I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be advocating
having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this really a
responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.
--
Bill

"Bill" wrote in message
...

I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be advocating
having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this really a
responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.
--
Bill

Ah but they are only used to gas ;-)

Gio

"Bill" wrote in message
...

I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be advocating
having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this really a
responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Feel free to complain to the ASA if you feel it's important
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_com...mplaints_form/
make sure you include the phrase "they appear to be advocating xwy" in the
complaint - just so they know how much you are concerned by the advert.

You'll be pleased to know you're not the only one who is concerned.

"OG" wrote in message
...

"Bill" wrote in message
...

I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be advocating
having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this really a
responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Feel free to complain to the ASA if you feel it's important
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_com...mplaints_form/
make sure you include the phrase "they appear to be advocating xwy" in the
complaint - just so they know how much you are concerned by the advert.

You'll be pleased to know you're not the only one who is concerned.

they've got a bilboard advert up near where i live,

wind farm planet plugged into the house plannet, and around the 13 amp plug
are 2 brats looking as if they are about to pull the plug out,

oh noes, think of the chiiiiildreeeeen,

"gazz" wrote in message
...

You'll be pleased to know you're not the only one who is concerned.

they've got a bilboard advert up near where i live,

wind farm planet plugged into the house plannet, and around the 13 amp
plug are 2 brats looking as if they are about to pull the plug out,

oh noes, think of the chiiiiildreeeeen,

forgot, i can't complain my self, as i have and use a widow maker lead
occasionaly (length of flex with a 13 amp plug at each end) only used to
power the house in a power cut,

I turn the main breaker off at the box, plug the widow maker lead into a
socket in the garage, other end into the generators socket, or if more power
is needed, i plug it into the outlet socket on my motorhome and run the
house from the inverter (genny is one of those cheapo 900 watt 2 stroke
jobbies, inverter in the motorhome is a 1500 watt pure sine wave jobbie,
running from 500 AH's of batteries, with 350 watts of solar to charge them,
as well as a 12 volt onboard genny and the mains charger for when plugged
into a power pole)

i know i 'could' put in a transfer switch and proper power inlet plug on the
wall... like the one for putting power into the motorhome, but power cuts
are a once every few year thing, so the widow maker lead does me.

In message , gazz writes
forgot, i can't complain my self, as i have and use a widow maker lead
occasionaly (length of flex with a 13 amp plug at each end) only used
to power the house in a power cut,

I've done something similar, bl**dy dangerous it was too. OK if you are
on your own and realise what you have done, but if any one else came
into contact it could be fatal. I've better things to do with my time
than go to a coroners court and give evidence.



inverter in the motorhome is a 1500 watt pure sine wave jobbie,
running from 500 AH's of batteries

Sounds good, I have one that runs off 48V dc, ex telephone exchange,
good sine wave, pity about the 48V though.



i know i 'could' put in a transfer switch and proper power inlet plug
on the wall... like the one for putting power into the motorhome, but
power cuts are a once every few year thing, so the widow maker lead
does me.

Buy a transfer switch, you know it makes sence :-)

I use one of these,
http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/scripts/...er%20Switch&pr
oduct=25201&utm_campaign=comparison&utm_medium=ncp c&utm_source=froogle

http://tinyurl.com/bk7l7q

But not bought at that price! Shown for illustration only!
--
Bill

It happens that gazz formulated :
forgot, i can't complain my self, as i have and use a widow maker lead
occasionaly (length of flex with a 13 amp plug at each end) only used to
power the house in a power cut,

I turn the main breaker off at the box, plug the widow maker lead into a
socket in the garage, other end into the generators socket, or if more power
is needed, i plug it into the outlet socket on my motorhome and run the house
from the inverter (genny is one of those cheapo 900 watt 2 stroke jobbies,
inverter in the motorhome is a 1500 watt pure sine wave jobbie, running from
500 AH's of batteries, with 350 watts of solar to charge them, as well as a
12 volt onboard genny and the mains charger for when plugged into a power
pole)

The risk is not only that the plug pins are live, but that if you
forget to turn your main switch off, you could potentially back feed
onto the mains. Some poor engineer working on the fault up a pole or at
the bottom of a wet hole in the ground, assumes the supply is dead and
isolated at their end, suddenly discovers you are feeding the cable
from your end.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

Bill wrote:
I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be
advocating having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this
really a responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Pay attention at the back :-)

Have a look at the thread 'Gritish Bas & Electrical Safety'.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

In message , The Medway
Handyman writes
Bill wrote:
I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be
advocating having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this
really a responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Pay attention at the back :-)

Have a look at the thread 'Gritish Bas & Electrical Safety'.



