7 ms·

That's not really fair. Given a choice between US plugs (spark, fall out of sockets, flimsy, dangerous, bendy pins), and UK plugs (Built to last, don't spark,

• JoeAltmaier 16y ago
  Wow, so self-delusion is alive and well in the UK! "The only time its a slight issue"??? How about manufacturing, shipping, selling, storing, repairing, and paying for that overdesigned eyesore? How about looking at it? How about moving the couch out from the wall so the dang thing will fit back there?
  • points 16y ago
    Those are all minor inconveniences compared with: * trip up a cable, and the plug falls out of the wall (Pulling a UK plug out required force. It will not pull out) Plus the cable exits a plug pointing downward, which means it will not pull out via the cable. * Sparks when you put a plug in or out. * Bent pins that look like they're about to drop off * No shielding on pins * Often no mechanism to stop things being put in sockets (All UK sockets only open once an earth pin has gone in I wonder what the incidence of electrocution is in the UK vs US. I'm probably biased, but I certainly feel far safer here, especially having kids.
    • JoeAltmaier 16y ago
      Trip on the cable, and the lamp falls off the table? Better? "Sparks"? Are you kidding?
      • points 16y ago
        Lamps seem very prevalent in the US. Why do most apartments I've been in not have ceiling lights? WTF? When I lived in the US I'd go in a room and spend a while finding 4 lamps and turning them on. Same in hotels. Also, when you decide to put a lamp somewhere, you typically make sure the cable is not somewhere that can be tripped up. But as I say, all rooms in the UK come with a fitted ceiling light, and a light switch by the door. So lamps are less common.
        • gxti 16y ago
          Even though I currently live in a U.S. apartment where the main rooms have no light fixtures (though they do have switched outlets), past experience hasn't shown a trend of not having light fixtures. Additionally, newer construction seems to have more fixtures, not less. This thread seems to be a circus of alternately overstating and understating problems though, so I'd take it with a huge grain of salt.
        • JoeAltmaier 16y ago
          Way to miss the point. Ok, the alarm clock. or the hair dryer (into the bathtub! Yay!) or the wireless access point...
          • shasta 16y ago
            So you're saying that if you trip over the cord while your hair dryer is plugged into an American socket, it doesn't fall off of whatever ledge it's on? Do you use an industrial hair dryer or something?
            • stretchwithme 16y ago
              Gravity works differently in the US.
          • points 16y ago
            Sockets do not exist in bathrooms. If they do, they're special 'shaver' sockets purely for electric razors. Hairdryers are usually used in bedrooms. The last time I tripped over a cable was..... years ago. I can't even remember doing it. It's not an issue we have.
    • jessriedel 16y ago
      > I wonder what the incidence of electrocution is in the UK vs US. I'm probably biased, but I certainly feel far safer here, especially having kids. Cars kill 100 times more people than electrocution (not to mention severe injuries, which are rare for electrocutions), so they're probably a more important risk to worry about. Any slight difference in car accidents is going to swamp electrical concerns.
      • castis 16y ago
        He was asking about rates on electrocution. Not asking how electrocution compares to car wrecks. The latest source that I could find said that 400 people died of electrocution in 200, down from 670 in 1990. I wasn't able to find any information on the UK. However, being from the US, I'd probably bet your wiring over there is safer. http://www.cpsc.gov/library/electro.pdf http://www.cpsc.gov/library/electro.pdf
        • jessriedel 16y ago
          I just meant that as far as comparing the US to the UK for feeling safer (his words), electrocution concerns are pretty trivial. Unless he spends an unusual amount of time near wall sockets or suffers from an acute case of electrophobia.
          • points 16y ago
            I've also experienced UK drivers vs US drivers.... God I feel much safer here ;)
    • wazoox 16y ago
      Yes but what about the Schuko? > * trip up a cable, and the plug falls out of the wall > (Pulling a UK plug out required force. It will not pull out) > Plus the cable exits a plug pointing downward, which > means it will not pull out via the cable. This one is a mixed bag (trip up a cable, throw the expensive grandma lamp to the ground). > * Sparks when you put a plug in or out. Not at all. Euro plugs earth pin always makes contact first. > * Bent pins that look like they're about to drop off Bent pins? UK plugs are only marginally sturdier. > * No shielding on pins What use is it? > * Often no mechanism to stop things being put in sockets > (All UK sockets only open once an earth pin has gone in All euro sockets have plastic spring-loaded linked stoppers that prevent accidental insertion of random stuff into the holes, and insertion of anything in only one hole (you need to push both sides together).
• rlpb 16y ago
  > The only real time it's a slight issue/pain is when you go on a plane and the cables take up a bit of space. I prefer the UK plug too. But you missed one other very important point of pain: the pain of standing on one. As the flex on a UK plug leaves from the bottom, it has the unique property of tending to lay down on the floor with pins facing upwards.
  • points 16y ago
    True, but OTOH, if you stand on a US one, the pins will often get bent. Best thing is to avoid standing on plugs :)
    • masklinn 16y ago
      > if you stand on a US one, the pins will often get bent. That would be the point. Better to damage a plug slightly than get the plug through your feet.
