UK vs. US | British Plugs are Better than American Plugs
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- After living in the UK for over a year I am developing a pretty good understanding of how some systems work. In this case, I take a close look at the UK electric plug and socket and I compare it to the American plug and socket. I will save the suspense, the UK plug is much safer and is better designed.It is always fun to point out the similarities and differences between the United States and the United Kingdom. It is all fun and simply cultural observations.
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Only you missed out one other safety feature of this plug. When it is wired correctly inside the plug the earth wire has a slack loop in it so if anyone pulls the cable really hard the live wires are disconnected fractionally before the earth wire. Love your videos keep them coming buddy.
i was about to mention this also but just saw your post lol
Also, the wires come out of the bottom, not the back, you can’t pull the plug out by the wire, damaging it over time, you have to grip the plug. Tripping over the wire doesn’t pull it halfway out either.
I also watched Tom Scott's video
Also there’s a independent fuse in the plug to
Also don't forget the fuse inside the plug
Who'd have thought a man comparing us and uk plugs is worthy of a 50 thousand plus audience? It like an entire football stadium has come to watch you plug in different plugs. Absolutely sensational 👏
🤷🏾♂️👍🏾
"The plug" tells you a lot about british values. Engineering is a bit of an historic and current passion in UK (no pun intended). Safety law is considered essential to protecting freedom under the rest of the law (when you are dead your legal rights are of little use to you thus the british legal system invented many liabilities for people who could physically harm you. Thus engineers and inventors and food producers and employers and all risk-handlers have evolved to become safety-conscious for civilians. On the other hand, the Brits were also inventive for how to make things unsafe for enemies.. this dual mindset seems normal to Brits. But then they take it that step further: military power is strongly tied to softpower diplomacy in UK - the main softpower diplomat is the monarch who is also head of the armed forces but who is not involved in politics nor in government policy decisions.....a genius division of state powers that lets the monarch be insulated from current problems. Electrical power plugs and soft power.. all comes from the same British mindset about how to problem-solve or problem-prevent.
The British 13 amp plug is a brilliant example of design. Just don't step on one in bare feet or you will learn more about pain than you ever wanted to. 😉
People say that, and I don't want to tempt fate, but I've never come close to standing on a plug, and I'm not sure I know anyone who has.
Last part of that post was like something Darth Vader might have said. Chilling.
@@daveash9572 I have - it really hurts (but not the end of the world)
A lot worse than Lego bricks.
@@daveash9572 You don't know me Dave, but I have! It bloody hurts particularly if your feet are cold.
you missed soo many other safety features of the UK plugs....
1. The cord always comes out at right angle to the pins, so plugs are very difficult to pull out of the socket by pulling on the cord.
2. They have individual fuses in every plug, rated for the equipment being used, not the outlets maximum.
3. The internal wiring within the plug it's self (if wired correctly!) Will leave the earth/ground as the last wire to be broken if the cord is pulled out of the plug.
The fuse is there to protect the cord - not the appliance which should have its own fuse.
One big benefit of this is with extension leads and power strips you get extra protection in the case of a live-earth fault because your little 1" fuse will blow faster than your 32A breaker.
Where I live in Canada, most sockets have built in breakers that trip and can be reset with one touch
3 prong plugs are also designed so the neutral/ ground prong is the last to make contact.
@@kcb8130 But the socket does not know what's plugged into it, so it always has to have the highest possible Ampere rating, which will not protect appliances or cables that are only rated for less current. With the fuse in the *plug* you can actually put in the correct value for the individual appliance or its cable. E.g. a small phone charger will only have a 0.5A fuse in it, a lamp with a cord rated for 6A will only have a 6A fuse in its plug, a space heater rated for 13A will have a 13A fuse.
@@kcb8130 don't you mean first? Any sensible design would ensure protective ground is present before any other connection is made.
@@kcb8130 Last to break contact surely?
They do hurt like all hell if you tread on one bare foot though :D
🥴
British plug v lego bricks...hard to split on the pain scale 😁
No reason whatsoever to leave anything unplugged, what with the switch on the socket.
If you tread on a plug you deserve the pain
@@samsowden no one deserves the pain of standing on a 3 pin plug.
Well, maybe Hitler.
@@samsowden they used to tell you in safety vids years ago to pull the plug out my mum and dad still do it lol
It's so funny to me as someone who was born in the UK to see how much you love the UK and are amazed by the simplest of things that we take for granted.
Your ignorance is your bliss. There is a lot to be thankful for in UK.
@@robharris8844U I think you're ignorant to my actual point, as you have clearly misunderstood my comment if you feel I was saying there was nothing to be thankful for in the UK. I was just genuinely pleased for him, and found it nice to see how much he likes the UK.
@@astroranger5528 okay fair enough, but there appears a lot of ignorance in the UK of how much there is to be pleased about and other countries envy.
@@robharris8844U the uk is good isn’t that bad , but doesn’t mean it can’t be better , have you seen the clown in Downing Street for a start ?
