5 ms·

Why Britain has the best wall sockets on earth

19 points by chestnut-tree 12y ago

scrumper 12y ago
They are indeed murder on bare feet. The article sadly didn't mention two other excellent aspects: - They are very, very secure: you pretty much can't rip a British plug out of the wall with the cord. My US plugs, by comparison, are always coming half out and terrifying me with thoughts of sparking fires. - All multi-way adapters are oriented the same way, so you know your stuff will fit. Contrast with a US 4 way, where one will be vertical, one horizontal, and absolutely none will let you plug in a 'wall wart' without blocking access to another free socket.
- AlyssaRowan 12y ago
  It's true about the feet. The earth pin fits right into the tender bit of your foot. In every other respect, they're brilliant.
aidanlister 12y ago
My first reaction was that the author is so blusteringly excited to be British that he has failed to make an objective assessment. After watching the video, I see he's also a presenter and comedian, so perhaps this is to be expected. I've moved around enough to have lived with almost every type of wall plug [1], and hands down the Australian plug is definitely the nicest. It ticks all the same boxes, plus it's half the size, and the non-planar pins prevent it from slipping out of over-worn sockets. [1] http://worldwanders.com/tcomp/spread%20of%20plugs%20around%20the%20world.gif http://worldwanders.com/tcomp/spread%20of%20plugs%20around%2... [2] http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/36/c7/8b/outlet-jpg.jpg http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/36/c7/8b/o...
fancyketchup 12y ago
These are really not very strong arguments: Prong Design (probably the strongest of the bunch): I'll grant that it is possible to accidentally electrocute oneself with North American plugs, but I've never heard of this happening to anyone in real life. I'd be curious to know how many injuries or deaths can actually be attributed to this design before declaring the extra complication and expense of the British design to be worth the trouble. Socket Design: We have shuttered outlets in the US, too, and they work the same way. Sure, not every building has them (particularly old buildings), but they are available at any hardware store and easy to install. In any case, shuttered outlets are not specific to the the British plug. Built-in Fuses: This really had me scratching my head. How is it a good thing that English houses don't have fuses to protect the infrastructure? What happens when a wire shorts inside the wall? Don't worry! Your vacuum cleaner will be completely safe as your house is burning to the ground around it! Maybe the author just didn't express his point very well, but this frankly sounds downright dangerous. Circuit Design: This is a standard feature on the regular NEMA 5-15 plugs we use in the US (at least for the replacement plugs you can buy at the hardware store). The lug for the ground pin is closer to the cord end so that the ground wire will have more slack than the live and neutral wires. Again, not specific to British plugs.
- AlyssaRowan 12y ago
  The fuses in the plugs are in addition to the trips (formerly fuses) in the consumer unit for each circuit (and a master one too, I think?). We run on roughly double your voltage and a slightly lower frequency - 230V @ 50Hz - with usually a fairly decent amount of amps available, so a little more protection is a good thing. Mains here is hot, and it tends to tense/jam the muscles in your arm so it's hard to pull away, so you do not really want to be friends with it.
  - fancyketchup 12y ago
    Ah, I see. Sounds like the author was just confused then. But I'm afraid I still don't see the advantage of having a fuse or (circuit breaker) in the plug itself. What is the rationale behind having two over-current devices in series? Circuit breakers and fuses (c.f. ground fault interrupters) don't really do anything to prevent a human from being zapped: They're there to prevent fires. You can easily stop a heart (or cause burns) without drawing anywhere near enough current to activate the protection. If Britons think circuit breakers are so unreliable that they need two, why put on on the plug instead of both in the distribution pane?
    - scaramanga 12y ago
      We have RCD on the main loop for outlets. Having the fuse on individual devices plug is just handy.
PhantomGremlin 12y ago
When I spent some time in England in the good old days (about 30 years ago), you often got to screw your own plug onto the end of a power cord. Having random end-users do that didn't seem nearly as safe as having a plug permanently molded onto the cord. Does that problem still exist? And then there were the fuse boxes with end-user-accessible wire in them.[1] If the circuit keeps tripping, then just use more wire strands when you replace the "fuse". I'm surprised that half of London (the older half) didn't burn down every year. :-) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuse_%28electrical%29#UK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuse_%28electrical%29#UK
- scaramanga 12y ago
  Nah, everything comes with a plug for the last couple of decades or so.
richliss 12y ago
One of the things we can be truly proud of... kudos to the original designers and engineers who thought "Lets do it properly". My dad taught electrical engineering, and I think how reassuring the absolute confidence must have been with us kids using plugs, and even pulling on cables. He knew it was going to be a minor inconvenience for him to recable it, and absolutely no risk of electrocution to us.
atesti 12y ago
I can't really see any advantage over good German sockets and plugs: -Everyone can insulate parts of the two pins and it's often the case: I can never accidentally touch pins. Either they are insulated or the big "Schuko" plug does not let my finger in between -The ripping out is also done like that in every good device: The ground line must be longer and rip last -Plugs which are sold as childsafe have a mechanism where only if both pins are inserted they unlock and allow insertion. -And of course fuses belong in the consumer unit (together with mandatory RCDs) and maybe the device itself. The reason the UK has fuses in the socket, if I remember correctly, are the wiring forms a ring to allow for more amps which are needed for electrical heating. If the sockets have many amps, all wires of devices would need to be thick. To allow them to be thinner, a fuse must be in the socket.
ksec 12y ago
They are definitely much safer. But I always wonder, if we have a choice and redesign things again, could we make a better and smaller design while retaining all the safety features?