Fair point, due to the spelling I'd deleted it.

Attention will be paid in future! :-)
--
Bill

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
It happens that gazz formulated :
I turn the main breaker off at the box, plug the widow maker lead into a
socket in the garage, other end into the generators socket, or if more
power is needed, i plug it into the outlet socket on my motorhome and run
the house from the inverter (genny is one of those cheapo 900 watt 2
stroke jobbies, inverter in the motorhome is a 1500 watt pure sine wave
jobbie, running from 500 AH's of batteries, with 350 watts of solar to
charge them, as well as a 12 volt onboard genny and the mains charger for
when plugged into a power pole)

The risk is not only that the plug pins are live, but that if you forget
to turn your main switch off, you could potentially back feed onto the
mains. Some poor engineer working on the fault up a pole or at the bottom
of a wet hole in the ground, assumes the supply is dead and isolated at
their end, suddenly discovers you are feeding the cable from your end.



i know full well the possible dangers of doing this, tho i guess some others
may not, so unless your prepared to take the consequences if you dont
understand what your messing with, dont ever, ever make up a widow maker
lead and do what i mentioned,
they are called widow maker leads for a reason after all.

But mine is for a specific purpous... actually truth be told i dont actually
keep one made up ready to use, we have power cuts so infrequently i have
always used the plugs on something else by the time i want to use it again,
so have to make another lead up when ever we get a power cut and the time
it's going to last is over an hour (i gather people know to phone the lecky
boards power cut number and they'll tell you what the fault is and how long
it's expected to take to fix)

Anyhoo, i have a set procedure for using my widow maker lead, first thing i
do is turn the main breaker off, i'm in the breaker box anyway turning off
the imersion heater and kitchen sockets, the genny only puts out 900 watts
max, so if i dont turn big loads off at the breakers it wont even produce
any power, it's internal breaker trips if the engine manages to get over
idle and exite the coils to start with.

once the main breaker is off, i then connect the lead, start the genny, and
apply the power to the house,
as this is a bi-anual occurance i'm not going to get complaciant with the
procedure,

Bill presented the following explanation :
I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be advocating
having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this really a
responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Can't say I have seen it, I wonder if anyone has placed it on the
Internet?

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

"Bill" wrote in message
...

I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be advocating
having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this really a
responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.
--
Bill

I have a house full of items that have a 13A plug fitted. Not many
of them pass the full 13A.

"OG" wrote in message
...

"Bill" wrote in message
...

I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be advocating
having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this really a
responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Feel free to complain to the ASA if you feel it's important
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_com...mplaints_form/
make sure you include the phrase "they appear to be advocating xwy" in the
complaint - just so they know how much you are concerned by the advert.

You'll be pleased to know you're not the only one who is concerned.

Great, that will stop the pensioners driving about in their cars at 20mph in
rush hour - or forming a queue outside ALDI and LIDL in the morning
and then wondering why they are there when the door opens.

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Bill presented the following explanation :
I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be
advocating having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is
this really a responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Can't say I have seen it, I wonder if anyone has placed it on the
Internet?

Pay attention at the back again!

:-)

http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Loo...tish-Gas/69319

From the OP about Gritish Bas.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Bill wrote:
In message , The Medway
Handyman writes
Bill wrote:
I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be
advocating having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is
this really a responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Pay attention at the back :-)

Have a look at the thread 'Gritish Bas & Electrical Safety'.



Fair point, due to the spelling I'd deleted it.

Attention will be paid in future! :-)

Fair enough - you don't have to sit on the naughty chair :-)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

In message , James R
writes


I have a house full of items that have a 13A plug fitted. Not many
of them pass the full 13A.

But how many of them have live pins when unplugged?



--
Bill

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Bill
saying something like:

I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be advocating
having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is this really a
responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Media people - doncha luv'em.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Bill
saying something like:

In message , gazz writes
forgot, i can't complain my self, as i have and use a widow maker lead
occasionaly (length of flex with a 13 amp plug at each end) only used
to power the house in a power cut,

I've done something similar, bl**dy dangerous it was too. OK if you are
on your own and realise what you have done, but if any one else came
into contact it could be fatal. I've better things to do with my time
than go to a coroners court and give evidence.

