Shaver Sockets are really clever
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- čas přidán 8. 02. 2024
- The UK has standardised around one type of three pin plug, so just why is there a completely different style 2 pin plug in British bathrooms, and why doesn’t it have an earth pin? Surely that’s more dangerous as with all the water in a bathroom? Well, like many UK electrical standards, it’s a well thought out solution to provide the maximum protection. But just why is it the shape it is? Well, that’s a two pin standard that goes back to the start of the 20th century.
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plugsocketmuseum.nl/Wylex2.html
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Errata: You can have a light switch in a UK bathroom but it needs to be 0.6m from any bath or shower, and 3m from any water outlet (e.g. sink).
The fuse protects the device, and the lead and everything upstream on the circuit.
As people mentioned, it made sense to sell the new UK 3 pin plug separately as many people's houses still had the old style plugs. I remember my grandmother's house had old style sockets in the 1970s.
Considering many first world countries allow switches in bathrooms and their citizens are dying from using them. It's evidence it's not a problem to have a light switch in the bathroom.
My German bathroom has (unswitched) full sized power outlets approx 50 cm away from both my shower and sink. And a double light switch just about the sink plug.
Although I do know that my whole appartment is protected with a rcd.
In US, bathroom and kitchen outlets are generally protected by ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCI). Are these used in UK and/or Europe? ETA: Just found out that GFCI is pretty much the same as residual-current device (RCD).
For the Americans, that's about six cheeseburgers.
@@4tarsusAll new-ish houses (and those that have had their consumer unit updated recently) have GFCI/RCD protection installed on all circuits at the breaker box.
"That's not a green light to go testing for yourself". That's fine, I'll ask ElectroBoom to test it out for me. He lives for that stuff.
Until he doesn't live anymore
@@ts757arse "this HAS to happen!" -The entire internet
Vaaaaastly!! @@ts757arse
In the UK that would actually be Photonicinduction 😂
came here to say that !
Nice to see you filling in for Tom Scott’s absence!
Tom Scott did more research before posting
UK plugs are a fascinatingly niche topic but somehow utterly fascinating. I enjoyed Tom Scott's old video about wiring a 3pin plug too.
@@JamesWilliams-gi4eu Tom Scott doesn't become great overnight. It takes time.
It's interesting that the US never really had this fear of electricity in the bathroom. We used to just have our standard 120V 15 or 20A outlet right next to the sink with no protection. The only thing that has changed since then is that we've added GFCI (RCD) protection to those outlets.
Suprisingly even less so in the netherlands. I have sockets imidiatelly next to the sink. These sockets also don't have gfci built in, just regular 230V sockets. There are RCD's in the fuse box, and I have tripped them on multiple occasions by getting the plugs wet.
US doesn't have RCD in the fuse boxes mostly
@@Bobbobbob984 GFCI (RCD) breakers are 100% a thing in the US, and not that uncommon.
@@BenB21361 Honestly that sounds really annoying to have to go down to my breaker panel every time I want to test or reset one. Having the RCD/GFCI on the socket itself means I can just press the button right there in the bathroom!
@@Connie_cpu For what would you test the RCD? You cant really test the RCDs in the breaker box anyway except for intentionally tripping it which seems unwise. Also the RDC rarely trips, and the whole house is protected instead of only particular sockets.
In the US we solved that problem by requiring all plugs near water to be protected with a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter). I believe you call them RCDs. In the event of a short to ground, the receptacle will cut the power within 1/40th of a second. Our bathrooms have 120V 15A outlets in them so you can use a hair dryer. Hair dryers themselves are required to have a GFCI plug so you're protected even if you are in an old house without GFCI outlets in the bathroom.
My home built in the 70s (Canada) has a very similar ungrounded 120V transformer isolated outlet. Replacing them with a 15A (or 20A) GFCI is a common "upgrade".
That does not upgrade the underlying wiring (I think the circuit would be over it's maximum number of outlets if I did that). I was all excited by a "20A" circuit in my last apartment: until I realized it was fed by a 15A breaker. At least the new LED bathroom light, installed at the same time, means you are less likely to overload the circuit hooking up a hair dryer. (The light fixture in my 70s bathroom draws 200W if you use 8 25W bulbs.)
US code has required the bathroom socket to be supplied with a 20A circuit for years, and has required it to only serve bathroom plugs since the turn of the century. unfortunately, this means cheapskate electricians will supply ALL of the bathrooms from the same 20A circuit.
In Argentina we solved that problem by requiring all plugs to be protected with a RCD. All of them, not just the bathroom ones.
