Why do circuit breakers go up for on and down for off?

My personal opinion is that I want up to be on and down to be off specifically because I don't want something falling to be able to turn a switch on.

Admittedly this is more applicable to a light switch than a circuit breaker. But that's my /personal/ reasoning why switches are set up that way in my houses.

No, it isn't.

Don't get me started on throttle levers. Mostly maximum rabbit is away from you, except when it isn't. Motorcycle twist grip etc.

I can't tease my US plug such that I can get shocked, and 120 would only tickle anyhow.

GFCI outlets are required here in kitchens and bathrooms, near faucets and tubs, and in places like garages where one might stand barefoot on wet concrete.

One in our kitchen sometimes false-trips when certain appliances are used, especially my immersion blender which probably has sparky brushes. I should replace that outlet with a plain one.

FYI that is the case in the UK, but the opposite is the case in the Americas.

A circuit breaker will operate in any orientation, and are mounted horizontally in most breaker panels.

How many guitarists and singers have been electrocuted on stage from the 'death capacitor' by 120V?

120V Brazil

The death capacitor is suppose to go from neutral to ground. On a 2 wire amp. Without a polarised plug.

So if the plug is reversed the chassis is at 120v AC with respect to true ground, via quite a reasonable sized capacitor.

Guitar is connected to amp ground. Microphone is connected to PA system which may well be properly grounded.

Even worse is if one of the incoming mains wires is connected to the chassis.

Full 120V across both sweaty hand clutching steel strings and a mic stand is death causing.

These days everyone fits three pin polarised plugs, earths the chassis and throws the death cap in the bin

That's one more hazard of hiring drugged-out roadies.

When I was a kid I had an old Hallicrafters S38 shortwave receiver that had one side of the non-polarized AC line soldered to the chassis. It had grommets that supposedly insulated the chassis from the metal case and of course didn't.

I built a little neon bulb thing that I could touch and see if it was plugged in the bad way.

It was a shortwave version of the "All American Five."

Try to curb your negative expectations.

So he rear-ended you?

Appropriate terminology differs, depending on social norms in different cultures. Your way is your way but not necessarily the Platonic, "correct" way.

You're probably sitting either too high or too low in the driver's seat. If you can't determine that you're going 100 mph, the police will be happy to inform you.

No there is plenty of space.

When I was about 12, I almost electrocuted myself with one of those Hallicrafters S38s. I was reaching down to make a connection to a lightning arrestor grounding strap and thoughtlessly placed my other hand on the receiver's cover to balance myself. 120V straight through from one hand to the other! I learned quickly never to attach or detach any wire from that receiver without unplugging it first.

Everybody's life is worth exactly as much as the amount of life insurance that they see fit to carry.

Currently, mine is worth $0.

It can cause corrosion on the pipes. And today the pipes are made of some plastic here.

Not here.

The neutral is grounded (to rods inserted in the mud) at the substation, and at the homes we have to insert a different rod for earth, in our mud, and is never joined to neutral.

When I first read the comment in this thread, I was thinking service disconnects.

I can't think of any wall mount service disconnects that don't have up as on and down as off.

The only thing I've seen is not wall mounted and is instead on tap boxes for bus ways. Most of those are the up / on & down / off, but some are side to side, usually on the bottom of such tap boxes.

Disassemble a house fan, and you will see one such reverse bolt, and understand why they exist :-)

Stay away from vintage Chrysler Corporation vehicles. The lug nuts on the right were left handed thread. Some other manufacturers also did the same.

The theory was the wheel rotation would loosen a right handed fastener. It was valid for the Rudge-Whitworth style center-lock hubs popular on old British sports cars with wire wheels but overkill for modern wheels.

You're going back a long way there, they were Penny and Giles quadrant faders, and they worked backwards because they were quarter-circles on edge, and someone seated at the desk couldn't see the furthest markings very well. So maximum volume was closest to the operator, where individual dB markings were easy to read.

I worked in Television Centre about 45 years ago and never saw one there, though I think they still existed at the Wood Norton training centre. The BBC couldn't afford to build its own equipment by that time, they were buying from the big mixer manufacturers, who were using the familiar flat slider potentiometers.

[snip]

That's something I had trouble understanding.

They are at the same voltage when no current is being drawn. When current is being drawn, there will be a voltage drop on the current-carrying wire.

No need for the 100mA RCD, just put RCBOs on all the circuits that need

30mA RCD protection - which includes the lights these days. While there is no requirement to add RCBOs to existing lighting circuits, its cheap and easy to do, so it makes sense to bring it up to the modern requirements.

I currently have only one MCB left - which powers the alarm box and TV multiswitch and as these are both under the floor and not likely to be drilled into, there's no rush to change it to an RCBO.

I have installed an unneeded RCBO for the EV charger - a double pole MCB is sufficient, as the charger includes its own RCD protection. However, my consumer unit is a Crabtree Starbreaker and double pole MCBs take up two slots, while an RCBO, with full off isolation for both L&N, takes up only a single slot. Worst case, there is no discrimination, so either end may trip, but that doesn't really matter.