@@yarkmates3409 Have you seen the 🤡French president? And 🤡US president?
I've always wondered why American plugs seem so flimsy and small compared with UK plugs. It seems really strange that these plugs have not been replaced with something sturdier and safer.
Imagine trying to get everyone and everything to use a new standard, the cost and effort is huge. Things like USB can keep moving forward because they are mostly backwards compatible.
@@7Cedira We moved from 15Amp round plugs to 13Amp square in the 50's/60's, with no significant problems just all new builds alteration used new system, although granted it would be more difficult now with huge increase in electrical equipment,
@@7Cedira lol when was the last time you bought a device? USB C is not reverse compatible, and is becoming the new standard.
There are literally 100’s of connectors when it comes to power.
Changing a plug and the outlet is really not a difficult job at all.
A lot of it has to do with the fact that American 120VAC power supply is centre tapped to earth. This means that the shock you receive from bridging one conductor to earth is not greater than 60V.
If they used 240 Uk system with those plugs, annual fatalities from shock would be much higher.
This is why outdoor power tools use 120v for safety. The transformer is center tapped to earth.
@@psilocybe8135 was going to say this. British plugs probably look comically over-engineered to Yanks but the domestic voltage is significantly more dangerous.
You missed some features...
I'll skip the fuse, as others have mentioned it.
The cable on the UK plug exits via the bottom of the plug. Not only does this keep the cable down and reduce the risk of tripping you over, but it discourages pulling the plug out of the socket by the cable (because it just don't work!).
They also work fantastically as burglar alarms, just leave unplugged and left on the floor. The pins will automatically point upwards and impale the nearest foot.
I'm from the UK, and I was going to skip over this video thinking I knew it all anyway (being electrical minded) and having wired many UK plugs & plug sockets in my time, but even I learnt something about our own plugs! I didn't realise the black section on the neutral/live pins were insulation to prevent accidents. 3:22 I assumed it was coloured/painted for some reason, but never knew it was actually insulation! Great video!
Also, take a look inside the plug. The live wire is shorter, the neutral is medium, and the earth has a lot of loop, therefore, if it is pulled by the wire, or some kind of accident happens , the live will pull out of the terminal first, making it safe.
Another safety feature at the wall socket: If you try to put the plug in upside-down like you did on the extension socket, you won't be able to push it in far enough to open the live/neutral shutters.
All appliances are supposed to come with a Direct Moulded Plug these days. Before that, it used to be that everyone in the UK was taught how to wire a plug in school 😁
I was taught in Scouts.
I remember how to strip, twist and fold the cable to make a safe crush resistant connection.
It is a wonderful piece of design, who would have thought that so many different safety features were built in to something that we use everyday and so many people never realise, UK plugs are one of the best designs in the world and with good reason as you have shown us :)
I'm sure you wouldn't be so keen on British plugs once you stood on one in your bare feet. It makes standing and Lego feel like nothing. Also another good feature of the plug over here, is the fact that the wire goes down. Therefore the plug is less likely to be pulled out from the socket if the cable is tripped over, pulled etc.
As a Brit I've learnt something here 👍🏻
👍🏾
Me too
Historical note, the design work that resulted in the UK 13A plug started in the middle of WWII. Once things didn't look so desperate around 1942, a committee considered all the rebuilding work that would be required after the war. They realised with so many houses needing replacing there was a one off opportunity to change the design of house electrical wiring as a whole and introduce a new plug in particular. They co-existed with the older three pin 5A and 15A round pin sockets for decades, you still found those in older properties in the 1980s. My college at Cambridge University got rid of the last of them in student rooms some time in the 1990s I believe. And the UK 2 pin plug used in bathrooms for shavers and electric toothbrushes is actually the live and neutral from a 5A three pin socket.
So much detail. Thanks. 👍🏾
I stayed in a country hotel in Scotland with my family to celebrate my daughters 21's. Half the hotel still used the round pin sockets!! We couldn't believe it, especially for the price charged. It meant we couldn't use fans, charge phones, use hair dryers etc etc. When was this....2017!
@@callyb54 People used to take adaptors on holiday with them just in case, but that was 30 years ago. And all they were tying to use then was hairdryers.
A shaver socket has an isolating transformer. It is NOT live and neutral which would be illegal in a bathroom.
@@fivish I know that thanks. I was talking about the physical two pin format, which is the two non earth pins of an old 5A socket. My grandma's house had some 2 pin sockets in various rooms, non of which were the bathroom. Maybe I elided too much detail?
3 more safety features:
1. Plugs are fused, usually to 13A, but can be down fused if needed
2. The length of the wires inside the plug are intentionally different, so if you manage to pull the cable out of the plug, you disconnect first the Live wire (hot wire), then Neutral and Earthing wire the last.
3. The way cable comes out from the plug at 90 degree makes it very hard to pull it out accidentally.
I’m not British too and I’m very amazed about their plugs and sockets too :)
Most adults don`t know which size (amp) fuse to use and some resort to a cut off
bolt or cooking foil !