@@jamesphillips2285 It's been my experience that the lighting for the bathroom is on a shared lighting circuit for an area of the house (usually inclusive of the lighting for bedrooms/hallway adjacent to the bathroom) but the outlets are on a separate GFCI circuit.
Hundreds of thousands of US houses still have regular (non-GFCI) outlets and switches in the bathrooms and kitchens. Very few problems and incidents considering.
In the past, in Germany too, the light switches for the bathroom were installed outside
and people were very reluctant to install sockets in the bathroom.
Today with 30mA RCD/RCCB/RCBO, light switches and sockets are more commonly installed in the bathroom.
funny how afraid of energy you guys are, meanwhile some countries use shower heads and install a water heater that's literally like a toaster above their heads plugged directly to power and water, no one dies (mostly except when they try to install it themselves)
Also, some light switches in Germany use a 12V circuit connected via relay.
@@monad_tcp Quite a few people in Georgia died from those in the 90s
It's not just additional safety equipment. In a regular German-style light switch, the contacts are at least an inch behind the front plate. You wouldn't be able to make contact even while spraying your hand with a shower head. And in one rated for wet rooms, there's an additional membrane between the front plate and the body of the switch. You'd have to fill up the cavity the switch sits in with water for any chance to make contact.
Additionally, full-plate switches have become the norm there, which makes it even safer.
If I am doing a new installation, I fit 10ma Breakers for the Bathrooms. Fells very safe.
'Some people plug thier electric toothbrushes into the socket, but more and more toothbrushes are rechargable'.....
In the UK, the 3 biggest electric toothbrush manufacturers (Oral-B, Phillips and Panasonic) all use the Shaver socket as the way to power their rechargeable toothbrush charger bases.....
I have had a ultrasonic for like 15 years, and have NEVER recharged it. I might use it probably 10 times a year, about the only time I brush.. haha. Kinda crazy though it still works and is powerful.
@@f-j-Services I guess it doesn't draw as much power when you only have 3 remaining teeth
@@JonasHamill LMFAO LOL! nah i got em all still haha lol i lol hard right now aaahh fuck.
Yeah, it's not like people are gonna take their shavers and brushes to another part of the house to charge.
This
We have full current outlets in bathrooms here in NZ. They have RCI (residual current interruptors), which detect if there is a short or a leak and shut down in milliseconds. You can run hairdryers or even heaters if wanted.
Maybe UK citizens aren't smart enough to not cook toast in the bath.
As long as the sockets arent above the sink as thats ilegal.
Same here in the US. Except we call our protection GFCI (ground-fault circuit interrupters) which can either be built into the circuit breaker providing power to the circuit, or built into the outlet itself.
Yeah in the UK RCD/RCCB (Residual current device) so do the same job. most trip at 0.3mA in in under 0.4 seconds. Technically you could bath with a toaster and it shouldnt kill you (but dont try it).
@@QWERTY-of8qh I think that should be 30ma. I could be wrong though!
When I was young, in the 80s, my grandad's house still had about 9 different types of socket in his house - 8 of those illustrated plus ONE modern one!
Nothing wrong with a spot of backwards compatibility! Assuming the house hasn't been re-wired, that array of post-1362 outlets will surely make it worth _millions_ to any Hipsters! 🙃
Son of (UK) electrician here. Really well presented potted history of UK plugs, not seen that referenced in any other video on the subject, nice touch.
Gets a bit nerdy from here on in....
My dad served his electrician's apprenticeship in the 1960s and when I was old enough (mid/late 1970s), I would sometimes go out on some house wiring jobs with him. I can remember helping to install many of these things. They are inherently safe as long as they are made to the relevant British Standard BS 4573 (as shown in this video). The transformer isolates you from the mains supply which is referenced to earth (ground) on UK outlets.
The reason for the two voltage outputs (both isolated from the mains supply) dates back to the time when shavers were either 240V or 115V dependent on the market they were originally sold in. Some were dual voltage and would have a switch on the shaver to select the correct voltage, though of course, many is the time when folks got this wrong with the inevitable consequences!
Modern electric shavers are generally all battery powered internally with charging circuitry which automatically detects the voltage when plugged in and adjusts accordingly.
To clarify a couple of things here, the fuse in the plug is actually to protect the cable (flex as we refer to it in the UK). Although, as you say, this is open to a lot of misunderstanding and interpretation which is why any shop selling these items should ask you what the cable and plug you're buying is for. Even better, they should really leave it to a qualified electrical engineer. UK plugs can be bought in a variety of use sizes too. 3amp, 5amp, 10amp and 13amp. Replacement fuses are also available in the following sizes 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 & 13amps and again must be made to British Standards (BS1362).
