American Couple Reacts: British Plugs and Outlets! Best In The World? UK vs US! FIRST TIME REACTION!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2024
- American Couple Reacts: British Plugs and Outlets! Best In The World? UK vs US! FIRST TIME REACTION! Who knew that learning about British Plugs would be FUN, INTERESTING and even EXCITING?? We certainly didn't! We feel like massive nerds considering how cool we thought this video was! Why does the USA NOT have have these?! We want them! This is a new video that's only been out for a few months and it covered a lot of information on the plugs and outlets. It really was a fascinating episode for us and we think you will agree. Now we have to figure out how to get these in America! Well done United Kingdom! You certainly made a genius invention here! Thanks to each of YOU for watching! If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support our channel and it's FREE! Also, please click the Like button. Thank you for your support! More Links below...
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Who knew that learning about British Plugs would be FUN, INTERESTING and even EXCITING?? We certainly didn't! We feel like massive nerds considering how cool we thought this video was! Why does the USA NOT have have these?! We want them! This is a new video that's only been out for a few months and it covered a lot of information on the plugs and outlets. It really was a fascinating episode for us and we think you will agree. Now we have to figure out how to get these in America! Well done United Kingdom! You certainly made a genius invention here! Thanks to each of YOU for watching! If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support our channel and it's FREE! Also, please click the Like button. Thank you for your support!
leaving the cable unpluged and risking standing on it, is kind of a non-issue since you can simply turn it off at the wall... and for an un-plugged in extension cable you can just plug it into its self
So1% negative and 99% better the up plug
Fascinating fact. The UAE adopted the UK style plug after testing various other types and deciding that it was the safest.
It's rather like railsafety. My wife is a disabled advisor to the rail companies in the uk. ( she is a volunteer). The UK rail companies are bound up in the latest safety regulations, USA as east Palestine showed are still using brakes on trains designed in1860.
That is because of lack of regulation.
On another thing the women s 6 nations rugby starts tomorrow 25 march, England versus scotland, Wales versus Ireland and Italy versus France.
Have you looked at women s cricket?
One of the reasons our (UK) plugs are designed with so many safety features is that, in the past, appliances in most cases were sold minus the plug. Persons of my advanced years therefore learned to wire them up safely. It is also useful to know this if the fuse expires, and has to be replaced. For most bigger appliances a 13amp fuse is standard but for smaller ones a fuse such a 3amp is safer as
it will trip immediately if there is a problem. For this reason, the plug on your appliance may have a paper on its surface demonstrating the wiring and the correct position of same.💡🪛
The description I like is that the UK plug was designed by an engineer, but the US one was designed by an accountant.
The UK plug was indeed designed by a team of engineers between 1942 and 1947, one was a woman.
Accountants have tunnel vision and the walls of the tunnels are lined with £, $ and Euro signs. Ebgineers on the other hand live in the real world.
Another bonus of a type G plug is that you can put a sticky label on the back telling you what appliance is being used.
And covers over the switch so your freezer wont get turned off by mistake.
I labelled all the plugs on my hifi system because they all look the same . . .
Me too, as I`m young 60 year old and I sold my house and downgraded to an over 55`s 2 bed apartment, it`s only 35 year old but you would think it was built in the 70`s hardly any sockets anywhere, They must have thought old people only have a wireless to listen to The Archers most of them are singles too , I've converted them all to doubles but on my media unit I need at least 8, so i have purge protected 8 way extension with individual switches, I've fitted it in one of the draws so I pull it out and turn the xbox, pre-amp and turntable off when not in use.
Or write directly on it with marker. Even with luminous.
Yep me too. All my plugs are labelled so I know what’s what!
The load imbalance he mentions isn't really an issue. There's usually two Socket Rings in a typical home, one for the ground floor rooms - kitchen, lounge, dining, etc, and the second for the upstairs rooms - mostly bedrooms. High current usage such as electric showers, electric cookers and heating systems usually have their own radial circuit. We also have a separate ring circuit for the lights on each floor.
Not to mention a separate circuit again for heavy duty items like the cooker!
Unless your house is rewired by a Bloke Wot Yer Dad Knows Down The Pub....
(Fortunately, our B.W.Y.D.K.D.T.P. was a qualified electrician with his own business !)
I have 6 now 4 in the kitchen
@@gdj6298 fortunately for my family, BWYDKFDTP is my father. Domestic and industrial maintenance spark for 45 years.
The only trade we don't have covered in the immediate family is plumbing.
I'm the builder, decorator, gardener and also maintenance electrician, so fortunately for me, I'm also BWYDKFDTP 😁
Load balancing is a term generally applied to three phase supplies. As most uk domestic supplies are single phase this is a nonsense. He's talking about simple socket overloading due to the use of multi socket adapters. In most up to date uk setups such a situation would trip the MCB at the consumer unit.
I cannot tell how how natural it is for us when something doesn’t turn on, to automatically ask ourselves (or others ask us) “is it switched on at the wall?” It’s a no-brainer. Didn’t even occur to me that people wouldn’t think of that. 🏴
I worked in a computer support role at one point. "Is it plugged in?" and "Is it turned on?" may sound like a running gag from "The I.T. Crowd", but they're literally the first things to check.
The one I always forget is "So - is anything else nearby working?" I almost ordered a new kettle a couple of months back when ours wouldn't go on, before I realised the circuit MCB had tripped.
@@IanNoble-qb7mb also: its not working and its switched on? turn it off and on again XD
Well, that’s yanks for you !
Usually the light bulb
The plug is not usually in the middle of the of the flooor !
I’m British, and I’ve never had any of the problems, with any of the slight issues, with what he’s listing. The British plug, and power socket, are an absolute genius piece of design and engineering.
You've really never stepped on an upturned plug?!?
To quote the classic "50 Sheds of Gray".
"My body writhed and quivered from the pain. I had learned my first lesson. Never again would I leave an upturned plug on the shed floor . ."
agreed, if someting isn't working first port of investigation would be the fuse, when you check fuse you will see if socket is off.
I've stepped on a plug, it's agony,
Yes Phil, We are British and we do everything the British way, and usually it`s the best way.
And why are Americans not using LED bulbs? instead of the old fashioned ones that we British have stopped using.
In my 58 years on this planet living in England i have NEVER stepped on an upturned plug ! You know why ? - because if i drop the plug i PICK THE DAMN THING UP !! Another great video ladies, i love seeing how you react to things that have always been normal to me 🙂
And because there are on/off switches on the sockets, you don't have to pull the plugs out and have them lying on the floor...
I'm 55 and we have the on/off switch :)
I have stepped on a plug a few times in my life, because I didn't pick the damn thing up 😂 I take full responsibility for my carelessness and don't blame the plug, that would be absurd!
My wife stepped on a plug ,it left a nasty hole ,and took quite a while to heal.
