On Sat, 12 Mar 2016 18:41:40 -0000, wrote:

On Sat, 12 Mar 2016 17:04:32 -0000, "Mr Macaw" wrote:

On Tue, 08 Mar 2016 20:17:30 -0000, wrote:

They do not fuse plugs here, except for cheap asian christmas lights
with wire that is less than a mm (20 ga)

So all cords you plug in can take the full 15A of the breaker in the box then? If not, they should be fused. Especially an extension cord with more than one socket on the end.

It is an issue but not serious enough to require fused plugs. I
suspect it will be a reality some day.
They have made 18 ga cords illegal tho and a 16 ga cord will run quite
a while on 15a without getting that hot.
14ga is limited by code to 15a but the real ampacity is 20 (we don't
tell people that tho)

What about a bedside lamp? What cable does that use and is it fused at the plug?

This is becoming a nanny state. You can' do anything without bumping
into laws about helmets, seat belts, guard rails etc. A damned ladder
has to have about 15 labels warning of bad things that happen if you
actually climb up it.

I almost gave the "health and softy officer" at my last place of work a heart attack many times. To reach the ceiling to change the bulb in a projector, I placed 9 square desks in a 3x3 arrangement, 2x2 on that, then 1 on that. Then I climbed the pyramid and changed the bulb. She happened to walk in while I was doing it and said "I didn't see that!" then ran off. When she discovered I'd climbed onto the sloped roof of the two storey building to adjust a satellite dish for internet reception after strong winds, she almost cried.

My wife is the safety officer at her place and she would just make you
get down ... as a condition of your employment. It is all about
lawyers. They let them advertise on TV and you see ads like "did you
get hurt doing something incredibly stupid, We can get you money. Call
Dewey Cheatum and Howe".

Oh I was told not to do things, but I just disobeyed. If they want me to work there, they have to let me do it my way. Anyway, they all knew I was completely against childish lawsuit **** and would never have sued them. I take responsibility for my own actions.

Absolutely true. I admit, if I was actually boiling that much water, I
would do it. We can buy a duplex outlet that has 240 and 120 in the
same device and the 240 side would not even have to be GFCI (RCD).

Er..... you need to GFCI a low voltage but not the more dangerous 240?!

It is just the way the law is written. Most of the outlets are 120v as
is most of the portable equipment.

Lets make the safe things safer and to hell with the dangerous things?

Since it is required to have two 120v circuits serving the counter top
it would be trivial to bring that from both sides of the center tap
with a neutral and split it right there for your two required 120v
circuits.
I was impressed by the 240v kettles in New Zealand but once I got
home, I realized, we don't drink tea. Coffee makers work fine on 120
and most do not even approach the 1440w available. A drip maker can
just "drip" so fast without overloading the filter pan. Even the big
commercial units are still 120v and commercial kitchens always have
240 available.

Yes, but the time taken from switching it on to getting the first cup of coffee would **** me off. I want it ready within 30 seconds of me wanting it.

As someone else pointed out, the process takes longer than that, no
matter how fast you can actually boil the water. The real coffee nuts
will say "boiling" is too hot for coffee anyway, hence our drip
machines.

Not for instant. You boil the water stir in the powder and add milk.

I guess the bottom line is this side of the pond is 120v and it is
going to stay that way. We seem to get by.

I would accept that if you ONLY had 120V. But since you have the 240V available, why not use it? If I moved there, I'd likely change every damn outlet to 240V.

You would have to bring your equipment with you. We don't have much
240v stuff except for fixed in place equipment.

Never heard of Ebay?

OK now explain why you drive on the wrong side of the road ;-)

Isn't it historical to do with knights and holding swords?

I guess we usually learn how to shoot with both hands

Really? Surely shooting a gun accurately is like swinging a golf club, you learn to do it one way round.

--
A government survey has shown that 91% of illegal immigrants come to this country so that they can see their own doctor.