I didn't know that the earth pin also opened the other bits in the sockets, really interesting video. Also the 3 prong plugs contain a fuse to protect the item being plugged in, I don't know if other countries' plugs have that.
US christmas lights and other very low wattage things have a fuse in the plug, but typically everything sold in the US without a fuse is designed to be able to withstand a 20A fault current long enough for the breaker to trip. we also now require residential wiring to have arc fault protective breakers that will open at the first hint of a fault, even if it is below the amperage threshold of the breaker.
Ireland and Cyprus both have UK plug system.
@@duncbee also for some reason Singapore
@@duncbee So does Malta & Singapore
@@IanDarley Because Singapore is an ex British colony.
Best feature is the at the wall switch, something like Xmas tree lights can be switched off as you go to bed with plug left in, rather than reaching over a tree to tug the plug out at an angle every night, which over time weakens the plugs screws.
Great video but you missed the fact that the U.K. plug contains a correctly sized changeable fuse that is rated for the device. This means that a table lamp has a 3amp fuse while an electric fire will have a 13amp fuse.
Good review. Another good thing about the UK plug is the amount of metal contact in the prongs. Here in Australia the prongs are thin like the US versions. The current flowing for an electric heater or any large appliance is enough to get the plug, socket and some of the cable very warm to the touch. We are talking, say, 10A at 220V. That has never happened to me in the UK as the contact surface area of the prongs is much bigger. Others have also mentioned the fuse. I could not believe that you simply cannot buy a fused plug in Australia. This means thát many appliances have a 5A or 10A cable ''protected by a 30A main trip!
👍🏾
The plugs in Oz are also 180° to the UK plug. This caused a death before the live and neutral prongs were modified. They used to be full metal.
A plug was not completely home and a steel rule was dropped from a desk and landed in the gap bridging the live and neutral with inevitable results. I can’t remember if an RCD was fitted or defective.
@@davedickinson822 I guess they added partially insulated live and neutral pins to the plugs to fix it? The same feature of the UK plugs has been required on new plugs since 1984. (I still have some old plugs with bare live and neutral pins.)
Oh just remembered, showing my age here lol does any UK or Irish viewers remember the safety ad, or PSA for our American friends, where a tradesman was using a drill without a plug? He used 3 matches to hold the bare wires into the socket. As he was drilling the earth came undone and made contact with the live and his metal drill case became live and he was toast!!
You forgot to add the other nice safety feature for the person, child and device: The 3A, 5A, 10A and or 13Amp quick blow fuse. which is fairly easily replaceable, even in molded plugs.
if you can insert the earth pin upside down like that, then the extension lead does no meet the British standard. The space between the hole and the edge should be greater than the gap between the earth and live pins.
Actually, that's a loophole in the current standard. I don't have a copy of the standard to hand (and it costs nearly £300), so I'm not sure of the exact details, but I think it only applies to extension cables and not to "normal" wall sockets.
Hopefully they will fix it at some point in the near future.
@@misterflibble9799 Nothing is 100 percent safe but you would have to want to actively stick something in the Live or Neutral pins by depressing the latch on the Earth. Something that wouldn´t be in the mind of a small child (or most people).
@@mickuljatheseagull except that the "curious child" is the exact reason why "normal" sockets are specified with minimum clearances to faceplate edges. If it's considered enough of a risk to require it on "normal" sockets, then IMHO it should apply to extension lead sockets too.
I don't have access to the standard so can't confirm it, but from what I've been able to piece together from comments I've found, I think that the exemption on the earth pin socket clearance is supposed to be used in conjunction with another option in the standard where the live and neutral shutters only open when pins are pushed into both sockets simultaneously, in a similar way to European (Shuko) sockets. I don't think the clearance exemption is supposed to apply for earth-pin-opening shutters.
Which standard and which rule number? I'll check.
@@mrfocigaz4942 I posted a link to the issue being discussed in a forum, but it got auto-deleted. It's:
BS 1363 Part 2, clause 13.10
Don’t forget, if you open the plug up, there is a user replaceable fuse inside it, and the live wire
Is designed to be awkward, so it pulls out first.
With some plugs you don't even need to open them up to replace the fuse, you can access it from the outside of the plug. On the other hand I can't remember the last time I replaced a fuse anyway.
@@billyhills9933 I probably replace one once a year. Most plugs aren’t user serviceable. But if these go wrong, I cut them off and fit my own
@@Landie_Man The last device I had a problem with was a steam iron and that was blowing the ring main switch before the fuse.
@@billyhills9933 probably need to repair the iron
Not to forget the individual (rated) fuse inside each UK plug. 👍
And the fact that the ground/earth is first and last connected due to being longer than the other two pins.
So many features!