Those with kids know the daunting trip around the bedroom *'Mission impossible theme tune'* as you carefully pick up the school clothes to find all sorts of potential foot stabbing utensils as well as the often strewn bedside lamp plug!
I’m American born but now live and work. In the UK and I admit the UK plug design is genius, they are so well designed and definitely safer than the US versions. Awesome video girls loved it. ❤
Absolute hell if you accidentally tread on one bare-footed though 🤣 like, even worse than stepping on lego
. @danwic you have missed the point though, there is no reason to unplug them! I leave mine in all the time.
I didn't expect that I'd be so proud of being from England because of our plugs 😄 love your vids x
It gave me that nice warm feeling as well I never knew a plug could be loved as a plug could be loved before, I will never look at a plug the same again such a humble little electric cracker safety first, versatile, nice looking and it's diverse getting several different colours . I really enjoyed tonight's show thank you
It's a British plug ffs lol
@@joemuir2575was invented by an Englishmen though.
Debbie's quite right about the furniture thing. Our UK plugs don't really get in the way. The big difference is the voltage. A shock in the UK can easily kill. That's the main reason why we have such stringent safety standards on our plugs and do not generally have sockets in our bathrooms. The advantage is that we can run power-greedy appliances, such as our electric kettles, which boil water in less than a minute for our endless cups of tea.
And I can't remember the last time anyone was killed by getting an electric shock indoors?? Because of circuit breakers it's so unlikely that if it did happen it would be headline news!
A shock in the USA can kill too ask Ted Bundy :P
Yeah. My friend was fixing the washer when his younger brother plugged it in "for a joke." It killed him. Took me years to get over my fear of even changing light bulbs after that. That's in the UK 21 years ago.
@@ruthfoley2580 That's appalling! Was the younger brother a child, or if he was an adult were there any legal consequences? What a dreadful thing to happen.
@@Sue474 He was 13. He thought it would be a mild jolt. My friend was 19. I was 16. First time I was truly aware of my own mortality.
What he didn’t mention was that the fuse in the plug can can be sized to suit the wattage of the appliance it’s connected to just like automobile fuses. Which will blow before damage or fire will result. Greetings from Australia 🇦🇺
Fuses are rated by current, 3A and 13A are most common.
Yes- my brother once stole my computer power supply to power his kettle *fume*
As a Brit he also failed to mention that there is Adaptor plugs to control wattage etc for computers to electric pianos too but I highly recommend buying a multi adapter with surge protectors in so you can further protect appliances during electrical storms
There is a fuse because of the ring mains. Also in some cases like spurs the fuse in the plug is actually used to protect the wiring which is far from ideal. The wiring should not rely on what is connected on it.
You should consider, that fuses used in cords are not about to protect your devices, but are considered to protect the cords and electrical installations in your house!
Make shure your house protect it self! Instead of giving extra money to complicated plug designs!
Going through a UK school in the 90s and early 2000s we were still taught how to rewire a plug. Apparently earlier in time most appliances had no plug and you would wire it yourselves, as well as replace a broken plug. The type G is a wonderful example of safety and engineering that just passively works
The plugs and sockets were developed during WW2, and before then there was a mixture of round pin plugs/sockets. That was the reason why, for a couple of decades after the war appliances did not necesarily have a plug fitted. It wasn't until almost all the older type of plug/sockets were updated that fitting of moulded plugs became mandatory.
Also sockets are available without switches, but tend to be used where the plug is likely to be always left connected.
You're correct, appliances were not supplied with a fitted plug as standard, the applaince store would often fit one for a fee but most people preferred to do that themselves - badly! In most cases the cord grip didn't grip the cord, just the inner conductors, so the short-middle-long safety feature for the live-neutral-earth wires became irrelevant. This caused electrocutions due to the cord stripping the inner insulation away, exposing the conductors. For these reasons the UK passed legislation requiring that all appliances be fitted with a plug as standard and that led to the now common moulded plug with a pin-side cartridge to replace the fuse. Not such a bad thing until you need to replace a plug, haven't got one and can't temporarily rob a moulded one from a rarely used appliance.
There's another safety feature I don't think he mentioned. The shape of the plug body itself. The edges of the top surface protrude so you can grip it easily and the sides flare out around the edges at the bottom so you can't accidentally wrap your fingers around underneath when you're unplugging it which stops you touching the live and neutral pins as the bare metal part is exposed.
Sorry that's wrong. It's impossible to touch the bare live and neutral pins when pulling the plug out. The first half of the pins have plastic sheathing to stop you doing just that. Up to about the 1980s the pins were 100% metal. Whilst pulling one of these plugs out I managed to touch the live pin. Electrocution does hurt! (It wasn't the first time. Aged 11, I pulled a plug out of a socket and got zapped. The hamster had chewed through the cable insulation right against the plug. Surprisingly the hamster was OK)
@@nevillemason6791 which is why they added the flared shape to the bottom edge of the plugs. older plugs didn't have that feature. Coupled with the insulated pins it's another level of safety.
@@TimJacksonOriginal correct when i was kid in 80s i got finger on the pins gave me quick shock i think the insulation was added later it seems
@@nevillemason6791 the insulated part on the pins is a more recent addition - I remember having a few plugs without that when I was younger - the flared parts were to reduce the risk of needing to grab the plug & catch the bare metal back in the day prior to the genius insulation being introduced.
Load balancing is not usually even a tiny issue as most UK homes have more than one ring main. Our house has 7; one for downstairs plugs, one for upstairs plugs, one for downstairs lights, one for upstairs lights, one for garage and one for kitchen except the oven which has its own fused spur. All circuits feed from circuit breaker distribution panel so if for example something trips the downstairs plugs nothing else in the house is affected. It's then just a matter of resetting the trip in the board.
What he said.
@@billywindsock9597 ???
@@speedtriplerider7853 think he's agreeing with you but complementing your explanation
Load balancing isn’t a thing. Given the cable is rated for 24 amps in one direction you’d need to be connecting some serious load to stress it to its limit and that would be with it in a broken ring. The breaker would trip before it got to be an issue in a realistic situation.
Most modern sparkies don’t like fitting rings now for that very reason, plus testing takes longer and having more radial means they can charge more for inspection certificates while it is easier to do the work.
Yeah, the only time I've experienced anything like that as being an issue is in my kitchen, which we discovered had circuits spurred off of other circuits 5 TIMES (a spur off a spur off a spur off a spur off a spur) which is not the safest thing for the part of the house with some of the most power hungry appliances. And even then, we never actually had a fault. Some of the wires were very black though, and we only noticed it when replastering a wall.
As A brit, I would like to say the last 'negative ' is not an issue as you don't HAVE to unplug them. Once there switch is turned off, there is no power to the socket. Love you two girls btw Xxx
Agreed. But it is agonising when it does rarely happen 😭😭😭
As you say, they are normally 'stored' in the socket as we mostly have switched sockets (for some reason we can have unswitched sockets, probably meant for appliances like fridges etc. that are never switched off), so no reason to remove. If you have younger kids or 'adults' with lego, that's a bigger dark room danger.