Incidently, the plug shown at 3:26, the line (live) brown wire is much too long. The idea of the plug design is such that the live wire should be as short as possible so that in the event of the failure of the cable strain clamp, pulling on the cable would pull out the live wire first. All UK plugs sold currently have a wiring diagram attached to show how long each cable should be stripped before connecting it to it's respective terminal.
the idea of a shorter L wire is a good one, I noticed the shorter brown wire when extending appliance leads by twisting together the conductors and then wrapping in tape but I never even realised why this was until reading your comment. Makes sense now.
I love how you, the British, assumed that all the people are utter idiots. But instead of telling them right in the face, you introduced Regulations that do it in more subtle way. Attaboy!
Here in Canada we have GFI outlets in bathrooms near the washbasins, also light and fan switches inside by the door. I have never heard of anyone getting a shock in the bathroom in my whole life.
Even my RV has GFI outlets in the bathroom, the power delivered from the RV is 220/110 volts.
We have GFIs we call them RCDs but they’re in the fuse box so protect the whole circuit. But we’re still overly cautious. Still not a fan of a mechanical device protecting you from shock.
The “toaster in the bath” joke doesn’t come from nowhere 😉
@@techheck3358 a propane toaster in a bathroom??
@@lukedoherty8062 So, are all of your breakers RCDs now?
@@chrisbarnes2823 the joke about people plugging in an electric toaster and throwing it into a bathtub to electrocute themselves
Round pin BS546 15A plugs are still very common in UK theatres for dimmed stage lighting circuits
Still used in homes for lighting. Lamps that can be switched from light switch.
Ridiculous regulations in the UK in this respect. In Europe you can have a mains power socket in a bathroom as long as you can't touch the water source (tap, shower etc) and the socket at the same time, this is infinitely more sensible. People on the continent aren't dropping like flies from electrocution!
Great video as always! I'm of a similar age to you and I'm one of those "rank amateurs" who used to have to wire the plugs onto any electrical devices my family bought right up into the 90s. I was even taught how to do this in school in a "home economics" class, which back in my school in the mid 80s wasn't just teaching girls how to cook, a really forward thinking school.
The reason why appliances weren't sold with plugs in the initial legislation was simply because the BS1363 socket was simply rare to begin with. Most houses would have had BS546 sockets, not BS1363, and that would have meant cutting off the supplied BS1363 plug and then replacing it with a BS546 one, which would have been wasteful in the period after WW II. BS546 remained common into the 1960s. So the legislation to force manufacturers to include a pre-fitted plug could have been made a decade or two earlier, but it made perfect sense at the time. Also, back in the that post war period, people tended to be much more practical and used to the DIY approach. They would service and repair their own cars, motorbikes and so on. It was a different world.
Also, that's a legislative issue, not a shortcoming of BS1363. In the BS1363 did have issues, the only major one on the plug itself was the lack of insulated sleeving on the live and neutral pins (which was resolved in the 1980s). There were also problems with multi-way sockets which were not required, probably due to an oversight, to include a fuse. Thus you could get 2 or even 3 way multi-way adapters without fuses which could mean, for example, two 3kW electric heaters being powered via the same socket. These days anything plugged into a BS1363 socket must have a fuse, which means that this should never happen now. I should add that all those little power adapters and chargers also have an internal fuse, even if it is not obvious, although they may be of the auto-resetting type like PPTC components.
The rule about allowing 230V standard sockets in bathrooms, initially 3m from zone 1 areas, not 2.5m is relatively recent. Go back 20 years and it was not allowed at all. The only reason that was allowed eventually was when residual current devices (RCDs) became common. However, most countries in Europe allowed standard sockets to be used in bathrooms anyway, despite having a similar voltage system. I should add that whilst the UK system is described as 230V, in practice it is still run close to 240V as that falls within the harmonisation standard of 230V +10%, -6% (in my house, close to a substation, it's typically about 245v). The harmonisation standard in Europe didn't require any country to change its de-facto local voltage standard, and it's often 220V in parts of the continent.
nb. 200 milli-amps is more than enough to kill somebody (which is why standard RCD protection in the UK and Europe tends to be 30 mA, and is even lower in the USA). So that bit about it being limited to 200 mA to protect against fatal shocks is, I suspect, not the real reason. I think it's more likely to keep heat dissipation down in the enclosure. Transformers are nothing like 100% efficient, and that means they generate heat, which is not a good think in that shaver socket enclosure. Heat will build up if it's more than a few watts, and even a 90% efficient transformer will dissipate 5 watts with a 50 watt load.