Bingo.
When I was a lad, the house my folks bought had an attic light powered
by a wrong-ended plug and socket just up inside the hatch. You had to
fish around in the dark for the live end of the plug and it was by pure
luck that I picked up the plug correctly the first time I used it.

Even at fourteen, I was utterly amazed at the wanton stupidity of of the
previous occupant/owner who'd wired that abortion up.

Bill wrote:
In message , James R
writes


I have a house full of items that have a 13A plug fitted. Not many
of them pass the full 13A.

But how many of them have live pins when unplugged?

How do you know the pins are live? - to me it looks like the wind farm is
producing the power to the socket, not the plug.

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

Phil L wrote:

How do you know the pins are live? - to me it looks like the wind farm is
producing the power to the socket, not the plug.

Sounds like you've watched a different advert to everyone else then.

It happens that The Medway Handyman formulated :
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Bill presented the following explanation :
I've just seen a British Gas advert on TV, they appear to be
advocating having a 13A plug as a power feed i.e. live pins. Is
this really a responsible way to behave?


It's the one where they power up a house from a wind farm.

Can't say I have seen it, I wonder if anyone has placed it on the
Internet?

Pay attention at the back again!

:-)


http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Loo...tish-Gas/69319

From the OP about Gritish Bas.

No, still cannot find any link in the OP. Thanks for reposting it, that
is the first time I have seen it and I agree with the comments.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

Phil L formulated the question :
Bill wrote:
In message , James R
writes


I have a house full of items that have a 13A plug fitted. Not many
of them pass the full 13A.

But how many of them have live pins when unplugged?

How do you know the pins are live? - to me it looks like the wind farm is
producing the power to the socket, not the plug.

The plug is on the lead which goes to the windfarm, which they then
plug into a socket in the ground - as that is done the house lights up.
Therefore the windfarm must logically be supplying power and the plug
pins live prior to and after insertion into the socket.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:21:09 GMT, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

Phil L formulated the question :
Bill wrote:
In message , James R
writes


I have a house full of items that have a 13A plug fitted. Not many
of them pass the full 13A.

But how many of them have live pins when unplugged?

How do you know the pins are live? - to me it looks like the wind farm is
producing the power to the socket, not the plug.

The plug is on the lead which goes to the windfarm, which they then
plug into a socket in the ground - as that is done the house lights up.
Therefore the windfarm must logically be supplying power and the plug
pins live prior to and after insertion into the socket.

Logically, yes, but BG might be powering the windfarm from a gas-powered
TEG in the house to make the most of the high price and excessive profit
from the gas.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

Phil L wrote:
Bill wrote:
In message , James R
writes

I have a house full of items that have a 13A plug fitted. Not many
of them pass the full 13A.
But how many of them have live pins when unplugged?

How do you know the pins are live? - to me it looks like the wind farm is
producing the power to the socket, not the plug.

It probably isn't producing any power at all. Tey are, after all, only
designed to make people feel less guilty.

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Phil L formulated the question :
Bill wrote:
In message , James R
writes


I have a house full of items that have a 13A plug fitted. Not many
of them pass the full 13A.

But how many of them have live pins when unplugged?

How do you know the pins are live? - to me it looks like the wind farm
is producing the power to the socket, not the plug.

The plug is on the lead which goes to the windfarm, which they then plug
into a socket in the ground - as that is done the house lights up.
Therefore the windfarm must logically be supplying power and the plug
pins live prior to and after insertion into the socket.

you've got it the wrong way round. The socket is connected to the grid,
and they plug the wind farm in to make the windmills go round, thereby
convincing people that they are green and useful objects, rather than
white and pachydermatious..;-)

On 28 Feb, 00:54, "Gio" wrote:
Ah but they are only used to gas ;-)

In fact British Gas (Centrica) owns and runs seven power stations in
the UK, so they know a fair bit about electricity too!

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/
To reply by email change 'news' to my forename.

Harry Bloomfield wrote:

The risk is not only that the plug pins are live, but that if you forget
to turn your main switch off, you could potentially back feed onto the
mains. Some poor engineer working on the fault up a pole or at the
bottom of a wet hole in the ground, assumes the supply is dead and
isolated at their end, suddenly discovers you are feeding the cable from
your end.

This has to be such a real possibility that I can't imagine their only
defence against it is to hope that nobody's doing it. Surely at least
they could tie a conductor to earth before working on it.