On a cursory side note, a British plug socket has a supply voltage of 230V while an American plug socket has a supply voltage of 120V. A British plug socket is safer than an American plug socket even though it is supplied by almost twice the voltage - this highlights and underscores how well designed and engineered the British plug actually is
I was going to say the same thing 👍
It actually got more to do with ring circuits and high current. Fuses are more about the fire safety. If your wiring can handle 40A and cable will get shorted - you can get your house on fire. That's why rest of the world uses smaller pins and no fuses in the plugs. Fuses, unless they are 0.1A or so can't prevent a person from getting electrocuted. That's why RCD/GFCI is a thing.
On Irish plugs the live wire is the shortest so if the plug got pulled to hard the live would come off quickly to prevent an arck
The same as UK plugs, which is not surprising as Irish plugs were derived from the same standard. The Earth should always be the last to detach.
Additional features.
Internal fuse with ratings of 3, 5, 11 (I think) and 13 amps. In many cases the fuse can be changed without opening the plug.
An internal strap to secure the flex at the entry point.
Shielding within the plug body so that if one of the wires were to come loose it could not short to the other.
In some designs where the three wires protruding from the outer flex can be equal length to allow easier wiring up.
Thank you, I'm British and you taught me a few things about our plugs.
It's funny, I always remember visiting friends many years ago in Miami and plugging in UK stuff with a two pin U.S adaptor..... just about every time I plugged anything in there would be a blue spark..... And I thought "well that's safe"....
The two-pin US adapters may not be widely available any more. They quit selling the two-pin outlets at least 40 years ago, maybe longer. If you manage to find one, it's either new old stock or a (probably unsafe) made-in-China copy.
Also, US mains power is only 120 volts. If you need a 240 volt outlet (all UK stuff is 240V, afaik) you need to call an electrician and have one wired up. Still, it won't match UK plugs unless you brought a UK outlet with you. And let's not even get into the 50Hz-versus-60Hz mismatch.
@@allenabel3471 Almost all products made now work at both 50/60Hz and can switch between both automatically. Globalisaton for you! 👍
Some people mention the round pin plugs used in lighting circuits ... they are in fact small 2 amp 3 pin plugs. Even they have the shuttering but don't have a fuse.I have a wall plate with one 13 amp and two 2 amp sockets ... there is a separate fuse on it for each of the 2 amp sockets.
There are actually many more rated fuses ... the common ones are 3 and 13 amp ... but there are also at least 1, 2, 5 and 10 amp too. I have some devices with 5 amp fuses. Most hardware stores only carry 3 and 13 amp and the one failing is that the fuses are the same physical size so people put 13 amp fuses into everything negating one of the safety features.
I feel there is still one design flaw ... the screws that trap the wire to the pin. Cables to devices are usually (always!?) flexible and are therefore multi-strand ... which do not work well with the standard screw terminals. Some plugs have a post and nut with a washer that squashes the wire that you wrap around the post so it is pulled tight around the post. This gives a better contact area and is less prone to heating.
In my experience plugs on high wattage devices (eg 2 and 3kW space heaters) do get warm.
Plugs sold over the counter will generally be used to replace damaged ones so putting ferrules on is not a solution that the 'public' is aware of, or have the necessary crimping tool and supply of ferrules.
It's amazing when someone points out the benefits of something you've used for most of your life but had completely taken for granted.
Never really thought about the insulation on the live and neutral pins on a plug. In fact, I can distinctly remember feeling nervous when I wanted to remove a plug and noticed that my fingers were near those pins as I withdrew the plug; and I would adjust my fingers so as to grip the sides of the plug rather than risking a shock through touching the pins as I pulled the plug out. . Didn't even realize this safety feature was there to prevent contact with the pins.
Try pulling a UK 3-pin plug out from a socket by the cable. It won't come. That's where the slack on the plug's internal earth wiring comes into play. It will break last so you are always protected. But I'm biased - I love British inventions. Sometimes improved but rarely bettered. Again Mac - big thumbs up - you'll be British in no time :)
👍🏾
Afternoon everyone 🙋🏽♀️🌹
👋🏾
Good afternoon to you toooo ! 😉
Hiya,
I'm pleased you're a convert to the superiority of UK plugs lol. The safety shutter was included very early in the development of BS 1363, and we have Dame Caroline Haslett to thank for that. She was an electrical engineer who pushed for the safety shutter because children shouldn't risk electrocution. It's why you shouldn't use child safety covers in UK sockets, they only reduce the safety of our sockets, and don't meet BS 1363. If something doesn't meet that safety standard it shouldn't be plugged in to a UK socket.
Wow! I’ve totally been taking my plugs for granted😱😔. Glad to see you back Buddy!
👍🏾
Nice review, though you missed out another important thing, our plugs have fuses in them.
It's important to use the right one, generally they come as 3, 5, 10 and 13 amp, but it's possible to get fuses as small as 1 amp (online)
For instance, your christmas lights will be happy on a 1 amp fuse, failing that you can safely use 3 amp,
If those lights don't have a fuse (some chinese lights don't, or they have a fake fuseholder in moulded plugs (remove the fuse and plug in to test) ) if in doubt, plug the lights into an extension that has a properly rated fuse
Have a safe christmas :)
That UK extension you have should be binned. Another safety feature is that all extensions and sockets that meet the standards should have a wide enough space above the Earth prong so that you can't plug it in upside down. The live and neutral prongs will stop the Earth entering enough to open the live and neutral shutters.