i find it intresting and having an isolation transformer required is definetly unique to the UK
as someome from the USA i can confirm our GFCIs (RCD equivalent) will trip at a pretty low leakage, no more than 5mA is allowed to be exact, and they have been required in bathrooms since the 1975 edition of the NEC (national electrical code)
voltage for am average house (not 3-phase) being 125/250v +5% -10% allowed variance
GFCI outlets(daisy-chain-able for their protection capabilities here in NA) or breakers were first required anywhere on homes in 1971 for any pool equipment and exterior outlets
also worth noting that the US and canada codes actually have mandated having a 20 amp, 125v dedicated circuit for exclusively the bathroom outlet, but only if an outlet was installed, until also in 1975 the dedicated outlet was no longer optional, as the code waited for there to be a way to protect against electric shock before requiring it
and bathrooms are the only place where you will never find a 250v outlet in the US, however hardwired, GFCI protected 250v is used by heating, spa tubs, water heaters and saunas in bathrooms
About the 200mA, don't forget that the current doesn't flow to ground but from one point inside the device to another point inside the same device. That makes it really hard to route the current through the user's heart. You have to grab it with both hands and connect with one to live and the other to neutral.
With the isolation transformer in place, it's much more likely to have a local partial short that causes a fire. And here, the small fuse can shine.
@@HenryLoenwind I'd agree that it's unlikely that the current would go via the heart. Just about the only way would be touching each live terminal with different hands.
However, I do not think the 200 mA limit had much to do with what is or is not a lethal electric shock. I also suspect that, even with 200 wet hands, it's probably difficult to get 200 mA to flow through the human body at 240 V. So I think the power limit is for other reasons. Certainly a dead short on the secondary would generate a lot of heat in the transformer, but will probably not draw enough current on the primary to trip a 6A MCB or blow a 5A fuse.
I actually see 252, basically the legal maximum, quite regularly in my house. It fluctuates a lot, this week I’ve seen it a low as 235 and up to 250! Right now: 243.
@@timtjtim actually the limit is actually 262 - as in appliances will be damaged beyond that(plus the fact that it is almost 277v) (atleast if you are in the US - no idea about limits in canada/the CEC)
recomended is more like 256.25v though for "cutting it close"
so 252 is within the safest range
in my area it only goes up to 250, down to 238 - went down to 224 one new years night(severly low and can burn out an HVAC compressor or similar) they took out the power soon after and came back after a few minutes with some emergency generators, 245v
it is a bad local grid so low voltage is common
In North America we simply provide bath room receptacles with "Ground Fault"' protection. This trips the receptacle off if any current flows to earth as it would if current were flowing through your body. It is either done with a breaker in the electric panel that incorporates ground fault protection or using a receptacle that has fault protection built in. This allows us to use not only shavers, but higher current devices like hair dryers and curling irons. It is common in most baths now, to have full counter tops (vanities) with a sink and room for electrics and cosmetics. Wall mounted sinks that were the standard before the 1950's have gone away for the most part.
As for fused plugs, we now have them in Christmas lights, but not in much else. Lamps have a 13 amp cord that would certainly hold until a 15 or 20 amp (120 volt) breaker tripped under a dead short and the lamp socket limits the bulb size. Electronics have the fuse built into the chassis. Large heating appliances are supplied by dedicated circuits at 240 volts with receptacles for 20, 30, 50, and 60 amps. Larger units are usually hard wired.
Ground fault protectors is widely used in Europe also. This shown in the video are before ground fault protectors where common. Nowadays here in Sweden, everything except the fridge and freezer are connected through a ground fault protector.
It's funny to suggest that the purpose of the fuse is to protect the device. Because by the time the fuse can trigger, the device has ALREADY failed. Fuses aren't very fast unless you short them decisively and run an insane current through them. But they can prevent fires.
My understanding is that the fuse is to protect everything upstream of the socket, so house wiring etc. Since that is all rated way above 13A, the 13A is acceptable for every plug, as it will rupture first. Device (downstream) protection is afforded by fuse(s) in the device itself.
Thanks - I've posted a correction as a pinned comment.
@@robertdewar1752 The primary purpose of a fuse, is to protect the *circuit* downstream of the fuse (not necessarily a specific device). If the current carrying capacity of a cable is exceeded for a long period of time, the cable can heat up and cause damage. If your appliance's cable is rated for 5A and you put a 13A fuse in to protect it, then that cable could be taking over twice its rated current without the fuse responding.