Brit here , Something not mentioned is that our main fuse box now are being upgraded to incorporate RCD which if there is a problem on the that circuit it will trip and stop the power to it in 40 milliseconds.
I'm a Brit living in America ( I'm a subscriber) . The other thing I like about British plugs is, it's virtually impossible to bend the pins. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to straighten the pins on an American plug just to plug it in.
Natasha & Debbie, some of the latest three pin plugs (as we know them by), can come even smaller as they have been redesign so that the Earth Pin when not in use can be slid down towards the center of the plug, saving space. These type of plugs typically come with mobile phone's charges, and electronic appliances, a feature very good for storage when not in use. Also your Chap did not mention that the fuse inside the plug is normally rated at 2, 3, 5, 10, 13, Amps. This is often already fitted by the manufacturer for the rated appliance that is going to be used with the plug. This normally 13 Amps or lower which is much lower than the usual 30 Amps Ring Main Electric supply.
The body being made of plastic will mean the bodies break before the pins. Also the new mobile chargers with the retractable ground pin now if lying around land like the 2 pin American style, meaning no more protentional step on the pins. I did that once and how I tidy up my wires. A lesson I learnt at 6 years old.
Crazy dangerous. It's scary how much fiddling one human can do with a system that carries such major life killing voltages.
ive said for years the British plug and socket is an engineering masterpiece
Australian plug and socket is better.
@@michaeleastham3868 If you mean it`s better than the British one, then tell me why.
@@michaeleastham3868 Not at all the cable sticks straight out..its a sealed unit so cannot be changed or fuse changed. The shorter pins are not insulated. The g type plug is the safest in the world.
We learned how to fit these plugs at school. The hardest bit is cutting the 3 wires to different lengths :) EDIT: Load balancing? er, no. Never even heard of this.
Load balancing is for the National Grid to be concerned about. Nothing for the consumer there. Presenter was reading a script, he was not qualified.
Ring circuits are designed on the assumption that half of the current will be drawn rougly equally through each direction into the ring. The wire gauge is predicated on this assumption.
If a number of heavy load devices are connected close to one side of the ring, electricity will take the shortest and easiest path. This will run more current through one side of the ring. Remember, the copper wires are not superconductors. They do have some electrical resistance. If excess current is passed through them, they will heat up. This is why every conductor has a rated current limit. As the guy in the video said, they use a thinner guage wire on the assumption that the current will be equally divided through the two directions of the ring.
And a handy way to be sure you have the wires in the right place is - looking down on the plug as you install the wires BRown goes to the Bottom Right, and BLue goes to the Bottom Left (as can be seen at 7:40).
@@The_Original_Geoff_B It just gets better :)
No I haven't either and I was around when we had round pins lol , maybe if you like you fridge, freezer, cooker, washer TV, computer Iron, kettle, air fryer and everything else all plugged in in one corner of one room lol
Love your videos. As a Brit of 53 years I can say that I have never known any of those negatives to happen. Here's hoping you hit 50k subs for your 200th episode !
I agree about how good our UK plugs are. The trickiest thing is when I'm in the US - by the time I have put my plug into an adapter, the combo is so heavy it falls out of the outlet so I then get some objects to to prop it all up so it stays in place 😄
This TBH. I even had the same problem with just a Type A plug on its own for my extension cord, so I could plug things in without anything falling out... too bad it didn't work.
You mentioned it being like a "little computer" That's actually another advantage. There's enough room inside the plug to build in circuitry. For example, a UK iPhone charger is just the same size (actually a bit smaller) than a normal plug. We also have plugs with bulbs built-in to act a night lights.
Yes, those night light plugs are pretty cool for babies/kids rooms. My kids had lady bird (ladybug) ones.
Here in Australia we have a fairly similar plug to the UK (still a little different). Growing up I was taught to always plug in the cable THEN switch the power point (that's what we call them) on. You can imagine my - pardon the pun - shock when years later I learned that American ones don't even have switches 😅
lol I'm British and I get extremely anxious about plugs. I make sure the switch is off before I plug or unplug, and if I can't (power strip), I'll line it all up with hands/gravity and then insert the plug with the sole of my shoe. With all the safety features, I know I'm safe and I can just push it in with my hands, and don't have to shut the power off first, but my brain is wired differently and likes to fret about nothing.
_America is a surprisingly backward country!_ "The best country in the world" is a very subjective comment._
@@Axys_0_Rex nearly all of our UK outlets are single pole switches. That means they only isolate the live wire when switched off, so no current flows in the device. However, what most people don’t realise is that whether the switch is on or off the neutral wire is always connected. If you took the appliance apart whilst plugged in you can still get a shock off that neutral wire.
This is why a bathroom fan isolation switch isolates not one but two wires live/neutral, allowing you to safely change the fan.
My father taught me (his daughter) how to wire a plug as preparation for going to university. I was the only person in my halls of residence who knew how to do this, so I had queues of students coming to my door, asking for my help in sorting out their appliances!
I'm a 90s child and wiring a plug was part of the curriculum then, or atleast at my school.
@@bmc9504 I was in secondary school end of the 90s/ beginning of 2000s and we were also taught.
My dad taught me how to do that, too, plus how to change a fuse
Grew up in the 80s it was on the curriculum to wire a plug, change a fuse in a plug etc.
@@WiseAngelUK as it was in the 70’s
The iPhone plugs (when they came with plugs) all three pins can fold down, making them smaller to put in a bag and making stepping on them less painful (if they are folded). I wish more of the British plugs came with the same folding feature.
he missed that most of the time we don't have to unplug the plug we leave it plugged in so wouldn't have it on the floor sticking up and also he missed the feature that if liquid or anything trips the socket the fuse will blow and the circuit will trip at the location stopping electricity getting through thus preventing a fire happening love your vids girls i am only recently a subscriber and look forward to seeing your vids each time keep up the good work
oh Natasha to your earlier statement size matter i think i can say as a Brit yes it does :)
It wasn't fully explained, but different AMP fuses fit into the plug itself. Most often it will be either a 13 AMP (brown) or a 3 AMP (red) fuse; but several others may be fitted (to suit the particular electrical item to which the plug is attached), E.G. a 5 AMP (black) fuse, for even better safety.
EDIT: While on the subject, allow me to mention a certain person; Dame Caroline Haslett and what an unsung UK heroine she is? She was the first woman to be made a Companion of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and was tasked with redesigning Britain's domestic electricity system post WW2. During the Second World War she was the only woman member of the IEE (and the ONLY safety expert).
One essential instruction was that all sockets should be 'child friendly'. She was involved in designing the 'SHUTTERED SOCKET' as the first priority.The result was BS 1363 (which all UK plugs must meet). The report also recommended the ring circuit system, which would become standard throughout the country!