It's always interesting to compare design features between different countries.
In the UK we seem to mandate design features for the benefit of the most possible people.
Dimples in the pavement (sidewalk) by bus stops and pedestrian crossings so those with limited vision know where they're at.
Different size bank notes so the same guys don't get short-changed.
Electrical plugs with so many safety features that your house won't kill you.
It hasn't always been like that, just the last hundred years or so.
Another thing about pedestrian crossings or traffic lights which I only discovered recently... Is under the box where you press the button to cross there is a small cone shaped thing that will spin around when the the man shows green. It's designed to help people hard of hearing or seeing.
I have lived in the UK my entire life and I had no idea about the guards inside the plug socket. Also, you have excellent clear and concise voice for delivering information.
Thanks James.
You forgot the fuse built in to the UK plug. If the fuse blows no power will flow to the device plugged in. The fuse also limits how much electric flows to the device plugged in so that if the device was faulty or the wiring was defective you wouldn't receive up to 40 amps flowing through your body. And if that failed there is the trip switch wired to the fuse board that will cut the power in the event of an electrical fault on that circuit. The electrics in an UK house have to be very wrong these days to cause a dramatic overload failure.
Incidentally it used to be the case that all kids at school were taught how to wire a 3 pin UK plug back in the days when electrical items were sold that came with no plug before it was made law that everything electrical had to be supplied with a moulded 3 pin plug back in the early 1990s. You would buy something like a toaster or a TV and there was no plug on the end of the cord. You had to go to an electrical hardware shop and buy a plug and you would have to wire the plug yourself. This meant having to know how to wire it correctly trimming the wires to the correct length and the order they had to be wired in. Not sure if kids are still taught how to wire a plug these days seeing as how everything is no longer supplied without a plug.
I first came across these (13 Amp) plugs and sockets in a "new build" house in 1952. They were a little different then in that the wall sockets in that house didn't have individual switches but it was possible to buy plugs with built-in switches.
The plugs didn't normally have partly insulated ""live" and "neutral" prongs either.
One other safety aspect is that these plugs also have replacable cartridge fuses (Max rating 13 A) between the "live" prong and the live wire to the appliance. Safety is further enhanced by fitting the correctly rated cartridge fuse for the appliance fed via the plug.
As already mentioned each plug has a fuse that is rated to the equipment it is being used for. The material that the plugs/sockets use is a high quality material that when compared to cheap other country types really stands out. The size of the plug is also designed to aid grip for removal, unlike the tiny badly made un-fused 13 amp plug I got with a Chinese hard drive case.
One point, which means UK plugs have to be safer, is that it's running at twice the voltage. It's 120 V in North America, and a nominal 230 V in the UK (although the actual voltage will tend to be around 240 V). It has considerable advantages, such as allowing nearly twice the power, and thinner cables for the same power, but it also means a shock is more dangerous. With modern RCD (GFCI) protected circuits, it's not as dangerous, but still it's a consideration.
Note that North America does have 240 V sockets for high powered devices, but those use the 120 + 120 V split phase system, with a centre-tapped neutral referenced to ground, so there is never more than 120 V to ground. It has its own oddities, like the need for dual-gang breakers, and that a blown internal fuse doesn't fully isolate the device, but it is how North Americans power those huge washing machines and air-con units as 120 V would require ridiculously large conductors.
good video. our plugs are also 'fused'. with a 13amp. but you can change that to a 3 amp for even more safety. specially when working outdoors with anything electrical.
The earth pin is longer mainly so it connects with the earth circuit first prior to any live connection being made
The UK had a previous standard of round pin plugs (not fused and not shuttered or insulated).
The insulated pins are actually a revision, they weren't included in the original 13A plug design - though the shuttered socket was.
The socket switch was also not universal, though it appears to be now.
PS. the correct way of wiring a plug is to allow slack in the earth connection compared to the others, so it is last to break if the cable is ripped out of the strain relief, though with the lengths already different and the earth already needing to be longest, many people are lazy and do not size the lengths correctly
what a very clever man. an other feature is the wires are COULORD BROWN for live CURRANT-----BLUE or BLACK is for NEWTRAL and YELLOW is for EARTHING the plug , so if the PLUG is broken get a plug from from the shop and you can rewire it yourself , inside the plug it got where the wires go to be connected
Great vid, but there are some extra features and one LEGONDARY CURSE!
Appliances come with molded plugs, but you can buy rewireable plugs, they are designed so the LIVE then NEUTRAL then lastly the EARTH wire can be pulled out.
All these 13Amp (3kW) rated plugs need a fuse (you can get 3, 5, 10 & 13 Amp fuses)
Due to the cable hanging out the bottom and the firm grip of the plug & socket it is very hard to accidentally pull out a pull out a plug by accidentally or deliberately pulling on the cable.
