On Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:26:40 -0600, bud-- wrote:
A question is whether the spur is ring-wire-size or 'full-wire-size'.
The Wiki article sounds like it is ring-wire-size with limitation on the
number of outlets or possible fuses.
Yeah, normally ring-wire-size from installations I've seen, so some care
has to be taken when adding new services (although I suppose that's true
of any type of electrical system)
Aside: I can never quite decide whether I prefer UK-style outlets/plugs
or US ones. Remember that all plugs for UK appliances have their own
fuse, rather than relying on tripping a breaker back in the service
panel, and all outlets there have a live/neutral/earth connection - as
a result the plugs are quite large (although not as chunky as US 240V
plugs, thankfully), but the built-in fuse is nice to have.
I assume a major purpose of the fuse is that you are connecting a cord
with rather limited current rating to a 30/32A ring circuit.
Well, not just the cord, but the device itself too; it's nice if the
device doesn't have to wait for the main ring fuse to blow (or breaker to
trip) if there's a fault. Fuses in plugs were commonly 3A, 5A or 13A -
although ISTR seeing 2A before, and in reality most things end up using
13A with some smaller stuff (lamps etc.) using 3A.
OTOH I like how compact US plugs are - particularly on things like wall
warts where the pins fold away for storage.
OTOH (again) US plugs can be knocked such that they expose the pins,
which seems like a major safety hazard...
But, I thought Europe was all 220, ie, two hot legs, residentially??
Yeah, I think it's all technically 230V these days actually - the UK
lowered theirs slightly (as did others) whilst some other countries on
220V upped theirs a little. It's just too ingrained in my mind such
that I'll always call the UK system 240V...
All 3-phase at utility end, from what I have read, with hot and neutral
supplied. You may get 2 of the phases. And in some countries I have read
you get all 3 phases.
Yes, some larger houses can end up with a couple of phases (in the UK).
Typically they're just a single phase, though. Not sure what the rest of
Europe's like.
The UK, in particular, does seem to be a much more 'engineered' system.
Not sure how much the 'cowboy' mentality in the US would allow that.
Receptacle configurations have changed even since WWII if I read the
Wiki article right.
Yeah, there have been some changes to outlet designs, plugs and light
fittings - plus of course at some point fuse boxes started disappearing
and were replaced by breakers.
Surprising how much even the names of parts are different from this side
the pond (like "consumer unit" in the Wiki article).
Uh huh. Cord vs. cable, outlet vs. socket etc... although having done the
move from one country to another there's a lot of commonality, too. Enough
that the US system more or less makes sense to me now ;-)
Oh, I found a world map of the various voltages/frequencies in use which
may be of interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wo...6Frequency.png
cheers
Jules