to fit double plug sockets that have built in dual USB outlets that can supply 2A per USB socket. We have 2 in our kitchen as a retro fit so we can charge 4 devices.

In the UK we have slim sockets now.... protruding maybe 2mm from the wall. Earlier types protruded around 10mm and before that ( we called them surface mount) they protruded 25mm-40 mm.Our duplex sockets measure

Our serious heat loads (house central heat, fireplace, water heater, cooktop, clothes dryer) are natural gas. It's simple and very reliable. Do brits commonly use gas at home?

How much do you pay for electricity in a typical month?

Yes

Much more so than electricity for heating as it's much cheaper - about a third to one quarter of the cost.

There is a move here to get people to install air-sourced heat pumps instead which use electricity and are said to provide about the same heating as gas for a similar cost as they output about 3 - 4kWh of heat for every 1kWh of electricity they consume (ground-sourced heat pumps are more efficient but fiendishly expensive and need a lot of land). All this is to support the use of renewable energy from solar or wind power. What is often not made clear is that current heating systems will have to be replaced almost entirely as ASHP provide heated water at a lower temperature than the currently-used gas or oil burners do. This necessitates using much bigger radiators and/or installing underfloor water heating. And to be added to that is the need for better insulation so that heat loss is reduced.

How long is a piece of string? It will depend on personal preferences, weather conditions, how efficient the heating system is (including losses), etc. We have a "price cap" in the UK which - sort of - controls the prices of gas and electricity. From

I'm not sure if you can see that BBC page in the USA, but if so there's a lot more information there.

Remember that in the UK most older houses are brick built with plastered walls so there is a fair amount of effort chasing a socket box into the wall. Historically a lot of ring mains wiring also ran behind the skirting board at the base of the wall and sockets were let into that.

Surface mounted boxes are generally used in garages and utility rooms or in positions that are out of sight (like under counters behind fridges).

You can get flush surface mount units but you have to chase that much further into brickwork to fit the it in. The old way with ~10mm protruding was the least worst option and is still common. New build with a lot of stud walling tends to have more modern flush mount.

It takes a while with a chisel to knock a hole big enough for a UK mains socket out of a wall which is why most remain 10mm out to this day. The plaster tends to fall off nearby so it is always messy to install one.

Mostly gas 74% at least in the cities although it is slowly changing to air source heat pumps (which is a stupid idea in a country where the coldest months typically have near 100% humidity and hover around 0C). They ice up with monotonous regularity. Ground source heat pumps are a slightly better bet.

See for example the census data:

Snag is consumer electricity prices are linked to the most expensive way of making the last bit of electricity needed to satisfy demand which has resulted in insane price increases since the Ukraine invasion. So bad that the government has had to intervene with price caps.

For my house comparatively little despite the large number of gadgets my base load is only about 100W continuous. We don't have gas so are on solid fuel (wood/coal) and oil CH which spiked after Ukraine. But OTOH they were practically giving it away when Covid closed down air travel!

I wonder how gas can be rated in KWh. That must asssume some sort of gas-to-electricity converter machine.

The easy way would be to compare direct gas heating with resistive electric heating, both of which are crazy inefficient.

There is a movement here to eliminate gas to Save The Earth. Berkeley CA forbids running gas to new-construction homes. I'm sure that will keep Climate Change from affecting Berkeley.

Wood and coal are nasty, with lots worse by-products than CO2. We theoretically outlaw burning wood in San Francisco when weather conditions are wrong, but that's not enforced.

It's cold here so we leave the gas heat on all the time. When it's cold and foggy we can hit as much as $300 a month for gas+electricity, which are on the same bill. People with air conditioning can pay much more, but a/c makes life possible in many parts of the USA.

There's no conversion machine. Here is the explanation from a gas bill last year: "Your gas meter measures usage in units, but like all suppliers, we have to do a bit of maths to turn it into kWh. Here's how it works: GAS UNITS USED X CALORIFIC VALUE (39.1) X VOLUME CORRECTION (1.02264) ÷ 3.6" That particular month, I used 146 units according to the gas meter, so the calculation was:

The caloric value and volume correction varies slightly depending on the source of the natural gas. Note that for modern gas meters, 1 unit = 1 cubic metre.

??? Forgetting for the moment the source of the electricity, resistive electric heating is 100% efficient!

Similar here. There's going to be a ban on gas heaters for new homes from 2025 (probably?). See