4 ms·

I am always getting anxious that I get electrocuted when I disconnect US plug. I wish the whole world adopted UK plugs and sockets for safety.

palijer 5y ago
Install some GFCI outlets everywhere and the risk is gone. Also you are very, very, very unlikely to be electrocuted in this way even if you do touch the metal and get voltage passed through you. Like, it is possible, if one finger in a hand is touching the live prong, and another finger on the other hand is touching the neutral/ground prong, you'd pass current across your chest. Or if you are touching something that is grounded, like a pipe/sink... But actually dying this way is rather unlikely.
- edrxty 5y ago
  Further, the UK has twice the voltage which means twice the current will pass through you. The US 120v system is pretty safe in general. If you do something really dumb it'll kill you but 120v isn't really that concerning compared to 230-240. The cutoff for dangerous voltages is usually considered to be around 60v.
  - gumby 5y ago
    The bulky UK plugs also have a longer ground, as do compliant plugs in Germany and Italy (at least)
    - masklinn 5y ago
      Yes, pretty much all european plugs are designed such that you can not connect the live before the ground is connected. In UK plugs, the connection of the neutral will also open the safety doors and allow connecting the live at all (that is not the case for mainland plugs, at least not the 7/7 ones). With respect to UK plugs, it's also common for them to have the live pins only half exposed, with the rest being insulator, to avoid the possibility of touching live pins while the plug is partially inserted. On the mainland the sockets tend to be recessed to work around the risk, but the "europlugs" (which are not grounded) almost all have this property as they can't really be "sealed in".
- lazide 5y ago
  It might REALLY REALLY hurt though. Still harder to do than it looks, and to your point, very difficult to actually die from. Not impossible, but very unlikely.
gambiting 5y ago
Then surely shuko plug is the ultimate of both worlds? There is no need for the increased size and complexity with the internal fuse, and the socket is recessed so you can't touch the pins until they are way out to the connection points.
- gumby 5y ago
  Yes, the Schuko is a good design. Probably the best, although it’s a bit inconveniently large for my tastes. The modern US one (NEC) is probably the best trade off of size and safety (see my parallel comment on its physical design). Though I do think there is still too much use of two-prong plugs, despite the near ubiquity of grounded sockets these days.
gumby 5y ago
I wouldn’t worry too much. The voltage is low. More importantly, the three prong (grounded) plugs have longer ground pins than the other pins, so the most electrically convenient return path will always be connected while any current is present. You can’t see this structure in the standard diagrams such as the ones in the article but you can tell it for yourself by inspection.
- Scoundreller 5y ago
  ... when there are 3-pins. Not every device has this. I haven't done a survey, but less than 50%, including this $1000+ computer's charger.
ginko 5y ago
UK plugs seem way overengineered. European schuko plugs have all the same advantages without weighing a ton.
- masklinn 5y ago
  > UK plugs seem way overengineered. Although it is extremely solidly built, it's mostly built for a different context: the UK mostly uses ring circuits (similar to a ring network) rather than the radial topology used pretty much everywhere else. This means there can't really be "small" fuses at the fusebox, you can't put a 16A fuse for the entire ring because that'd be the load for all the devices in the house. As a result you need smaller fuses at the plug level. An advantage of that is that your fuses can then be sized specifically for the appliance cable, and thus you can safely use much smaller cable e.g. let's say that you want to design a 2.5A extension cable, you can put a 2.5A fuse in it and be safe. In a radial context where plugs are unfused, somebody could plug a 10A appliance on the 2.5A cable and melt the cable, the fuse only protects the "wall" circuit and won't blow until >16A (generally). In fact this has been an issue in the US in the last few years: because of the low voltage, 20A circuits have become more common, but extension cords are still usually 16A. If you plug a 16A cord to a 20A circuit and draw 20A from it, the fuse will be perfectly happy (everything's fine as far as it's concerned) but the cord can catch on fire. Anyway since they needed larger plugs for the fuse, I expect the UK standards body reinforced the plug while at it.
  - ficklepickle 5y ago
    > If you plug a 16A cord to a 20A circuit and draw 20A from it, the fuse will be perfectly happy (everything's fine as far as it's concerned) but the cord can catch on fire. Technology Connections recently made a video about this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_q-xnYRugQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_q-xnYRugQ
ghshephard 5y ago
I drove all my friends crazy in Singapore (has the same switched outlet) by never, ever “switching off the socket” - whenever a housekeeper did that it would take me a long time (initially) to figure out why an appliance wasn’t working.
NoOneNew 5y ago
Dont touch the prongs??? 34 years in the US. I have never been electrocuted when plugging/unplugging anything. I dont know anyone that has been. Wtf are you playing at? Everywhere across the planet has to adopt things that make you comfortable because you apparently dont know how to not touch the metal bits when unplugging something? Wait no, you're the one they write, "Dont eat package" for, aren't you?
suction 5y ago
You're so close to the realisation, so close.