The plugs prongs will never bend! The plug will break first!
The LEGOndary curse? Ever stepped bare foot on a Lego brick?
Try that on a UK plug and your foot will bleed!
One unfortunate result of a flat plug with a cable out of the bottom and not inline, is if it's dropped to the floor, 90% of the time it will lay there in wait fangs (prongs) up!
Great points 👍🏾
Wow. I kind of took the British plug for granted my whole life growing up in england. I never knew exactly how much better it was compared to other types of plug
Then main safety feature of the UK plug is every plug has it's own fuse.
See how quickly kettles boil and phones charge on UK plugs....
The UK uses 220 volts mains supply whereas the US is 110
No idea how I got on to this video but what great informative upload hope you enjoyed making it as much as I enjoyed watching 👍, maybe the big U.S of A will take some of these simple but brilliant safety features in the near future.
All the best and happy uploading 😊
This is because we love tea. Our hole power gird is disined to boil a kettle fast
One vital thing about the UK plugs is that you missed out on was they are all fused inside the plugs to the amp rating of the appliance on the other end...
When I was a kid I was unplugging an old lamp at my grandmas house. The plastic housing around the prongs pulled back and down the wire, but the prongs stayed plugged in. Naturally, as a kid would do, I grabbed the prongs to try and pull them out. The shock of my life ensued. I still remember that like it was yesterday lol
Slightly different in the fact that US voltage is 110 unlike the 240v rms that we use here in the UK. I know that 110v ac was not classified as a lethal voltage previously so the user is less susceptible to fatal shock.
Voltage has almost no bearing on fatality; what matters is how much current flows through you, which will vary depending on where it is on your body, moisture, etc.
200mA will kill you no matter what the voltage was.
@@Kyrelel I understand that, that’s why I clarified it by saying it used to be classed as a lethal voltage. The point remains that 100mA x 240V > 100mA x 110V and therefore the power in each shock is different and the higher one is more likely to kill you.
It's the amperage that gets ya! Tasers are 50,000 volts but usually only 3-4mA (200 watts) for example. Get that for 2 seconds... They'll floor you, but highly likely won't kill you.
Whereas 240v and 200mA (48 watts) for 2 seconds and you're in deep, deep trouble.
Total nonsense. First the US voltage is 120 V. It was 110 V in the 1930s. Second that kills. Safe voltage on AC is under 30-50 V depending on the source. In DC 120 V would be safe.
@@plkrtn This is again the new physics where Ohm's law does not apply. 3-5 mA would not cause muzzle contractions. In reality the current is in several amperes but in very short pulses. The manufacturer talks about average current (but not average voltage) because people have swallowed the it is amps not volts that kill hook, line and sinker.
One other point you haven’t mentioned is that all our Three pin 13 amp plus have a fuse holder. The reason for this is that one can select the fuse size best suited for the cable to the appliance. For instance a high power appliance ie. Washing machine requires a 13 amp fuse to protect its cable whereas a table lamp with a lighter cable should be fused at 2amp. Not many people realise this, but it’s very important to fuse correctly to protect the cable from being overloaded.
Now open up an older uk plug with a screwdriver and see the internal safety features. Cable grip on older plugs to help prevent the cable being pulled out, moulded cables on newer ones. Internal replaceable fuse rated for the appliance. Earth cable has a loop in it so that it has more spare length. This means if the cable does get yanked out of the plug,the earth wire remains connected until after the others become disconnected. Newer plugs are also made of extremely tough plastic, and they all have extremely solid brass pins ,so they are very hard to damage , unlike that flimsy US thing. Add it all together and even though we use double the voltage of the US (230v vs 110v), we are still safer. 🇬🇧😎
welcome to Asia, where you have both types of cable, but you need an additional 3 pin connector socket to connect to the power outlet.
I was not expecting to go on TH-cam and come away with a newfound appreciation of the plugs in my country
Not quite a safety feature but a cool design feature of the UK plugs is the shape of the tips of the pins. When you line up the plug with the socket. The ground pin should make contact with the entrance of the socket first as being longer. Those angles on the pins are designed that with minimal pressure the plug with correct orientation to line up the other pins. So they should not be and bending off the pins through normal use or damage to the socket. Try it yourself, you can be 45' off and it will still line up.
First time I visited England I bought US/UK adapters. First time I plugged in my US fan using the adaptor it spun wildly and then started smoking LOL.
People have mentioned the voltage difference but one main thing (pun intended) is that the UK uses a ring main with a higher overall amperage over the ring than the 15? amps of a US spur main. This was done to conserve on copper post war IIRC, so a house may only have a small number of rings, typically one each for sockets and lighting on each floor, versus many spur mains in a US house.
This is why we need fuses, a shorted circuit in the UK would easily cause an electrical fire. This is why those cheap fuseless cloverleaf plugs are a deathtrap.