Pete

"Pete Verdon" d wrote in
message ...
Harry Bloomfield wrote:

The risk is not only that the plug pins are live, but that if you forget
to turn your main switch off, you could potentially back feed onto the
mains. Some poor engineer working on the fault up a pole or at the bottom
of a wet hole in the ground, assumes the supply is dead and isolated at
their end, suddenly discovers you are feeding the cable from your end.

This has to be such a real possibility that I can't imagine their only
defence against it is to hope that nobody's doing it. Surely at least they
could tie a conductor to earth before working on it.

i believe they do, at least that's what they do when woring on downed
overhead power lines, they also have voltage testers attatched to the dead
side that give an audiable warning if power apears on the supposedly dead
side,
They have to earth the deal line anyway when working on the high voltage
cables, as there will be a few thousand volts in the dead cables just from
capacitance, from being near the live cables on the stack.

Most of the time they are making emergancy repairs in the underground cables
between substations, so working with one side of the broken cable live
anyway, so are wearing the relevent safety gear,
there's no handy switches every few miles along a cable to isolate the
length that's got the fault on it,

Hence why when the power comes back on, it's usually on, off, flicker a bit
then on properly, you can imagine the sparks the guy joining the cable back
together is making when doing that, prolly helps weld the cable back
together.

http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Loo...tish-Gas/69319

From the OP about Gritish Bas.

Maybe if someone does complain to the ASA about this, they should also
mention that they are advocating the use of non standard size plugs, that
one must be at least 2 feet across!

On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 12:28:06 -0000, SimonJ wrote:



http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Loo...tish-Gas/69319

From the OP about Gritish Bas.

Maybe if someone does complain to the ASA about this, they should also
mention that they are advocating the use of non standard size plugs, that
one must be at least 2 feet across!

Ah, that's BS1363 - the last 2 digits are size of plug in cm.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

On 1 Mar, 12:53, PeterC wrote:
On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 12:28:06 -0000, SimonJ wrote:

http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Loo...with-British-G...

From the OP about Gritish Bas.

Maybe if someone does complain to the ASA about this, they should also
mention that they are advocating the use of non standard size plugs, that
one must be at least 2 feet across!

Ah, that's BS1363 - the last 2 digits are size of plug in cm.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

Many decades ago when I did National Service (don't ask what that was)
I was very often asked by other squaddies to help out with electrical
problems. In those days a flat two pin plug and socket were available
to extend a cable to an appliance, usually an iron. There was always
the clever sod who connected the socket bit to the appliance and the
pug to the mains end, and wondered why he got a shock. Then there was
the problem that irons have three leads, whereas the two pin plugs had
only two connectors (a bit obvious). So what to do with the third
wire? Well the obvious thing was to connect two of the wires together,
e.g. either green with the red, or green with the black. (That's old
colours we're talking about). That meant there was a 50/50 chance that
the casing on the iron would be live. Great fun! Then what about the
home made kettle? You used a metal bowl. Filled it with water and
clipped a crocodile clip to it. You then balanced a coat hanger across
it, and dangled a lead over it which had another croc clip fixed to a
tin lid. The tin lid of course you dangled in the water. Then you
switched on the mains. It actually worked!

fido wrote:
On 1 Mar, 12:53, PeterC wrote:
On Sun, 1 Mar 2009 12:28:06 -0000, SimonJ wrote:

http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Loo...with-British-G...

From the OP about Gritish Bas.

Maybe if someone does complain to the ASA about this, they should
also mention that they are advocating the use of non standard size
plugs, that one must be at least 2 feet across!

Ah, that's BS1363 - the last 2 digits are size of plug in cm.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

Many decades ago when I did National Service (don't ask what that was)
I was very often asked by other squaddies to help out with electrical
problems. In those days a flat two pin plug and socket were available
to extend a cable to an appliance, usually an iron. There was always
the clever sod who connected the socket bit to the appliance and the
pug to the mains end, and wondered why he got a shock. Then there was
the problem that irons have three leads, whereas the two pin plugs had
only two connectors (a bit obvious). So what to do with the third
wire? Well the obvious thing was to connect two of the wires together,
e.g. either green with the red, or green with the black. (That's old
colours we're talking about). That meant there was a 50/50 chance that
the casing on the iron would be live. Great fun! Then what about the
home made kettle? You used a metal bowl. Filled it with water and
clipped a crocodile clip to it. You then balanced a coat hanger across
it, and dangled a lead over it which had another croc clip fixed to a
tin lid. The tin lid of course you dangled in the water. Then you
switched on the mains. It actually worked!

The Elfins would have a field day today!