Everything upstream of a given fuse should already be rated to carry at least as much current as the highest-rated fuse or breaker on that path. House wiring rated at 20A isn't going to care about a 13A load that's been put on it, but it is going to care if you try to go over 20A (which is when the breaker for that circuit on the switchboard steps in). The switchboard doesn't care if you have multiple circuits drawing 20A each because it's built for at least 100A; but it does matter if your combined draw goes over that, which is when the 100A main breaker steps in. The same goes for fuses in plugs: everything upstream of the fuse is already rated to handle more than the fuse can handle. What isn't necessarily rated to handle that current, is the cable after the fuse that could become a fire hazard if allowed to draw more current than it is rated for. Even as you say, fuses within the device only protect the device itself (which is the circuit downstream of the onboard fuse).
In short, the current rating of a fuse should be no higher than the current rating of anything downstream of it (*including* wiring) until the next overload protective device, so that it can protect downstream components from overloads. 5A fuse for a 5A+ cable. 13A fuse for a 13A+ cable.
In a few cases a fuse protects a device. Say a motor gets stuck draw can increase and pop the fuse. You can then fix whatever is sticking/stopping the motor, replace the fuse and be good to do.
But the main purpose of the fuse it to prevent the cord from dangerously overheating.
@@Eyrlumi Correct. The fuse is there to protect the cable attached to the device, which may only be rated for 3 or 5 amps.
I mean, here on the continent we mandate every circuit to be secured by a GFCI, and I have a lot of sockets and stuff in my bathroom just fine. I hate visiting the UK, since I can't dry my hair in the bathroom, I have to go find a socket somewhere, blindly blow dry my hair in shape, and hope for the best.
That's been true in the UK as well for many years now, but the standards concerning bathroom sockets remain.
Yeah for all the fanboying of the UK electrical appliance standards, they are pretty archaic and redundantly over-engineered to compensate for a lot of legacy issues. Appliances that need a fuse almost always have one internally, and if not its easy to put a fuse on the main panel for each circuit. And the rest of the world finds it easy to keep electrical appliances out of your bathtub.
@@jeffh8803The fuse inside the appliance does not protect the appliance’s power cable. The plug socket is the correct place for a fuse. The US has issues with extension cords causing fires for exactly this reason. This is one of the most common causes of house fires in NA. On the other hand, such fires are very rare in the UK. Also, breakers protect entire circuits and should be sized to protect the wiring in your walls to prevent fires, not to protect the appliances plugged into them (which should have their own fuses).
All circuits in a vaguely modern UK house are RCD/GFCI protected. The entire house. The rules for bathrooms just hasn’t been updated. This is not a case of “over engineering” causing problems. Quite the opposite, in fact; the rules were put in place because of the *lack* of proper safety systems in the past. Had GFCI/RCD protection been required from the beginning, we would not have had these bathroom restrictions in the first place. This is an example of the UK electrical system in the past being *under* engineered, and this causing problems today even after the issue has been fixed - and the fix is better implemented than how things are done in the US. Of course, the rules could not have required RCDs, as they had not yet been invented.
It is actually quite remarkable how much you got wrong in a single short comment.
The UK has always had barmy electrical setups imo but one thing I do like is that wall receptacles have switches on them so they can be turned off at the wall. Leaving appliances plugged into live circuits 24/7 even when not used is a fire/shock hazard. Appliances are supposed to be unplugged when not in use but no one ever does.
The British Plug Design might be well-thought-out, but in my opinion the EU Plug is still better because it's universal. You can plug it in any direction (I have not a singe device where correct phase/neutral would matter), there are smaller plugs which fit in the same holes but are for less current and smaller devices and it's slim and modern.
There is only one Socket in the whole house for all devices, and the fuses are in the circuit breaker cabinet.
Interesting to learn that the UK used to have different size/shape sockets for different amperages. In Australia and New Zealand, we still have this, although most homes only have the standard 10a, there are 15a, 20a, and 32a sockets available, and while you can't plug a higher current plug into a lower current socket, they're cleverly designed so that you can plug a lower current plug into a higher current socket
The UK is weird with electricity. Most of the world lets you have an actual socket in the bathroom. Some even have an RCD/GFCI fitted to the outlet, allowing the use of hair dryers, curling irons, straightening tongues, and even the far better and more logical placement of a washing machine in your bathroom.
The UK plug (type G) is well thought out, it's safe from touching when plugged in, is reasonably stable, probably useful for shallow walls and easy to install because the sockets require less protrusion. But it has some major disadvantages: It's ridiculously large, plugs can't be plugged in upside down, it gets no support or protection from the outside of the outlet to keep it in place (just like an American type A or B socket but not as bad), it's limited to 13A, and the only other country near the UK that has compatibility with it is Ireland and the only other country in Europe is Malta.