Check out the inside of the plug: it has a fuse inside: the rating can be from 2A to 13A; protection for a table lamp or a 3kW washing machine!. The whole system dates back to the 1930s designs but improvements were designed during 1944 and anticipated the amount of rebuilding that Britain would need after the blitz bombing. The cost of copper wiring was so high that we could not afford individual spurs from the fuse box to each socket outlet so all socket outlets are wired on a ring main: hence the need for a fuse in each plug top (plug top is the proper term for a whole UK plug!).
You missed out we have the UK has be best plug because we fuse the appliance at the plug ensuring we have protection at source. The US doesn't and requires the house to protect it.
Did you notice the pins where made of brass? That's because brass is arc suppressor. Some flange to protect your fingers from direct contact with the plug pins.
The correct technical term for touching the pins is direct contact for any live electrical system.
Here in UK the domestic supply is 240v so maybe not so surprising there are more safety features but still a nice run down on the differences, there's also a fuse inside the plug.
hey mate come Liverpool it is the UKs best city and is a vibe
👍🏾
Also mention that the internal fuse amperage is rated the same as the cable. So if the device shorts out the internal plug fuse would blow before the cable gets hot and a fire breaks out 'in theory' but it's and extra measure in place for safety.
Great video, very informative for non-brits. one last safety feature (Like we need any more right? :) ) is the fuse inside the plug, and finally most homes now have a RCD built into the point of entry into the house.
RCDs are designed to detect a current leak and prevent people from getting electrocuted. UK wirings are rated for much higher current so if you have a long extender cable and something plugged will have a short circuit the current won't be high enough for RCD to trip. And you'll get a melting cable and possible fire. That's why you need a fuse in the plug. Now in most other countries of you'll probably have 16-25A breaker. Any short will get current higher than that and it will trip.
Ironically, the baby safety plug covers people actually make UK plugs less safe as it opens up the safety covers on the live and neutral.
Knew a lad back in the '80s and he had put in the old style 3 pin UK type that did not have the plastic insulation part-way up the live/neutral pins. He had his fingers curled around the plug as he put it in. Basically It burnt and welded some of fingers together...not a pretty sight even years later.
You missed showing the safety fuse inside the plug. Never-the-less a very good video, I particularly enjoy the gentle humour in your voice.
Thanks!
There are more safety features you missed inside the plug.
First, the reason why the plug is so large is because they're fused. There's actually a (replaceable) fuse inside the plug, so every appliance is individually fused, on top of the usual fuse box / circuit breaker for the house itself.
And, indeed, usually - from experience - when something goes wrong, the plug fuse goes first, breaking the circuit on the malfunctioning item, without actually triggering the main fuse / circuit breaker for the house (Although, that's also there as a backup, so every item is double protected).
Also, inside the plug, the earth / ground wire goes to the top and, therefore, is longer than the other two wires. So, if the wires were yanked out of the plug, the live and neutral wires will be yanked out first - shorter - before the earth / ground wire comes loose. Ensuring that you remain grounded, even if the wires get yanked out.
Speaking of which, most plugs also have a bar that screws in at the point where the wires enter the plug. You wire up the plug and then you tighten this - screw it down - and this helps hold the wires in place, that it would actually take some force to yank then out anyway.
But perhaps the cleverest safety feature is even more subtle. I'm not sure it's as true today as it once was, but you can ask any Brit over a certain age - male or female - how to wire up a plug and you'll get responses telling you all about it.
Because the plug has a fuse in it, it's a standard thing in UK homes to tell your (responsible) teenage sons and daughters how you replace the fuse and how you wire up a plug. Like, considered a basic household skill, so everyone learnt how to do it.
And that's arguably the best safety feature of all - having a population that all understands at least the basics and knows what all the safety features are. So, like, if any of them are broken, then most people can look at it and know it's wrong - to fix it and know it's unsafe to use.
There's a bunch of ways to remember the colours for wiring up a plug. The usual way is to note the second letter. So, the two wires are live and neutral - which are brown and blue respectively - and, as I say, look at the second letter: bRown and bLue. So, the blue neutral wire goes to the left and the brown live wire goes to the right (and that's also where the plug's fuse is located - so you can also remember that the live wire carries the fuse on it).
Or there's the infamous "dad joke" way to remember: the live wire is brown, as that's the colour your pants will go, if you touch it while turned on. Yeah, a shitting yourself joke. But once you hear that joke, you never forget which one is the live.
A little one to help out; Domestic voltage in the UK is 230 volts at 50 hertz. In America its 110 volts at 60 hertz although you will find some 220 volt circuits.
This video randomly popped up but I can say I thoroughly enjoyed
Also the fact u have fuses in the plug, and their replaceable, and changeable to downrate appliances. And they have cord grips so they can't get ripped out.
Love the fuse and switches but the higher voltage is why that is all necessary in the first place.
Another great safety feature about our plugs, try pulling it out of the socket by just the cable at distance, it just won't come out.
The ground pin is only kind-of mentioned in this video but the fact there is a ground pin and a fuse is another huge safety feature!