palijer 5y ago

Install some GFCI outlets everywhere and the risk is gone. Also you are very, very, very unlikely to be electrocuted in this way even if you do touch the metal and get voltage passed through you. Like, it is possible, if one finger in a hand is touching the live prong, and another finger on the other hand is touching the neutral/ground prong, you'd pass current across your chest. Or if you are touching something that is grounded, like a pipe/sink... But actually dying this way is rather unlikely.

edrxty 5y ago
Further, the UK has twice the voltage which means twice the current will pass through you. The US 120v system is pretty safe in general. If you do something really dumb it'll kill you but 120v isn't really that concerning compared to 230-240. The cutoff for dangerous voltages is usually considered to be around 60v.
- gumby 5y ago
  The bulky UK plugs also have a longer ground, as do compliant plugs in Germany and Italy (at least)
  - masklinn 5y ago
    Yes, pretty much all european plugs are designed such that you can not connect the live before the ground is connected. In UK plugs, the connection of the neutral will also open the safety doors and allow connecting the live at all (that is not the case for mainland plugs, at least not the 7/7 ones). With respect to UK plugs, it's also common for them to have the live pins only half exposed, with the rest being insulator, to avoid the possibility of touching live pins while the plug is partially inserted. On the mainland the sockets tend to be recessed to work around the risk, but the "europlugs" (which are not grounded) almost all have this property as they can't really be "sealed in".
lazide 5y ago
It might REALLY REALLY hurt though. Still harder to do than it looks, and to your point, very difficult to actually die from. Not impossible, but very unlikely.

gambiting 5y ago

Then surely shuko plug is the ultimate of both worlds? There is no need for the increased size and complexity with the internal fuse, and the socket is recessed so you can't touch the pins until they are way out to the connection points.

gumby 5y ago
Yes, the Schuko is a good design. Probably the best, although it’s a bit inconveniently large for my tastes. The modern US one (NEC) is probably the best trade off of size and safety (see my parallel comment on its physical design). Though I do think there is still too much use of two-prong plugs, despite the near ubiquity of grounded sockets these days.

gumby 5y ago

I wouldn’t worry too much. The voltage is low. More importantly, the three prong (grounded) plugs have longer ground pins than the other pins, so the most electrically convenient return path will always be connected while any current is present. You can’t see this structure in the standard diagrams such as the ones in the article but you can tell it for yourself by inspection.

Scoundreller 5y ago
... when there are 3-pins. Not every device has this. I haven't done a survey, but less than 50%, including this $1000+ computer's charger.

ginko 5y ago

UK plugs seem way overengineered. European schuko plugs have all the same advantages without weighing a ton.

masklinn 5y ago
> UK plugs seem way overengineered. Although it is extremely solidly built, it's mostly built for a different context: the UK mostly uses ring circuits (similar to a ring network) rather than the radial topology used pretty much everywhere else. This means there can't really be "small" fuses at the fusebox, you can't put a 16A fuse for the entire ring because that'd be the load for all the devices in the house. As a result you need smaller fuses at the plug level. An advantage of that is that your fuses can then be sized specifically for the appliance cable, and thus you can safely use much smaller cable e.g. let's say that you want to design a 2.5A extension cable, you can put a 2.5A fuse in it and be safe. In a radial context where plugs are unfused, somebody could plug a 10A appliance on the 2.5A cable and melt the cable, the fuse only protects the "wall" circuit and won't blow until >16A (generally). In fact this has been an issue in the US in the last few years: because of the low voltage, 20A circuits have become more common, but extension cords are still usually 16A. If you plug a 16A cord to a 20A circuit and draw 20A from it, the fuse will be perfectly happy (everything's fine as far as it's concerned) but the cord can catch on fire. Anyway since they needed larger plugs for the fuse, I expect the UK standards body reinforced the plug while at it.
- ficklepickle 5y ago
  > If you plug a 16A cord to a 20A circuit and draw 20A from it, the fuse will be perfectly happy (everything's fine as far as it's concerned) but the cord can catch on fire. Technology Connections recently made a video about this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_q-xnYRugQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_q-xnYRugQ

ghshephard 5y ago

I drove all my friends crazy in Singapore (has the same switched outlet) by never, ever “switching off the socket” - whenever a housekeeper did that it would take me a long time (initially) to figure out why an appliance wasn’t working.

NoOneNew 5y ago

Dont touch the prongs??? 34 years in the US. I have never been electrocuted when plugging/unplugging anything. I dont know anyone that has been. Wtf are you playing at? Everywhere across the planet has to adopt things that make you comfortable because you apparently dont know how to not touch the metal bits when unplugging something? Wait no, you're the one they write, "Dont eat package" for, aren't you?

suction 5y ago

You're so close to the realisation, so close.