Group:

I'm putting a new plug on my wife's hairdryer. The old plug was
unpolarized, and the cord doesn't give any indication of polarity - is there
any way I should know other than testing with a meter which wire is hot and
which neutral?.

Cheers

Den

"Den" wrote in message
...
Group:

I'm putting a new plug on my wife's hairdryer. The old plug was
unpolarized, and the cord doesn't give any indication of polarity - is
there
any way I should know other than testing with a meter which wire is hot
and
which neutral?.

Cheers

Den

Do you have an ohm meter? Take it apart and ohm out the cord. Should be self
evident from there. Personally I would just go buy another one. Then again
maybe ... naw I am not going there.

A new hair dryer probably doesn't cost much more than the replacement plug
and will probably have a built in cut off if it is dropped in water.


"Den" wrote in message
...
Group:

I'm putting a new plug on my wife's hairdryer. The old plug was
unpolarized, and the cord doesn't give any indication of polarity - is
there
any way I should know other than testing with a meter which wire is hot
and
which neutral?.

Cheers

Den

I agree with ohming out the wires.

Often one of the sides of the cord will have grooves or writing on
it. The neutral is normally identified by something, though I
have had cords with no discernible difference.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing. . . .
DanG


"Den" wrote in message
...
Group:

I'm putting a new plug on my wife's hairdryer. The old plug was
unpolarized, and the cord doesn't give any indication of
polarity - is there
any way I should know other than testing with a meter which wire
is hot and
which neutral?.

Cheers

Den

Den wrote:
Group:

I'm putting a new plug on my wife's hairdryer. The old plug was
unpolarized, and the cord doesn't give any indication of polarity -
is there any way I should know other than testing with a meter which
wire is hot and which neutral?.

Cheers

Den

If you have a hair dryer old enough to not have a polarized plug, I
would buy a new safer one. The old one is more likely to soon experience
other problems as well.

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

It shouldn't make any difference. Both sides are insulated in the hair
dryer. Attach the new plug and use it.

RB

Den wrote:
Group:

I'm putting a new plug on my wife's hairdryer. The old plug was
unpolarized, and the cord doesn't give any indication of polarity - is there
any way I should know other than testing with a meter which wire is hot and
which neutral?.

Cheers

Den

Joseph Meehan wrote:
If you have a hair dryer old enough to not have a polarized plug, I
would buy a new safer one. The old one is more likely to soon experience
other problems as well.

For a hairdryer, I think this is good advice. New hairdryers come with
GFCI built-in (and you should have GFCI in your bathroom plugs now anyway).

Even if you say your wife knows how to handle herself around the sink
(surely not the bathtub!), you may have children or relatives around at
some point.

RB wrote:
It shouldn't make any difference. Both sides are insulated in the
hair dryer. Attach the new plug and use it.


I wonder if an hair dryer old enough not to have a polarized plug would
be. Of course then there is the question of what condition it is in and the
fact that it does not have the additional safety features of modern hair
dryers.

Most hair dryers are made as throw-a-ways and not really designed to be
durable.

RB

Den wrote:
Group:

I'm putting a new plug on my wife's hairdryer. The old plug was
unpolarized, and the cord doesn't give any indication of polarity -
is there any way I should know other than testing with a meter which
wire is hot and which neutral?.

Cheers

Den

--
Joseph E. Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:01:55 -0500, Dan Hartung
wrote:

For a hairdryer, I think this is good advice. New hairdryers come with
GFCI built-in (and you should have GFCI in your bathroom plugs now anyway).

You take elecrtical appliances into the bathroom? Sheesh!

In the UK it is completely illegal to have a mains socket in a
bathroom, (save for a small isolated shaver socket.)

sPoNiX

Ahh

Now this strikes a note! I'm a Brit living in California! My wife used to
rant on about not being able to have a hairdryer in the bathroom in
Berkshire ... but here she can!

Den

"sPoNiX" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 08 Apr 2004 22:01:55 -0500, Dan Hartung
wrote:

For a hairdryer, I think this is good advice. New hairdryers come with
GFCI built-in (and you should have GFCI in your bathroom plugs now
anyway).

You take elecrtical appliances into the bathroom? Sheesh!

In the UK it is completely illegal to have a mains socket in a
bathroom, (save for a small isolated shaver socket.)

sPoNiX

"Den" wrote in
:

Group:

I'm putting a new plug on my wife's hairdryer. The old plug was
unpolarized, and the cord doesn't give any indication of polarity - is
there any way I should know other than testing with a meter which wire
is hot and which neutral?.

Cheers

Den

Since the original plug could be inserted either way, it shouldn't make a
difference.

Den wrote:
Oh they have (except they're pronounced RCD's ... residual current device)!.
In the UK though, they tend not to be fitted to an appliance (like modern US
hairdryers) but at the breaker board (UK fuse board), or sometimes in place
of a outlet (UK socket).

The latter are normal here for kitchen and bathroom installations. I
would say that breaker board is found in new construction, outlet in
remodeling, as a rule of thumb. Of course there are thousands of
kitchens and bathrooms with non-GFCI/GFI/RCD outlets installed.

Only recently have hairdryers come with their own in-cord device.

Mind you UK wiring regs prohibit outlets in bathrooms, and switches must be
pull switches. All you can have is shaver sockets powered by isolation
transformers!

Interesting. The rule here is no outlets or switches within X inches of
a bathtub or shower (to discourage accidental mixing of electricity and
water), but it's allowed to have outlets in the bathroom proper. In
fact, I was just asking a friend whose bathroom is being redone why she
left only the double socket by the sink instead of upping it to four.

Heck, in my parents' bathroom, there's a radio, a space heater, a
water-pik, and a CO detector -- and that's not counting hair dryers and
curlers that are plugged in temporarily.

040411 1348 - Dan Hartung posted:

Den wrote:
Oh they have (except they're pronounced RCD's ... residual current device)!.
In the UK though, they tend not to be fitted to an appliance (like modern US
hairdryers) but at the breaker board (UK fuse board), or sometimes in place
of a outlet (UK socket).

The latter are normal here for kitchen and bathroom installations. I
would say that breaker board is found in new construction, outlet in
remodeling, as a rule of thumb. Of course there are thousands of
kitchens and bathrooms with non-GFCI/GFI/RCD outlets installed.

Only recently have hairdryers come with their own in-cord device.

Mind you UK wiring regs prohibit outlets in bathrooms, and switches must be
pull switches. All you can have is shaver sockets powered by isolation
transformers!

Interesting. The rule here is no outlets or switches within X inches of
a bathtub or shower (to discourage accidental mixing of electricity and
water), but it's allowed to have outlets in the bathroom proper. In
fact, I was just asking a friend whose bathroom is being redone why she
left only the double socket by the sink instead of upping it to four.

Heck, in my parents' bathroom, there's a radio, a space heater, a
water-pik, and a CO detector -- and that's not counting hair dryers and
curlers that are plugged in temporarily.


That's why they make those cubes: so you can plug in more stuff...