She travelled the world giving lectures, held meetings on behalf of the UK Government in promoting export sales, sat on many committees - in 1947 she was appointed a member of the British Electricity Authority (BEA), later the Central Electricity Authority (and was a leading person to guide it into national ownership). But to get back to my point - the 'shuttered socket' was introduced in the mid 1940's. DO LOOK HER UP ON Wikipedia to find out how much of a 'trail-blazer' she was for Women's Rights - she was in the Suffragette movement too!
Wow thank you for that! What an incredible woman ❤
There you go, that's educated the world, well done.
Should do a vid about Europe's system. Viewers would be shocked ! Literally, ha ha.
Thank you for reminding us of Dame Caroline Haslett. She came as keynote speaker to my girls' grammar school prizegiving circa 1949 and I was presented with my prize by her.
I agree, the different AMP fuses should have been mentioned. I didn't know about Dame Caroline Haslet, so thank you for that very interesting info. What an impressive woman.
Even as late as the late 70's the old 15 amp round pin plugs and sockets could still be found in houses that had not been rewired since built or electricity installed. It was also the 70's before modern circuit breaker distribution boards started to be fitted in place of the old wire fuses, which could be a pain to change the wire in when holding the torch in one's mouth as it was a lighting circuit that had blown, the one which had the hall or under stairs/cellar light on.
Old Tungsten light bulbs were notorious for blowing a circuit when they blew (which was often).
As there is a switch on the socket, we tend to leave the plugs still plugged in as Debbie said we would have a table or chair against it. They also come with USBs built into them so you can plug to appliances in and charge 2 phones at the same time, very cool.
One thing that was pointed out in another video was that in the US you can plug a high current capable extension cord into a low current one and risk melting the cable on the smaller cord. In the UK virtually all extension cords use the same sized cable removing that risk.
I attended monthly BSI (British Standards Insitute) meetings for 4 years to write a BSI standard for Medical infusion equipment - believe me, the safety details we had to go into for that standard was epic! 🤓
The 230 volt system also allows us to participate in our favourite pastime using the best equipment for such an event.......drinking tea and boiling the water very quickly in a 3 KW electric kettle. 😂 As a former domestic appliance engineer I've dealt with the worst combination any electrician can work in....... electricity and water. I've had so many shocks that I barely notice it any more, but our power system has kept me alive. Great reaction girls. ✌️❤️🇬🇧
I started an electrical apprenticeship when I was 21, was doing pretty well and when I did my first exam got grades in the top ten in the country (Ireland). But before I could go on to the work experience part I got pregnant and back in the early 90s here no Electrician was willing to hire a pregnant apprentice. So I got married had 2 more babies and when back in the workforce had to go with waitresing unfortunately. As one of the others said I've been shocked numerous times and it doesn't tend to be a bit thing.
I'm a PART P spark and still twitch every time I'm installing a shower ;-)
@@philiprowney I touched my elbow on the capacitor of a washing machine once and ended up landing in the corner of a woman's kitchen wondering wtf just happened. Didn't do that again. 😂
Hey the rest of the world drinks coffee.
@@okaro6595 strangely enough, so do the brits.
Having visited the US a few time I can honestly say I always found the plugs there quite scary. Super small and seemingly fragile, I was always a little nervous plugging one in! Lol! All those "negatives" he mentioned have NEVER been a problem. Even the stepping on the plug one. As sockets are attached to walls, and walls tend to be at the edge of the room, even if the plug is pulled out and lands prongs upwards (which isn't guaranteed to happen at all. Mine tend to land the other way up), it will be next to the wall. Most people don't walk that near the wall in a room! The only time that could be an issue is if an extension lead is in use which is stretched across the floor. But again, in my 60+ years in this planet, I've never ever pulled a plug and left it sat prongs upwards on the floor, ready for someone to step on..... 🤷♂️
Our Wall sockets (Outlets) have a red bar on the switch so you can see if its on, they also sometimes have a red light to show power is on the same as our extension plugs. If you switch off at the wall you will never step on a plug! However I have and it does bloody hurt :)
Edit: Another thing I'd like to add is that we are taught at school how to wire a plug safely but most products now arrive with them fitted by Law.
Everything should have a plug fitted as standard, became law in the early 90's I think. Only exception is something that is hardwired like a cooker.
@@llljustcallhimdave Thats "must", not "should" ( being picky)
That really was a good observation by Debbie. She's right, there's no issue with pushing furniture up against the face of the plug. I will say though, the negative point he made about the main switch was valid, but not in the way he described it: You never confuse the appliance being faulty when you've forgotten to switch the mains on, but what can happen is that you plug something in to _charge_ it, thinking the mains is on, only to discover later that it was off. I've done this before and I'm sure almost everyone in the UK has also done it at least once.
I very rarely switch off outlets. Our RCD protection and plug fuse pretty well cover everything safety wise and the power drain is rarely an issue. The only thing I do switch off at the plug is my gaming PC (mainly to preserve the internal power supply unit, which seems to have a limited lifetime).
@@qwadratix PSU's can run continually for thousands and thousands of hours nowadays because of the better quality capacitators inside them, unless you are buying a cheap generic PSU....My computer has been running 24/7 for the past 4 or 5 years without any problems. Always buy a good brand of PSU and you should have no problems whatsoever
@@bikes02 I had a Corsair CP-9020094-UK RM1000x 1000 W 80 Plus Gold explode because the caps across the mains input lines shorted out. It was only about 4 years old but had run continuously. (I guess that's 35000 hours 🤣) I hope to make the replacement last longer.
@@qwadratix Yeh my Corsair PSU wasn't much good either, the fan bearing failed after a few months so I sent it back and they swooped it for a Seasonic which has performed great so in future I'll stick with Seasonic
The answer to that. problem is to change your sockets to ones that have usb sockets incorporated in them. It is an easy change over. If you have any electrical experience you can do it yourself and save a lot of money.
Have rewired old buildings, installed underfloor heating, ovens, showers and even turned my brothers old cassette recorder into an amp! Been here from birth and never had the problems this guy mentions. Electrics are easy as long as you to treat it seriously and with respect wherever you are. Here in the UK it's an incredibly safe and capable system.
Hi Ladies , brit here , one feature he did not mention also is the shapping on that plug is also desighned to give you extra hold when removing the plug from the wall , making it easier also though we have ring mains , most houses have severial rings wich feed back to a fuse board which also has trip switchies in , in case of overload . A tiplical split would be lights are on a seperate circuit as they typicaly need less power . As a side note there a wide range of socket types some of those have switchies that have led's in them so you can easily see if their on or off and there are some that dont have switchies .
The trouble shooting bit with the bulb really made me laugh. As a Brit, if something doesn't come on you always check the plug switch as we are use to them.
