4 ms·

The difference really is night and day between a US and UK kettle. The worst part of the British system though (although I don’t think this has anything to do

The difference really is night and day between a US and UK kettle. The worst part of the British system though (although I don’t think this has anything to do with voltage, IDK) is there is nowhere to plug-in your razor, hair clippers, hair dryer, toothbrush, curling iron, etc. etc.

pmlnr 3y ago
That's building regulations, sadly. Sockets need to be multiple meters from splash zones, but there's an exception for shaver sockets, which have their own transformer, limited amps, and have a plug that looks very similar to the non-grounded EU plugs.
- tialaramex 3y ago
  Yeah, both bathrooms in my (UK) home have such sockets, I don't actually use them, the electric toothbrush gets charged by this desk instead, but they exist. Regulations change over time, this home's bathrooms are all interior, with fans to evacuate moisture, and the toilets accordingly have internal overflow†, both these features were not legal when my parents home was built. † Historically for a residential toilet in the UK if the water rises above the intended maximum level in the tank, it just runs into a pipe to the outside of the building, in principle you can now see what's wrong and it's not dangerous... but, if you don't fix it promptly this results in a stain on the building exterior, as well as potentially wider water damage, plus it can freeze in mid-winter which isn't good. But wait, a toilet has a very obvious place to dump unwanted water, it's connected to the sewer and if that is broken you've got much more serious problems. So a modern toilet tank just re-uses the flush mechanism to dump excess water the same place as everything else. This elegant solution, already needed in some commercial applications, was I believe made legal in newer residential building regulations maybe in the 1980s.
  - allendoerfer 3y ago
    Thank you, now I have even more highly specific but useless information about British homes. It will sit next to my knowledge about why you guys (used to) have two faucets.
    - Symbiote 3y ago
      They still mostly choose to have two taps in the bathroom. Part of the reason I emigrated.
- rdsnsca 3y ago
  You don't use GFCI's in the UK? https://www.canadianhomeinspection.com/home-reference-library/electrical/gfcis-ground-fault-circuit-interrupters/ https://www.canadianhomeinspection.com/home-reference-librar...
  - blue_cookeh 3y ago
    Yes - though we call them RCDs and they're typically located in the consumer unit. Up until recently they'd be shared across several circuits (a "split" or "dual" RCD consumer unit). Nowadays regs are pushing for each cicruit in the consumer unit to be protected individually by their own RCBO (almost the same thing as an RCD/GFCI)
bemusedthrow75 3y ago
No, we can still do that -- I have a dual-voltage shaver point next to my bathroom sink with my electric toothbrush plugged in. There's a famous, common 20VA fixture by Legrand with a distinctive symbol. I asked an electrician about this last year. Most electricians will still fit them. It won't supply a hairdryer or a pair of curling tongs, probably. Not that you really want such things in a bathroom or without an earth pin.
- TrueGeek 3y ago
  Yeah, it's fine for me as all my stuff is rechargeable and cordless anyway. But my wife needs her hairdryer. In the US any plugs that could get wet are GFCI [1] so you just wait for it to dry out and then push the reset button. I've rarely had it happen in the bathroom, even with outlets right next to a sink. But I had an outlet at ground level outdoors that would trip during heavy storms sometimes. We fixed it by putting a physical cover over it. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device
  - bemusedthrow75 3y ago
    Yes. New houses and rented properties in the UK have to have an RCD now as well. But we have the additional EU building codes.

pmlnr 3y ago

That's building regulations, sadly. Sockets need to be multiple meters from splash zones, but there's an exception for shaver sockets, which have their own transformer, limited amps, and have a plug that looks very similar to the non-grounded EU plugs.

tialaramex 3y ago
Yeah, both bathrooms in my (UK) home have such sockets, I don't actually use them, the electric toothbrush gets charged by this desk instead, but they exist. Regulations change over time, this home's bathrooms are all interior, with fans to evacuate moisture, and the toilets accordingly have internal overflow†, both these features were not legal when my parents home was built. † Historically for a residential toilet in the UK if the water rises above the intended maximum level in the tank, it just runs into a pipe to the outside of the building, in principle you can now see what's wrong and it's not dangerous... but, if you don't fix it promptly this results in a stain on the building exterior, as well as potentially wider water damage, plus it can freeze in mid-winter which isn't good. But wait, a toilet has a very obvious place to dump unwanted water, it's connected to the sewer and if that is broken you've got much more serious problems. So a modern toilet tank just re-uses the flush mechanism to dump excess water the same place as everything else. This elegant solution, already needed in some commercial applications, was I believe made legal in newer residential building regulations maybe in the 1980s.
- allendoerfer 3y ago
  Thank you, now I have even more highly specific but useless information about British homes. It will sit next to my knowledge about why you guys (used to) have two faucets.
  - Symbiote 3y ago
    They still mostly choose to have two taps in the bathroom. Part of the reason I emigrated.
rdsnsca 3y ago
You don't use GFCI's in the UK? https://www.canadianhomeinspection.com/home-reference-library/electrical/gfcis-ground-fault-circuit-interrupters/ https://www.canadianhomeinspection.com/home-reference-librar...
- blue_cookeh 3y ago
  Yes - though we call them RCDs and they're typically located in the consumer unit. Up until recently they'd be shared across several circuits (a "split" or "dual" RCD consumer unit). Nowadays regs are pushing for each cicruit in the consumer unit to be protected individually by their own RCBO (almost the same thing as an RCD/GFCI)

bemusedthrow75 3y ago

No, we can still do that -- I have a dual-voltage shaver point next to my bathroom sink with my electric toothbrush plugged in. There's a famous, common 20VA fixture by Legrand with a distinctive symbol. I asked an electrician about this last year. Most electricians will still fit them. It won't supply a hairdryer or a pair of curling tongs, probably. Not that you really want such things in a bathroom or without an earth pin.

TrueGeek 3y ago
Yeah, it's fine for me as all my stuff is rechargeable and cordless anyway. But my wife needs her hairdryer. In the US any plugs that could get wet are GFCI [1] so you just wait for it to dry out and then push the reset button. I've rarely had it happen in the bathroom, even with outlets right next to a sink. But I had an outlet at ground level outdoors that would trip during heavy storms sometimes. We fixed it by putting a physical cover over it. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device
- bemusedthrow75 3y ago
  Yes. New houses and rented properties in the UK have to have an RCD now as well. But we have the additional EU building codes.