I personally prefer the modern type F plug because the devices with them work with nearly every other European socket and with shaving outlets. They have none of the disadvantages that the UK plug has and can run 16A. With the only disadvantage being that it might need a deeper hole in the wall for a reasonably flush outlet. But when plugged in, it doesn't protrude as much. But I also like the type K socket, because it's compatible with nearly every Europlug (be it without grounding).
Having moved from Germany to the UK recently, I don't miss all the dust and dirt accumulating in those Schuko (type F) sockets. Especially if you have a power strip sitting somewhere. And with all UK outlets being installed in the same way, there's no need for plugging anything in upside down. Gravity pulls cables down, so that's where they need to go. (To be fair, I've seen some AC adaptors for things that are meant to be put on a sideboard, where the flimsy cable goes out on top. But that's the rare exception and often means the cable doing a sharp bend downwards first before going up to said sideboard.)
Ireland used to use type F, but switched to type G for the sake of practicality, as most of our appliance imports came via the UK back then. Things are different now, but the type G isn't going anywhere. At least it's possible to make them less bulky these days.
I prefer the Type N used in Brazil. The only problem with Brazil is they have two different voltages which use the same plug!! They should have adopted the British plug for 220V and kept the Type N for 127V. This would prevent plugging a device into an outlet of the wrong voltage.
here in Indonesia houses had both 110v and 220v, and they all used the same socket similar to the shaver one shown in this video, the sockets could accept both round (euro) and flat (us/japan) prongs.
you had to be careful not to plug a 110v device into 220v or it'll let out the magic smoke, and you had to be careful when buying lightbulbs because there were no standard voltage for lightbulbs either
eventually 110v service was discontinued in the late 90's/early 00's but for a while people had to live with both.
I am a Brit living in Australia. Here we have standard power sockets in the bathrooms next to the sink. You don't hear or any accidents....
Maybe because the dead people don't report them? ;) Seriously, though, the wiring and fusing systems are different.
@ukeleleEric yeah, at the meter box in Australia they all have circuit breakers/RCD protection, so you aren't relying on some fuse to burn out and save you these days.. I think the standard says you need it a certain height/distance from a sink to avoid splashes and such but it certainly isn't 2.5 metres because, like in the Uk, many bathrooms aren't that big anyhow.
Well done Matt. Not only are you a var guru but you've solved something that's been bugging me for years, but I never got around to scratching that itch!
I always wondered what the deal was with the shaver sockets! Isolation transformer, very interesting!
Thanks Adrian.
lovely video and really informative. you are a brilliant presenter and story teller
Gosh - this is a trip down memory lane, I was born in the late 60's but remember some of these. Thank you for some very interesting information!
An excellent and informative video. Standards are regularly amended and it must be hard to 'keep on top of' them. Thank you for this.
imagine my surprise as a yank, to find out special low voltage shaver socket which is the only socket allowed in UK bathrooms, is essentially the same as a general purpose socket in the US, with the exception that before ground fault technology, the UK limited the shock potential by limiting the available wattage
Timely video as I am visiting the UK and was just looking at the shaver socket in my hotel and wondering how it works. Great explanation!
You can also get a 3 pin to shaver adapter - they come with a 1 Amp fuse. I usually cut the 2-pin plugs off e.g. electric toothbrushes and fit 3 pin plugs, I like to live on the edge you see.
As a very small child I got a shock from a socket and was told I didn't get inured because of my Wellington boots. I went to bed in them so I wouldn't be injured!
In the US, you can have an outlet in the restroom, even right next to the sink, but it's supposed to be GFCI or protected by a GFCI circuit breaker.
This was exceedingly interesting to southern European me. I learned British-specific electric quirks and history just like I would about US ones watching Technology Connections... Talking of which I hope Alec gets to watch this. And I do hope, too, to see you keep producing this kind of videos that are not motor-related, yet just as superb.
Thanks - I love Alec's work, and the reason I did the teletext video was because he shied away from it.
In US we normally have atleast one full outlet in bathrooms. US just requires that any outlets near water have GFCI protection (aka RCD). Also most bathroom devices like blowdryers and currling irons also have their own GFCI (RCD) built into their own plug as well. So bathrooms here are pretty well protected while even being able to power space heaters. Also just Normal kight switches always in out bathrooms.
6:47 Shavers use a plug (BS372 5A) with 17mm spacing with 5mm pins.
In Europe the small plug (Europlug 2.5A), which fits everywhere, has 18 to 19mm spacing and 4mm pins.
The Europlug fits into French, German, Danish, Polish, Spanish and even in Swiss sockets and more.
Someone has already got the Euro plug into British three rectangular prong sockets.
