In article ,
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
b wrote:
Leaving aside the joining wires/terminal blocks issue, on the subject
of the plugs and sockets, the UK one to me is superior in many ways.
1. fused plugs.
Ok, I'll conceed that one, but only 50%, after all, how many people
put a 16amp fuse on a .5mm cord?
13 amp is the largest plug top fuse. And all flex these days is such that
it will blow a 13 amp fuse in event of a short - to allow for the fact
that householders won't use the correct fuse.
2. cord grip in plugs
You can get them in the U.S. I occasionaly use them here for 120
volt equipment (I brought a few items with me) and had a friend
bring me some LEVITON (high quality plugs) from the U.S. They
ave execelent grips on them.
You've no choice in the UK - all plugs must conform to the BS standard.
One without a cord grip wouldn't.
3. screw terminals in plugs -no wrapping wires.
The Leviton plugs have them too. I'm not sure they are an advantage,
the gripping area is the area of the screw shaft,not the circumfrence
times the area of the wire surface, a lot smaller.
4. ALL receptacles and plugs have earth pin.
Cut me a break. Since around 1960 all of the outlets in the U.S. have
grounds. In the U.K. you can buy appliances with 2 condoctor cords
with two plug pins that can usually be forced into U.K. outlets.
They are supposed to be for export to the E.U. but they are sold.
No you can't - legally. With the exception of shavers or toothbrushes etc
designed to fit a transformer isolated bathroom outlet, everything must be
fitted with a '13 amp' plug with a suitable fuse.
Many of the appliances sold here come that way too, but I must be
the only person who cuts them off and puts three pin plugs with large
grips on them. I also write the name of the appliance on its plug.
It does not make an difference electricaly, the appliances come with
two conductor cords and I don't replace them.
5. 3 prong design means a better fit (they don't waggle about at all)
See above.
6. much thicker pins - handle more current, do not bend, and seem to
resist arcing damage better.
That's a big problem here. Many appliances use 15-16 amps (at 230 volts)
and come with the smaller round plugs which are rated at 16 amps, but
not for continuous duty. When we moved into this appartment, all of the
outlets had burnt "hot" pins because the previous tenants plugged
high current heaters into them.
I replaced the outlet for our oven with an airconditioner plug, which
except for the round pins looks like a U.K. plug. It's no longer
used we replaced it with a gas oven.
7. switched sockets
Maybe. only good if they are not at floor level.
Well if you reach down to plug/unplug you can operate a switch at the same
time. Most do as it's sort of bred into them through habit - most outlets
have always been switched in the UK.
One advantage we have here in Israel is that all new construction
requires a GFI on all outlets. Usually it's BEFORE the main
circuit breaker.
The usual modern way here is to have a split load consumer unit. One set
of MCBs protected by an RCD and one set not. The non protected used for
fixed loads like cookers and water heaters where slight leakage might
cause an RCD to trip. But we seem to be moving to one RCBO (RCD and MCB
combined) per circuit.
.....etc.
The US /japan one only has the advantage of compact size, personally I
can live with a bigger plug if it means better performance. I couldn't
care less about cosmetic aspects!
As someone said earlier, it depends upon how much you pay. If you
buy cheap junk, you get cheap junk. :-)
In general it's not possible to buy poor quality plugs and sockets in the
UK.
This is one example of the bottom end price wise, but will give good
service for years.
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/AA213SS.html
Of course you can pay several times that much for chrome etc finish
accessories.
--
*Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional
Dave Plowman
London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.