Back in the 80s you had to attach the plug yourself to the appliance, my dad taught me how to do it plus it was taught in physics lessons in secondary school. An outlet in Britain is where discount clothing etc etc is sold.
Outlets are also discount clothing stores here too...double meanings
Me too, Changing a plug was one of first things DIY things my dad taught me, I was about 6 years old. Mind you he also taught me how to take apart a petrol lawn mower, so maybe my childhood was a bit weird
My second year science teacher Mr Jenkins taught me to change a plug! Circa 1986 :)
We can use US electricals in the U.K. but we need s step down transformer as our voltage will just fry it - luckily it’s an easily obtained widget. Blowing up electriclas is not cool obviously 🤪
The correct name for the said outlet is......plug socket.
On the appliance is just plug or plug top. Makes sense don't it.
Hi ladies, I’m 72 and have NEVER stood on a plug. In fact, I never have to take a plug out of the socket - I just switch the socket off. Love you both. ☺️
The design is so good because the only woman on the 20 person committee put together to redesign electrical systems in the home (including plugs and sockets) in post WWII Britain was the safety expert, Caroline Haslett, she played an integral part in the safety aspects of the new design as she was also the only electrical safety expert on the committee.
Thank you for sharing this. Im going to look her up
The plug's weren't that safe to start with, there were a few changes they wen't through to make them safe but idiots were still managing to electrocute themselves, now we have moulded plugs already fitted and only access to changing the fuse.
Back in the 80's I used to work in a factory that made extension cables and plugs etc. My job was to check that plugs had been assembled correctly. I had to open every 10th plug that came off the machine to check that everything was inside in the correct place. Dullest job ever, but it gave me an appreciation of how much design and thought went into such a common product.
Thank you. You kept us safe. 🇬🇧👍🏻
In January 1980, when I was aged 9, our primary school teacher, Mr Burrell, taught us first about leap years, and then how to wire a plug.
Love the reaction, and was laughing at the shock found in what we see as basic needs. Can't say I have ever met anyone with load balancing issues and as a general rule if we drop a plug we pick'em up and put them away. There is a lot to be positive about and the plugs do try to take the charge out of the debate, and the negatives are pretty much nothing to get amped up about. Congrats on reaching 200, just watched that and greatly appreciate your views.
I'm really impressed with you ladies as you've managed to make something that could be seen as a mundane topic really entertaining and fun to watch. The mind wonders what other unexpected topics you'll cover in the future that will be as equally fun and entertaining, awesome stuff☺️👏🏼👏🏼
Just for the record...the load balancing "problem" he raised is absolutely not a problem in day-to-day use over here in the UK - in fact, I don't know anybody who's ever had a problem with it, even in houses with older wiring.
The Lego one is _definitely_ an issue, though. Most folk over here learn to be careful with them pretty early on in their lives. But, of course, because of the switch on the socket...you can leave them plugged in all the time, so there's not really an excuse for leaving plugs around on the floor anyway.
I don't think I've unplugged anything since I've had my own home.
When I was a teenager/kidult maybe. But you soon learn to keep your cables tidy.
The load balancing is only something to think about when wiring the house, then need to decide how many rings needed and also separate circuits for things such as induction hobs and electric ovens.
Great video girls! As a matter of fact, it was not a legal requirement in the UK, until 1992 to supply electrical equipment with plugs. So your TV, toaster or hairdryer could come with just a bare wire that you had to attach a plug to. Wiring a plug was actually taught in my school!
With regards to Natasha's question, if you picked up a damaged live cable, there is still a chance of getting a shock. The fuse would probably blow, but not in time to prevent you getting a belt off the 230v. The vast majority of houses have RCD protection in the form of circuit breakers that will trip within milliseconds of detecting a fault and prevent this, however.
I was just thinking this. We had to learn to wire a plug at school 😁
My Mum taught me when l was about 10 many moons ago l mean many 😢
Voltage is not the factor Current kills. That is why generally 230v will just give you a shock but will not kill you as the body resistance is high (usually over 100K Ohms) and hence the current is very low. One reason you should keep water and electricity apart as wet hands for example greatly reduce body resistance. The minimum fuse rating in the UK is 3Amps which is about 100 times more than the current that will kill you. Hence the fuse will NOT protect you.
Spot on Tom!! - Moulded plugs, the scourge of British society - forget the credit crunch, let's address the real issues, oh and the size of Wagon Wheels, what's that all about? :D
Don’t get me started about Wagon Wheels I’ve been saying that for years , but only yesterday my wife said the same thing about KitKats , 😢😢😢
Having lived in the UK all my life , i'm now 69 i have never stood on a plug or now anyone who has.One of the reasons for this is that we don't normally unplug things as we can just turn the power off using the switch.
also i think it it more tidy having the flex coming out of the bottom of the plug rather than sticking out from the wall.
another point that wasn't mentioned was that the fuse rating can be easily changed to suit the appliance that is being used IE} 13amp for a washing machine but 3amp for a radio for example.
Just to address one of the concerns he had in the video, the majority of wall switches in the UK will show you when the switch is on. When the switch is pressed and in the on position, it exposes a little red strip at the top of the switch which would be hidden when the switch is off. That way you know that you - as us Brits would say- "turned it on at the wall"
I left school 30 years ago, so I don’t know what it’s like now, but i remember that wiring these plugs was taught in science class
Still taught!
I'm nearly 70, and only ever stood on a plug once. Never again!
After that, I was always more careful when unplugging stuff and making sure the cable/plug was squared away.
When I got married and had a family, I became paranoid, and was much more careful in the dark. I tried to never walk in the dark without something on my feet - I even had slippers with firm soles. Being paranoid has saved me from many a lurking Lego brick as well 😮
Like I said, never again!
Great video! The thought that went into designing these plugs is something else. One thing I don’t think he mentioned about size of the plugs is that whilst they are definitely bigger, they are actually easier to fit behind furniture since the cable goes down instead of out - means it’s flush with the wall. Very handy. And yes, I can personally attest that stepping on those plugs is not an experience you’d be in a hurry to repeat.
One thing that was not mentioned is that the fuse in the plug can be replaced with another one that suits the power drawn by the appliance. For instance a 2.4kW heater should have a 13Amp fuse but a small radio may draw no more than an Amp so should only have a 2Amp fuse. A small radio with a defect could be well alight before it pops a 13Amp fuse.
Love your show, I've spent nearly a whole weekend catching up with many as I can! 😍
The great thing ,You can get the wall sockets in multiple colours ,Brass ,Chrome, white ,black , Titanium, Mirror finish ,even customized colours to match your room decor
We usually leave them plugged in and switched off and not usually on the floor as described .
See, that's so opposite here! Most Americans very ignorantly leave their plugs in the wall...we know better!
hair dryers owned by older children are the biggest culprit for stepping on a plug
@@TheNatashaDebbieShow That's another reason why the UK system is safer - the fact that you're not plugging and unplugging common devices every time means there's less wear-and-tear on the cable and plug.