  • jap 16y ago
    Just leave them plugged in, UK sockets have on/off switches.
  • chris_j 16y ago
    When I was 14 years old, I went through a growth spurt and often passed out when I got up too quickly. One day, I got out of bed in a hurry, passed and and came to lying next to a broken (UK) plug, with a very sore head. It appeared that I had fallen head first onto the prongs of the upturned plug. Looking back, I was lucky not to have done myself a serious injury. A disadvantage of UK plugs versus those in other countries.
• felxh 16y ago
  Why would the only choice to replace the huge UK plugs be US plugs? This one might make much more sense for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko given the specs (much smaller, all the same advantages expect being fused - if I understand correctly) and also given the UKs geographic location ;)
  • jacquesm 16y ago
    The Schuko is definitely one of the better designs. 16A at 240V in a grounded plug that is very easy to protect against tiny fingers and that you'd have to be trying real hard to get your fingers on when inserting it, even in pitch dark. Forwards compatible socket with the Euro plug. (that's the thin, ungrounded one with just two pins, one live, one neutral). It will do anything from your phone charger to a light duty welder.
    • masklinn 16y ago
      > Forwards compatible socket with the Euro plug. (that's the thin, ungrounded one with just two pins, one live, one neutral). It's not really that it's forwards-compatible, but that the europlug was created specifically for this purpose. It's compatible with all european sockets but the english one I believe.
  • davidw 16y ago
    The Italian ones are fairly convenient for plugging a lot of things into a power strip: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets#Type_L http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets#Type... Edit: I'd just be happy if Europe picked a single standard and stuck with it. It's ridiculous to have to carry all sorts of converters for what are, in the grand scheme of things, not very long trips.
  • RK 16y ago
    Wow, I guess I haven't seen a UK plug in a while, because I would describe those Schuko plugs as huge as well.
• qntm 16y ago
  Do US plugs actually spark? I thought that was something you just saw in movies.
  • fluidcruft 16y ago
    I see sparks regularly. Usually when the vacuum cable gets yanked from the wall while vacuuming (tripping, too short).
  • jacquesm 16y ago
    Yes, they do. Sometimes they'll even spark when they're just sitting there with something plugged in. There is a mechanical/electrical machining process called spark erosion aka electrical discharge machining. Every time you have a spark a tiny bit of the metal of both contacts evaporates. Of course that's when you want it to happen, in sockets with plugged in loads you really don't want it to happen. Over time this process accelerates and it has been the cause of many house fires in the US. The fact that such sockets are placed in walls made of mostly wood placed right next to an upright stud does not help either. Sometimes they're so bad you can actually smell the ozone.
    • ars 16y ago
      Everything sparks - it's not unique to american plugs. In the UK the contact is just deeper so you can't see it. If anything UK plugs spark more because the voltage is higher. And sparks are not the cause of many house fires, you just made that up. The sparks are harmless, and I've never seen a plug with erosion on it. Just because you can do it doesn't mean it actually happens.
      • jacquesm 16y ago
        No, I did not make that up, and I did not mean 'sparks on insertion' I meant 'sparks while inserted', though 'sparks on insertion' is not good either for your socket. American plugs spark (much) more frequently and strongly than their equivalent UK/EU plugs because the spring pressure from the side contacts is insufficient to maintain good contact over the lifetime of an installation, especially if the plugs are also worn. The fact that typically the current is twice as high doesn't help either (though if you get zapped it's less of a problem than in 230V installations, the US uses a balanced 110 system for most residential circuits where only a few receptacles which are of a different design have both sides of the step-down transformer outside of the house running to them). The UK/EU plugs are of a much more solid construction than the American ones, as are the wallsockets they go in to. I've seen US sockets that made an audible buzz while operating and get extremely hot (hot enough to melt the plastic). Not good. The usual way in which it gets to this state is that a socket has been overloaded a couple of times, or heavy load is plugged in or removed while switched on, the contacts have corroded or have some soot build up on them and then the resistance increases enough to start a runaway process that ends with the socket failing altogether or with the socket getting so hot that the plastic outside cover will start to melt. At that point all bets are off, especially in houses that are mostly constructed from wooden sticks instead of brick or concrete. Another cause of trouble like this is that there was a short period when due to the supply issues with copper electrical wire made of aluminum was tried in residential installations in the US. These required special fixtures so the wire would not come lose as the aluminum compressed over time thus shrinking away from the contact and causing an airgap and thus sparking. This kind of wiring is no longer 'code' and if you have such wiring it wouldn't harm to periodically tighten up on the screws to ensure good contact. Aluminum oxide build-up compounds this problem. People always blame 'short circuits' for electrical fires, but most of the time this is nonsense, since the breaker will almost always instantly trip in a short circuit situation. That's what they're designed to do. Half shorts (shorts that are of a resistance low enough to cause significant heat build-up and high enough not to cause the breaker to trip) and faulty contacts (intermittent contacts, sparks and thus heat) are a much more frequent cause of fire. Another big cause of fire is counterfeit junk hitting the market and do-it-yourself types that don't know the difference using this to wire up that extra socket for a space-heater in the attic.
• CrLf 16y ago
  Most appliances are fused internally anyway.