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The UK plug design is generally regarded as the best of the standard ones https://www.fastcompany.com/3032807/why-england-has-the-best-wall-sockets-on-earth htt
by dpeck 7y ago
The UK plug design is generally regarded as the best of the standard ones https://www.fastcompany.com/3032807/why-england-has-the-best-wall-sockets-on-earth https://www.fastcompany.com/3032807/why-england-has-the-best...
From my experience with some amount of traveling, I would agree that its very nice to use in practice and definitely got a lot of things right.
- _Microft 7y agoDid I understand correctly that outlets contain a switch and are off by default and that the grounding pin switches them on when inserting the plug? That's great.
- throwaway2048 7y agoThe grounding pin also makes electrical contact first, and plugs have a built in fuse as well.
- epanchin 7y agoNot an electrical switch. The outlets contain a physical gate over live and neutral that is pushed open by the longer earth pin.
- dmurray 7y agoWhich means you can use a European plug in a UK socket, if you first put something in the earth slot (a key works well). European travellers are generally impressed when I show them this trick, and sometimes rightly concerned that I'm sticking metal objects into a power outlet. If there's any chance the outlet is wired incorrectly, don't do this unless you can isolate the outlet or the key.
- rwmj 7y agoYeah I wouldn't rely on things being wired correctly. When I moved into my current UK house the neutral and earth were physically connected (someone had driven a nail through a cable and "got lucky"). Took a while to find the nail and fix that.
- Symbiote 7y agoPlease don't demonstrate this to anyone. It's very difficult to do without damaging the socket. (Source: frequent socket replacements at a British university.)
- noir_lord 7y agoTil you step on one face up at 3am when heading to the loo. Anyone who thinks the English are a reserved polite people has never seen one step on the surprise plug.
- sagichmal 7y ago??? The UK plug is gargantuan and unwieldy, and the inbuilt fuse a pointless anachronism grandfathered in via historical momentum. The Euro plug is better in every way.
- Camillo 7y agoI don't get why this person is being downvoted. He's right. There is such a thing as overengineering, and the UK plug is the poster child.
- skunkpocalypse 7y agoI don't get why either of these people are being downvoted. So please, downvote me too. Downvotes make me feel less lonely.
- amluto 7y agoTo me that reads like an article written by someone trying really hard to defend the U.K. electrical system. UK receptacles and plugs have complex safety features mostly because the UK electrical system is awful. The UK (historically at least) used ring circuits that are fused too high such that an inappropriate resistive load that will not blow the fuse can still overheat the wiring. Hence more fuses than should be needed to partially mitigate the problem. Modern US receptacles are “tamper resistant” and are required by code in places that kids can get to, and they have similar safety shutters. Unfortunately, many of them, especially the cheaper ones, suck and actively eject plugs. The lack of insulation on US plugs to prevent shock when plugging and unplugging is a fair criticism. I suspect this is mostly because US prongs are thin and could become too weak if the metal were narrowed to make room for insulation.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- stereo 7y agoYou've never stepped on an UK plug at night, have you?