Working in the US the Americans laughed their asses off when I complained about their plugs. Hotel lamp plugs are soo loose they just fall out, and you guys are bang on, the US plugs are smaller but take up more room when in use cos they stick out so far, much more catchable/trippable! Phew rant over, this is a personal one! 😂
Hey it's now personal to us too!! We want your plugs!!! We've been neglected over here!
in the UK we also have sockets available with orange or red neon warning lights .when you press the power switch on the warning light glows. you then know the socket is OK .now you know the fault is within the appliance
As a retired electrician our systems so heavily regulated as to what you can and cant install in certain rooms, what cable you can use, and the seperate circuits you must use for things like cookers (stoves) there is never a problem with "load balancing", also you would pretty much eat the live cable coming into the house to kill yourself as everything in a newbuild house is so safe (assuming it has been installed correctly) As a side note we are now working to the 18th/2 edition of the BS wiring regulations and that book has gone from an A5 book (15th edition) an A4 book that is probably about 25% thicker too just in my working lifetime.
I'm in the U.K. and I never knew I needed this video. Another awesome video ladies. Thank you so much and I'm looking forward to your 200th episode episode. Belated Happy Birthday Debbie. See you on Sunday.
Yay! Thank you!
I am British and didn't realise how clever our plugs were before seeing this online lol. And yes I did step on one in the dark and yes it hurts A LOT
Why did you have a loose plug at all? Just keep them plugged in and turn stuff off at the socket.
@@Danceofmasks I have many items that are not plugged in. For example, today I have a heater I recently disconnected because the temperature is getting better. Right in front of me as I type this now the plug is on the floor looking at me lol. Accuse me of being lazy if you want, but I haven't yet decided to put the heater away because it still gets cold lol
@@danc1897 Eh ... see, I live in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. We famously have "4 seasons in 1 day."
Meaning, I always have both my AC and my heater plugged in, because even in the middle of summer it could be 42 degrees max one day and 15 degrees max three days later.
@@Danceofmasks sounds like the US! Especially where we live!
@@Danceofmasks Gotcha! I think we answered the question lol
Hey girls, I am a systems engineer from the UK (Yorkshire) living in Abu Dhabi city UAE. Love yor Channel.
This guy has only a partial knowledge of UK ring circuit understanding as there is no load balancing required. There are different circuits for different rooms and higher power systems all feeding back to the main home distrbution panel. For example, each rooms wall sockets are on their own ring back to the distribution panel as are such things such as water heater, cooker outside appliances, all individually linked to their own breaker in the panel. Socket rings are typically on a 15 Amp breaker per room. Water heaters and electric shower units are normally a 20 Amp breaker and electric cooker outlets are a dedicated 30 Amp single outlet. All these are also monitored by an ELB (Earth leakage breaker) that monitors any minute current to earth which is usually through you to ground and immediately cuts all power to the home. Usually great for water leaks or floods too!!
Oh 100% with that final point by Debbie. As a British person, I hate when ohoje chargers come with the lead sticking outwards, I much prefer the ones that go straight down, which is surprisingly less common considering the standard shape of our plugs. It makes plugging a charger in behind a bed way more difficult
here in the uk all those negative things are not a thing.
Trust us, we saw past them!
Load balancing is a theoretical issue only in modern wiring. The wires are of a sufficient guage to cope with all anticipated loads.
Most appliances you buy in the UK, these days, actually have moulded plugs on the mains cables. Still Type-G, but you can't open them up. If you need to replace the fuse, then this can usually be done from the underside (pin-side) of the plug. This is another safety feature to stop people from wiring them up either badly, or incorrectly. You can still buy regular replacement plugs, in which case you'd need to cut the old plug off, and wire the new one on.
One thing to bear in mind is that in the UK the voltage is nominally 240V. In the US it is usually around 120V. UK voltages are more lethal. If you are connecting a group of devices which will be grouped together for a long time, such as a HiFi stack, the mains plugs can be changed for much more compact IEC (kettle) connectors, plugged into an extension board ( 4 or 5 sockets), and the extension plugged into the mains using the larger 13A plug.
In all of my 68 years born and bred in the U.K., I have never stood on a plug! Having said that I probably will now! One thing with the U.K. 3 pin plugs if you have arthritis or pain in the hands it can be difficult to unplug them from the wall socket, nowadays some have a rigid plastic loop moulded into the rigid back to slot a finger in to make it easier to pull it out of the wall socket. Also it is rare these days to have to wire a plug on large appliances as they are already premoulded onto the appliance, in fact, I think it is a rarity to find many younger people who know how to put a plug on any electrical item unless it is an older item such as a lamp!
Ive stood on one, i was barefoot at the time and carrying something heavy.
In Australia I believe our system is similar- 240V and we have switches for each outlet. My house has a few 8 Amp circuits for lights, some 10 and 15amp circuits and two 20amp. 15 and 20 amp I believe need to have dedicated RCD /circuit breakers. I have 12 solar panels so during the day don’t pay anything for electricity (except winter!) and in summer I usually have enough power left at 6pm to sell back to the “grid”. And that includes running the pool filter for 8 hours! As you can guess, solar is the way to go in Australia!
Brit here. I’ve stood on one of those plugs, the pain is up there with a kick in the balls 😂 it really hurts!
The negative point he makes about the switch being a double edged sword - that is such a stretch! When you’ve lived with these plugs all your life like I have, the first thing you check is the switch at the socket if something is not working. On a daily basis, I plug the hoover in, switch it on and nothing happens until I switch it on at the wall socket.
Thing is, when you can switch it off at the wall, you don’t need to unplug it. Therefore you don’t stand on it! Also, if you trip on the wire in the UK, it won’t come out the wall to be stood on, whereas in the US it will. Either way, when you learn the hard way not to leave these laying around, much like lego, you just DON’T leave them lying around.
In 35 years, I’ve never had a problem with load balancing and I’m sure all other brits will tell you this. I have an extension lead plugged into one outlet, with a tv, PS5, surround sound system, my phone sometimes and also an iron plugged in - never had a problem! So that negative is simply not true.
I’ve heard in places in America, you can’t have an iron and hairdryer plugged in at the same time or the lights will flicker and it’ll trip something. We’ve never had this problem, we can have all sorts of things plugged in at once with no problem.
He says the plug is far bigger, but look again at our plug vs your plug and imagine them plugged in - when ours is plugged into the wall, the pins are no longer an issue with regards to space. Also the plug is sitting flush against the wall with the wire coming downwards, so you could plug in a lamp and then push a sofa up against the plug - the plug doesn’t stick out any further than the skirting board so if anything it actually saves space vs the us plug with the wire coming out the other way.
Interesting fact - our plug was actually invented in 1944! Appliances used to come with a bare cable until the UK mandated a plug on everything in 1992. I was 3 in 1992, so I’ve never had to wire a plug. But every guy I know in my dad’s generation could wire a plug blindfolded. They learned it in school as it was an essential skill.