19 points by chestnut-tree 12y ago

They are indeed murder on bare feet. The article sadly didn't mention two other excellent aspects: - They are very, very secure: you pretty much can't rip a British plug out of the wall with the cord. My US plugs, by comparison, are always coming half out and terrifying me with thoughts of sparking fires. - All multi-way adapters are oriented the same way, so you know your stuff will fit. Contrast with a US 4 way, where one will be vertical, one horizontal, and absolutely none will let you plug in a 'wall wart' without blocking access to another free socket.

AlyssaRowan 12y ago
It's true about the feet. The earth pin fits right into the tender bit of your foot. In every other respect, they're brilliant.

aidanlister 12y ago

My first reaction was that the author is so blusteringly excited to be British that he has failed to make an objective assessment. After watching the video, I see he's also a presenter and comedian, so perhaps this is to be expected. I've moved around enough to have lived with almost every type of wall plug [1], and hands down the Australian plug is definitely the nicest. It ticks all the same boxes, plus it's half the size, and the non-planar pins prevent it from slipping out of over-worn sockets. [1] http://worldwanders.com/tcomp/spread%20of%20plugs%20around%20the%20world.gif http://worldwanders.com/tcomp/spread%20of%20plugs%20around%2... [2] http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/36/c7/8b/outlet-jpg.jpg http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/36/c7/8b/o...

fancyketchup 12y ago

These are really not very strong arguments: Prong Design (probably the strongest of the bunch): I'll grant that it is possible to accidentally electrocute oneself with North American plugs, but I've never heard of this happening to anyone in real life. I'd be curious to know how many injuries or deaths can actually be attributed to this design before declaring the extra complication and expense of the British design to be worth the trouble. Socket Design: We have shuttered outlets in the US, too, and they work the same way. Sure, not every building has them (particularly old buildings), but they are available at any hardware store and easy to install. In any case, shuttered outlets are not specific to the the British plug. Built-in Fuses: This really had me scratching my head. How is it a good thing that English houses don't have fuses to protect the infrastructure? What happens when a wire shorts inside the wall? Don't worry! Your vacuum cleaner will be completely safe as your house is burning to the ground around it! Maybe the author just didn't express his point very well, but this frankly sounds downright dangerous. Circuit Design: This is a standard feature on the regular NEMA 5-15 plugs we use in the US (at least for the replacement plugs you can buy at the hardware store). The lug for the ground pin is closer to the cord end so that the ground wire will have more slack than the live and neutral wires. Again, not specific to British plugs.

AlyssaRowan 12y ago
The fuses in the plugs are in addition to the trips (formerly fuses) in the consumer unit for each circuit (and a master one too, I think?). We run on roughly double your voltage and a slightly lower frequency - 230V @ 50Hz - with usually a fairly decent amount of amps available, so a little more protection is a good thing. Mains here is hot, and it tends to tense/jam the muscles in your arm so it's hard to pull away, so you do not really want to be friends with it.
- fancyketchup 12y ago
  Ah, I see. Sounds like the author was just confused then. But I'm afraid I still don't see the advantage of having a fuse or (circuit breaker) in the plug itself. What is the rationale behind having two over-current devices in series? Circuit breakers and fuses (c.f. ground fault interrupters) don't really do anything to prevent a human from being zapped: They're there to prevent fires. You can easily stop a heart (or cause burns) without drawing anywhere near enough current to activate the protection. If Britons think circuit breakers are so unreliable that they need two, why put on on the plug instead of both in the distribution pane?
  - scaramanga 12y ago
    We have RCD on the main loop for outlets. Having the fuse on individual devices plug is just handy.

PhantomGremlin 12y ago

When I spent some time in England in the good old days (about 30 years ago), you often got to screw your own plug onto the end of a power cord. Having random end-users do that didn't seem nearly as safe as having a plug permanently molded onto the cord. Does that problem still exist? And then there were the fuse boxes with end-user-accessible wire in them.[1] If the circuit keeps tripping, then just use more wire strands when you replace the "fuse". I'm surprised that half of London (the older half) didn't burn down every year. :-) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuse_%28electrical%29#UK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuse_%28electrical%29#UK

scaramanga 12y ago
Nah, everything comes with a plug for the last couple of decades or so.

richliss 12y ago

One of the things we can be truly proud of... kudos to the original designers and engineers who thought "Lets do it properly". My dad taught electrical engineering, and I think how reassuring the absolute confidence must have been with us kids using plugs, and even pulling on cables. He knew it was going to be a minor inconvenience for him to recable it, and absolutely no risk of electrocution to us.

atesti 12y ago

I can't really see any advantage over good German sockets and plugs: -Everyone can insulate parts of the two pins and it's often the case: I can never accidentally touch pins. Either they are insulated or the big "Schuko" plug does not let my finger in between -The ripping out is also done like that in every good device: The ground line must be longer and rip last -Plugs which are sold as childsafe have a mechanism where only if both pins are inserted they unlock and allow insertion. -And of course fuses belong in the consumer unit (together with mandatory RCDs) and maybe the device itself. The reason the UK has fuses in the socket, if I remember correctly, are the wiring forms a ring to allow for more amps which are needed for electrical heating. If the sockets have many amps, all wires of devices would need to be thick. To allow them to be thinner, a fuse must be in the socket.

ksec 12y ago

They are definitely much safer. But I always wonder, if we have a choice and redesign things again, could we make a better and smaller design while retaining all the safety features?