And an internal 13amp fuse...... that can be replaced or changed to lower amps for smaller appliances
There's a few other bits you missed, but nice :)
It amazes me when American's come over to the UK, the plugs is one of the first things they seem to want to 'experience' :D
I prefer the UK plug now, but when first came through Lakenheath with my NES and TV, first time overseas, and finding nothing fit. Worse then that when a few Airmen told me a hack how to get a plug adaptor, failed to inform me the volt difference after watching all my electrics go *pop*. I was not even slightly happy with the plugs. But a year later when I saw my little one playing with the socket, I was very happy with the safety the UK plugs had, still my favourite plug from anywhere in the world. (Once I got over learning that it was my ignorance that broke my things not the plugsocket)
All standard British plugs contain a fuse too to protect the wiring
Looks like or at least reminds me of the actor Levar Burton, the one whom played Geordie LaForge in Star Trek TNG
I was shocked as a child, (late 50s) when plugging in the old two pin Bakelite plug because my fingers curled around the edge and touched the pins. Dad rewired the house, circa 1960.
I got shocked in America taking the plug out, it was hard to get out so i stuck my fingers under and touched the prongs when it was half way, good job the voltage is lower so wasn't too bad. Because being used to UK plugs my whole life I just presumed it was safe.
I hope you are ok.
You missed out the internal plug fuse and the way it is difficult to pill the wires kit if the plug
Never thought I'd enjoy a vlog about plugs but hats off to you, you managed to make it interesting!
Thanks 👍🏾
9BM ! Just watched your blog on TH-cam and it reminded me of the time my stupid younger sister stuck a wooden pencil in the old fashioned plug hole . All electric lights and tv cut out , we went into the playroom and she was holding the burnt pencil and said " It wasn't me " 😂😂🇬🇧🇨🇮 we are both in our 70s now . Thank you 💕 for making me laugh .
🥴👍🏾
The earth pin is also shrouded to prevent touching the earth (ground) pin once its inserted into the socket (outlet)
First time watching you, Welcome to our great country may your stay be peaceful.
I like the way your informing your fellow country men and women on the way we do things here in the UK.
I wish the United States had gone with the tandem plug (as well as 240v), Hubbell’s plug invention prior to the parallel prong design used today. It was a slightly larger, more substantial plug, and the 240v is more efficient than 120v
Not forgetting a 50 Hertz Supply, which most of the world uses - The US uses 60 Hertz! Same applies to Imperial Measure (USA, Myanmar and Liberia remaining); and Paper - Most of the world uses DIN A Sizes, which have a logical progression in both area and dimensions from one size to the next.
Bob Mirdiff well, 60Hz is more efficient than 50Hz. The ideal supply system would,be 240v 60Hz
Another simple thing is that, with switches on the sockets, people leave things plugged in but turn it off at the switch. This means less wear and tear on the socket and plug. And the earth / ground still works, even when switched off, so it's protected in the "off" position too.
(Indeed, this is a thing PC builders in the UK do - actually plug in the power supply but switch it off. Then the PC case is grounded and you can touch it to remove static electricity, before touching any electronic components.)
There's less plugging things in and out all the time, so less chance for things to go wrong. Plug it in once - nice and secure - and, like, you'll probably never need to unplug that TV ever again, until you buy a new one or move house. Because you can turn it on and off with the switch - leave the plug and socket alone.
Who in the world is going around un plugging stuff all the time? TV's? What on earth for? Are you that paranoid that appliances sitting idle are just going to suddenly burst into flames?
You know, I had heard that in Korea people feared having desk fans in their bedrooms due to something called fan death. Ie the fan would move the air in such a way as to suffocate you in your sleep. Your appliance terror sounds as ridiculous to me as, I am assuming, "fan death" does to you.
But then you're probably too scared to leave a fan on in your bedroom as well. The blades may fly off and decapitate you, or the whole appliance detonates like a grenade or something. Go hide under your bed, if your not afraid it may collapse on you that is, yeesh.
Love the fact you demonstrate one of the significant safety flaws of those multi plug extension leads!, you can defeat the contact safety covers!
Enjoyable vid thanks. Remember, in UK we got 240v we need the safety because more dangerous.
I'm a Brit but I live some of the time in Thailand. Or at least I did before Covid so now it's 15 months since I last saw my wife. Thailand uses similar plugs to the US as do many others. some have the pins rotated in a sort of v shape. Thailand uses 230 or 240 volts like the UK so the same plugs are more dangerous. It's not helped by the fact that quite often the rest of the wiring is even more scary. Washing machines come with a plastic plinth the machine stands on. Not sure why but maybe to do with flooding. I've heard several cases where the earth/ground has been connected to the plastic plinth sometimes with the explanation that "it works ok like that". I've had an outside switch moved and the wires left live.
Having said that I'm always amazed that the electrical system even works at all.
I thought this was going to be a skit about drug dealers, now I’m invested in a video about plugs and their advantages