Edit: maybe in large commercial offices with dozens of computers plugged in, perhaps that’s when you might get that load balance issue. It’s not something I’ve ever come across so I believe with great certainty that it’s not an issue in a domestic setting. Maybe a large office having given it some thought…
The wiring on a UK plug is easy to remember. The first 2 letters. Brown, BR=Bottom Right. Blue, BL=Bottom Left. I was taught this as a young child how to wire a plug.
I hadn't thought much about our plugs but you pointed out stuff we've been taking for granted. Your one and only negative; yes if you stood on that plug in bare feet you would definitely know about it. The truth is the safety features allow you to leave them plugged in. I've never known any brit to leave one out of its socket. Even if you dont have enough sockets; socket-extensions are used. I've sliced my finger cooking a few times but never found a plug to step on! Happy 200 !!!! Carl and Den xxx
I'm in the UK and my father-in-law is a retired electrician and he has always said our electrics are the best and safest in the world. Once we went on holiday in Portugal self catering and we had problems with the electrics first day so we looked at the so called consumer unit, well lets say he said don't say anything about it to the girls it was pretty shocking and the EU is supposed to be good on safety 😂😂 yes I feel very safe with our electrics. Good video 👍
True. I have never stood on an upturned plug in my 52 years on this planet, and plugs are usually left in the socket (with the wall switch off when not used) or in an extension. It just isn't a thing.
No that’s just a extra safety feature to protect the plug as if the plug attacks back you are less likely to leave it somewhere where you might step on it and damage the plug
An additional feature about the Uk plugs is you can have fuses with different amperage ratings (3, 5, 13 amps off the top of my head) which determines how easily the fuse blows, most appliances use 13 amp plugs but there are some which use 3 amp ones (mainly lamps which are plugged in.
100% but as most things come with the plug attached these days, u think its a bit of knowledge that's dying out slowly.
Yes I used to where i can I will put a lower fuse in an item. Ie say hair clippers, or phone chargers. But not so much now as all with plugs but indoor extension lead u know the white ones put a 5 amp instead of 13 amp fuse in it makes it safer
I am 75 and I've never stepped on a plug. You're right, very picky negatives.
The load imbalance isn't actually a problem, as the area that takes the heaviest load, the kitchen, has its own separate circuit. And this circuit also has a special circuit breaker at the fuse box that cuts off instantly to prevent electrocution in case anything goes wrong. Heavy power appliances like an electric cooker will have their own separate, individual feed from the fuse box. The British system is really, really good
Great video N & D. It really got me thinking about plugs, I had seen the UK ones, but not the American ones. Once again it reminds me to never take things for granted. Thanks for all the energy you put in to these videos. I am going to join your Patreon group soon! ❤
Right on!! ❤❤
Load balancing is rarely an issue as homes have more than 1 ring main. Ours for example has 5 with higher circuit breakers depending on the use the ring with the cooker is a 32 amp while the one with the normal outlets is a 16 amp one
Thanks girls for reminding me how much I miss my British plugs now I am living in Canada. Seriously, another interesting video. Well done.
Radial circuits are common in the UK. The usual determinant is how much cable is needed for a radial versus a ring circuit. Ring mains (or circuits) were introduced in the UK to save copper as a wartime austerity measure. If your dog chews the appliance cable (cord) near the plug end, you can cut the cable before the damage and then rewire the plug with the damaged portion of cable removed.
Radial circuits are so common that every single house/building/garage in the entire UK has a radial installed into the system. Lights,cookers,fans,showers,water heaters,immersions,boilers,panel heaters,garage doors,burglar alarms,fire alarms,hot tubs,outside sockets,outside lights,sheds,underfloorheating,door entry systems,car charging ports,(insert anything you can think of) and even sockets are radial circuits!!!🖖😁
John Ward, knowledgeable about just about everything to do with electrics in the UK, is not a fan of ring circuits. He has said they should be phased out in favour of radial circuits.
I've stepped on a plug ouch! But yes British plugs have so many safety features. I was at my niece's house in LA and pulling the plug out, there were sparks, yikes! Love your posts ❤
This "load balancing" has never caused a problem in my entire life and I'm 46. Yes, stepping on one of these, hurts a lot! 😅😅
Never heard of load balancing, been using our UK system for over 50 years, just plug in and go. Only when using power strip/multi socket extension would I consider the load.
I’ve only just discovered your channel and this is the first video I watched. Really enjoyed it thank you. One of the best features he didn’t mention about the British plug is it has a built in “handle” which is also a safety feature that stops you putting your fingers anywhere near the socket whether you’re plugging it in or unplugging it. You were both using it throughout the film. Going to watch some more videos now. ❤
Hi girls
Yes, they are very well designed. Basically all appliances use them (except toothbrushes, shavers etc) including washing machines, kettles, fan heaters etc. They are rated up to 13 Amps, so that is around 3 kiloWatt at nominal voltage.
Fuses - so, if you were using a low power thing like a lamp, you would put a 3 Amp fuse in its plug. This is so it would blow quickly if something was wrong. My kettle however is 3KW, so requires a 13 Amp fuse. Fuses come in 3,5,10 and 13 amp.
Ring circuits were invented during the war to save copper. If you think about it, the current has two paths to get to the socket. If you had something drawing 10 Amps, 5 could go one way and 5 the other. This means you only need half the copper. However, the wiring was actually sized at 2/3rds. It was a good idea in time of need and has stuck, but we should do away with them. Theoretically, a break in the ring could cause overcurrent for the size of the wiring and you might not know it was happening (risk of fire).
You have a 220V system also. It's just that it is split phase. You have two "lives" with 220V between them. So on high power appliances it will have 2 lives, 1 nuetral (i think) and a ground. So it is (L - 110V - N - 110V - L). So your plugging your lamp into one side (L - 110V - N), maybe other outlets are on the other side (N - 110V - L) to balance load.
Kettles - Apparently you North Americans don't use electric kettles coz they are too slow (@ 110V). A Canadian friend told me she has an outlet above the counter top that she plugs a 220V kettle into (probably wired between the 2 lives). So that is about the same as mine ~3KW, so boils really fast. Electric kettles with plastic bodies are far more efficient that stove top kettles. This is because nearly all the energy goes into the water and not the room. You can also fill them more accurately (modern ones also have flat bottom inside) with just the water you need to boil. But you may have to consider elec v gas unit costs.
The problems he brings up are non issues. I have never even had to think about them.
I have never stood on an upturned plug. If you pull them out and drop them to the floor - they are usually right next to the wall. I never walk with my feet right next to a wall !
If it does get dragged into the walking area, I usually think "that looks dangerous, I'll move that".
