On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 16:23:04 +0000 (UTC), the renowned Ian Stirling
wrote:

In rec.crafts.metalworking Spehro Pefhany wrote:
On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 13:05:45 GMT, the renowned Bill
wrote:

Well, a couple of years ago I bought a $20 hammer drill, knowing that it
would probably fail early. I was right the bearings started going out
on the first job and were really sad on the second, but I went in with
my eyes open. Then a while back I needed a replacement power cord, so I
thought. I will cut the cord off of the hammer drill and get a little
more good out of my $20. Well, the cord didn't have a ground in it. It
had a three prong plug, but no ground wire. So I didn't even get that
last little bit of good out of the drill.

Cripes, if anyone had gotten electrocuted, the plaintiff's lawyer
would have had a field day. No UL approval, I guess.

Double insulated tools don't need a third wire, even on 240V.

True. If the tool was actually double-insulated to meet UL
requirements. If it wasn't approved, we don't know. They might have
used any number of substandard materials. Or maybe it's fine, just
they have not spent the $5K to get the approvals. I've seen both
situations.

The only possible problem (if it was double insulated) would be if there
is a code problem with connecting a 3 pin plug to a 2 wire cord.

*Surely* it's not permitted (by UL or CSA) to manufacture approved
tools with FAKE 3-wire cords.

I'd look at it and assume the exposed metal bits were supposed to be
grounded/earthed, safer than double-insulated in some situations.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
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