But then there is no need to talk about safety anymore, 32A house fuse on a plug that is only allowed 2.5A
The uk 3 pin plug is a great design. So many little features on it that you just wouldnt normally notice. Like how the cable comes out the bottom so it doesnt pull out when vacuuming. The internal wires are routed so they are all a different length and wont touch if the cable does pull out. The earth is the first to engage so its earthed before its live. The earth opens a shield in the socket so that you cant touch the live conductors when there is no plug. The live conductors are sheilded so that you cant touch the live part when its half in. So many simple features show how much effort went into it. However they failed to realise the pain level when aomeone leaves one on the floor and you stand on it 😬
China took the Australian plug and made it even safer by installing the sockets upside down. This means that the earth pin is at the top, so if the plug isn't fully inserted and something falls onto the plug, it will touch the earth pin first. They look funny upside down though, to my Australian eyes.
I can't remember if I learnt to wire a plug in school (at school in the '90s and '00s) but I knew how to replace a socket last year on a faulty device.
Interesting video - I'd never thought of this.
I've wired so many UK plugs in my time. I was happy to do it again a while ago for a cable for my daughter - it took me right back.
I was taught by my Dad in the 1980s, and then again in secondary school in about 1989-1990. Not sure if British schools still teach it, I hope they do.
@@ZerbeyThey dont specifically teach it, but its still part of the physics gcse to know what wire colour goes to where in the plug
We were taught it at school in the 90s with safety plugs. They had a rivet through the earth pin so you couldn't plug them in. 🤔
A long time ago in Canada we had current limiting razor plugs in bathrooms but those have long since been replaced with normal 15/2A sockets that are GFCI protected either with everything in the bathroom wired downstream from the GFCI socket (so everything in there is protected) or the whole branch circuit is protected with a GFCI breaker.
Might have been mentioned already but those round pin 15A plugs are still very commonly used in theatre, with a smaller 5A version also sometimes used. Ideal for this application as you want the fuse at ground level within the dimmer packs rather than up in the lighting rig where it’s harder to access!
I’ve seen them in some houses too! I think the explanation i was given at the time is that they’re sockets that can be switched by a light switch, for lamps and such
@techheck3358 yep! I see them still in some hotels etc when they don't want guests turning switches off if the lamp has a switch on it, saves double switches!
In the future it would probably be best if the bathroom shaver sockets were replaced with a few built-in USB-C sockets supporting 'Power Delivery 3.1', which can go up to 48 V DC @ 5A ( = 240 W). AC-powered shavers, toothbrushes and other similar handheld low-power appliances are fast becoming a thing of the past.
The problem with type-C is that it's very easy to mangle, unlike a regular socket. Also that would mean running that 48V from somewhere else, as having it converted in the socket means the dangerous 220V is still basically a splash away.
@@nagi603 it is comparatively easy to waterproof a USB C port and hide all of the electronics in the wall, than it is to waterproof a plug socket. Of course, if water got behind the wall plate, you'd still have problems. Most phones these days have a waterproof Type-C port.
@@stack_overflow I was talking about splashing around the plate. None of that is solved or improved by a waterproof type-c socket that relies on in-socket 110/220->pd conversion. Plus the type-c waterproofness would be another thing to test for of course, further driving costs up.
DC-powered versions of those devices often require dodgier construction or more expensive, especially clippers, which use AC to oscillate comb.
@@Shaker626 Every battery powered set of clippers is DC powered, and some battery powered clippers these days only cost marginslly more than their chorded AC counterparts
What an interesting story! Love it.
Here in Thailand my condo bathroom has 4, two pin sockets.. a bit of overkill i think.. also electrics in general can be a bit scary here, you appreciate how much effort has gone in to the safer UK designs when a large electric blue flash emanates from either plugging something in or pulling it out of the socket.. ⚡
I own a couple rental properties in Colorado USA and I found the UK shaver plug to be particularly handy for my international renters. We do have 240 in our US houses (it's not as simple as Europe here we all have 2 hots and a neutral). I've installed one in each bedroom and bathroom. One reviewer loved it cause they're kid could still use their favorite night light without taking up their travel transformer. I was very happy when I finally came across them everyone from Europe knows what it is and how to use it and it's a safe way to get European power on a US system aside from the 60hz thing of course.
Growing up in Europe is having your siblings plunge you into darkness when you're on the loo, then cackle and run away.
Still plenty of older bathrooms in Australia with the light switch on the outside too. And I live in Chile currently, where light switches outside the loo aren't uncommon either.