Nice video
Yes as a Brit i can confirm the issues is raise simply never happen. My house was rewired in the 60's and can still cope perfectly well with the modern level of usage - i have lived in my house for 40 years and only used an electrician once to install some extra sockets - i have never had a fault or had the fuses trip. Also I have never stepped on one! Well spotted Debbie we have outlets behind furniture. However one disadvantage is that when you use adapters or extensions they can stick out quite a lot.
My parent's house was rewired in the 60s. I remember because I got a shock putting my finger in a open light switch hole. In the 90s the garage light stopped working, because the insulation had rotted. Other insulation had also rotted and it was a massive fire risk. They got it rewired and lots of extra sockets installed. My old bedroom went from 1 to 4.
The point is, if your house was last rewired in the 60s and you haven't had it checked since get an electrical safety check done. As a landlord I have to have one done every 5 years for each of my rental properties. I have also had one done for my home and had a modern consumer unit fitted.
One of the first things I was taught as a child in the home was how to wire a plug and check the fuse.
200 episodes wow 😮
I'm so glad you called out the nitpicking because that's exactly what it was 😂I've never experienced any of that in my lifetime of using Brit plugs haha! It blows my mind that you don't have a socket switch. I couldn't live without it! Loved this video and you pair are awesome 😊
British electrician here. The fuse is unlikely to blow if you touch a live wire as anything over 30 milliamps has the potential to kill an adult human. The fuse is there purely for circuit protection.
To protect people we incorporate an residual current device at the main distribution board, which will trip the circuit in the event of a short.
I have never thought about balancing the load round the house. In my living room with all my tv, hue lights, dvd player, sky, PlayStation and Xbox all plugged into strips next to each other haha. Never tripped my house with it yet
Sockets and extension leads with a 13amp fuse can take 3KW of power, but most of the devices you listed have 3 or 5amp fuses, and if you add up the power your appliances consume, it will be far less than 3KW, so your TV will be 80Watt or higher.
It's Kettles Toasters microwaves etc used on the same circuit you need to control when I boil my kettle that's 3KW I wont use toasters or microwaves at the same time
You two have a fantastic ability to make the most mundane and dull stuff sound interesting. Great work - keep it up!
Most Brits (of a certain age maybe) go around the house religiously unplugging everything before they go to bed 😁
Brown (BRown) bottom right, and Blue (BLue) bottom left. Earth centre, easy to wire up too. I love our plugs
Not 'older' - she's levelled up!
Happy belated birthday, Debbie, and congrats on 200 episodes, Ladies!
Something he didn't mention is that because the pins are much larger and thicker, the socket can grip them much more tightly than with the flat pins on a US plug. There are 4 surfaces to grip instead of just 2 which means that heavy plugs like chargers are never in danger of falling out of the socket. There is also a lip around the edge of the plug in order to get a good grip on it as it will require much more force in order to remove it from the socket.
If you look at the inside of a socket, only TWO sides of the pins are actually contacted.
@@icarossavvides2641 It's actually 2 sides of each pin and part of the compliance testing is the force required to demount the plug from the receptacle.
It was a post war update for us Brits that gave us these great plugs and wall socket (outlet) designs. Back in the day most items did not come with a plug so if you purchased a TV you would buy a plug and fit it yourself, I think sometime in the 90s moulded plugs become safety standard requirement so sadly I'm guessing most of our young people probably don't know how to fit a plug.
I've seen a few of these videos and no one ever mentions that sockets with no switches are available and are typically used for appliances such as fridges and freezers to make it more awkward to accidentally turn them off. Load balancing has never been a problem in my experience in fact this is the first I've ever heard of it. Apparently he may be thinking of a 3 phase system which are not used on domestic supplies, only in factories etc. Nice video as always.
Load balancing in 3 phase system is something totally different. It's between phases and not on a single circuit.
I got totally caught out by the power difference (many years ago). I was working in Dallas and they had a computer fair so I bought a good cheap PC to use while I was there (this is before laptops!). But stupidly I completely forgot to flip the power switch (it had a US and a UK setting on the power supply) when I took the PC back to the UK. So one puff of smoke and a couple hundred pounds later my PC was working again (I guess in some ways it also helped me learn how to re-build PCs as well and now I do any needed work myself rather than take it to a store for it to be done)
Another safety feature is you can't rewire the plug incorrectly. The live and neutral are specifically coloured "blue" and " brown".
B(L)UE= Left
B(R)OWN= Right.
Love yous guys. 🇬🇧🇺🇸💜
or (r)ed and b(l)ack.
No one is talking about USA split phase...
Houses are fed with 220V *and* a center (tap) neutral
Most appliances are phase to neutral (110V), but heavy loads are wired phase to phase (220V)
.... We never step on upturned plugs, because we never unplug them!!!! We leave them plugged in, but switched off!! Thats what the switch is for!!!
Load balancing is never an issue for the average home.
I currently have, a HD TV xbox, and a TV subscription box all running off 1 plug socket (got to love our fused, and switched extension cables too for those extra socket banks for one wall socket).
Our main home fusebox will generally split the home for electricity too.
You may have a circuit breaker in your fuse for each room, one for the lights, one for the sockets etc, dependant on the electrician who last wired your home.
I have one for each room.
Bathrooms....don't have mainline plugs. But will usually have what we call "shaving plug" which is usually 2 pronged liked your "a" style. (Sometikes hidden away behind a mirror light fixture). Otherwise you'll just have the light bulb as the one electricity in the bathroom. Saftey saftey for all that steam and the higher voltage though right
As some people have stated, the stepping on the uk plug isn't really a problem for us, because we tend to leave them in the socket. We also have 4 fuse ratings, as in 13a , 10a, 5a and 3a. To work out what fuse to use, you divide watts by volts, that gives you youy current rating for the appliance, for example- 750w ÷ 230 =3.26, l've shortened the number, so the appliance requires a 5a fuse.
Ohm's Law.
I got hit by one once , me and my nephew used to play fight and 8 year old him swung the hoover lead around his head and nailed me and yeah it left a good scar
One thing he should also have mentioned is the fact that the fuses come in different values, 3 amp, 5 amp, 7 amp, 10 amp and 13 amp, you use a fuse that matches the appliance you're using, for example, a lamp uses a very low current, so you use a 3 amp fuse with it, which means that if the lamp develops a fault the fuse will blow a lot quicker, a vacuum cleaner would probably be fitted with a 7 amp fuse while things like washing machines, tumble driers or kettles will have a 13 amp fuse fitted. The fuse is there to protect the wiring from overheating and potentially catching fire. Also, as someone else has mentioned, the issues are really non issues, when I unplug anything the plug is either resting on a worktop or shelf or right by the wall so the chance of standing on one are pretty well zero. Lovely video and very informative.
You are right, the last one is the only true negative. I'm nearly 40 and didn't know about the "power balancing" thing. You learn to live with the "stepping on" thing... like you learn to kick loose plugs out of the way so you don't step on them later, it can take the skin off a bit.