The worst thing about recently buying an electric toothbrush and a water flosser is that they both come with a plug to use the shaving socket, but the shaving socket (at least the one I have, so I'm assuming it's a common feature) will only let you plug in one of them at a time. Given the fancy nature of the toothbrush I bought, its base is designed to be plugged in all the time. And the water flosser has to be plugged in to use. This means I regularly to a lot of plugging and unplugging. Also, it has a really loud buzz to it.
Great stuff. Thanks
Thanks for your sharing
Thanks! I'd seen these sockets in hotel rooms and wondered what was up with them, since in Australia we just use normal unearthed plugs on our shavers, and we also put normal 3-pin earthed sockets in our bathrooms.
6:00 - Regarding the adage "it's not the voltage that kills you, it's the current" - while I've heard this sentiment before, this isn't my favourite phrasing of it.
Personally, I'm a fan of "It's the volts that jolts, and the mill's that kills".
Awsome video though! I didn't realise the humble shaver socket went back that far.
And here in Florida I have four mains-voltage, 15 amp sockets in the master bathroom, and two in the hallway bathroom. At least they’re GFCI / RCD protected sockets.
Wait until they find out I have 2 dedicated 20A circuits for my bathtub lol
Preety interesting video 👏🏼
OK, so in the UK you have a very cleverly designed shaver socket in the bathroom and these impressive BS1363 sockets for everything else. How do you accommodate for the myriads of small powered devices that don't require grounding? In my household this makes up for the majority of devices. Do you have to carry around chargers with plugs bigger than the charger itself?
some plugs are awkward but we've got plugs with fold out prongs now on some plugs like iphone chargers
On devices that don't need an earth connection they still have to have a earth pin as the socket wont work without. However it's normally plastic and sometimes folds away. If you accidentally stand on the plug which is painful the plastic pin is easily broken. I did it once and had to super glue it back on otherwise it's now useless.
6:15 “That’s not a green light to go around testing it for yourself”
Medhi: “And I took that personally” *ZAP*
Ever since my beard started growing over 30 years ago, I've had rechargeable shavers. The modern Philips shavers even refuse to run when plugged in. Here in Finland we've never had any special sockets in bathrooms, just normal earthed shuko sockets (with GFCI) like all the other rooms too.
Hong Kong is following the British standard also, but some people kept regular switch outside and added a remote switch that run by 12v battery inside the bathroom .
No GFCI outlets? Around here, all outlets in wet rooms must be a GFCI or to be on a GFCI circuit. I do remember living in a house in the UK with some pretty strange outlets that were changed to the standard three pin variety along with the pull string for the bathroom light. Went to buy a water kettle at a store and returned it as it has no plug only to have the clerk at the store hand me a plug that he wired up. "You must be American" he said. Thanked him for his assistance and enjoyed the kettle for the time living in the UK.
Basically every circuit needs to be protected by an 30 mA RCD (GFCI) to comply with the current standards (BS7671:2018+A2:2022)
wiring the 'new' fused 3 pin plug was on the school curriculum, we did it in physics in the late 60s. The round pin plug is still handy for UPS or critical supply circuits..
I had wondered why my shaver socket got slightly warm after charging the toothbrush overnight and now I know... it is the transformer. In the morning it has a warmth a little above body temperature in the top half of the socket. This goes away when the brush charger is not connected.
I love how this is such a big deal in the UK. Whilst in Europe not having an outlet powerful enough for your washing machine would be a glaring omission.
In Canada, a similar type of isolation transformer-based bathroom outlet used to be common, usually labeled as razor only. A common retrofit on older homes with these outlets is to replace them with a GFCI outlet which allows powering other devices like hair dryers from it.
This is the way!
Interesting video, I've seen these sockets in hotels in Asia, Thailand and Taiwan and thought they might be a hotel standard thing, but to learn that it's a British thing is quite interesting. I'm from Australia and we just have 10A 240V 3 pin switched sockets everywhere, but there are rules about distance from basins and showers so some houses I've seen have the light switch on the outside of the bathroom but it's usually because they can't fit one right next to the shower. Also I was shocked at how poor the American 110v style electrical system was in Taiwan with most outlets not earthed and just shoddy work everywhere, Thai wiring was neater and more modern looking. I found out that in Taiwan that it was only 2014 when earthing was mandated and the trades that did electrical work were also plumbers so it makes sense.
I also remember that light switches in UK bathrooms had to be ceiling mounted pull-cords. I was quite surprised when I emigrated to AU and found that they didn't do that here. Literally SHOCKING! (Potentially.)
Nor in the US, also surprised me when I moved here and even more when I saw a 110V socket right next to the sink! They are protected by GFCI, but I've never fully trusted them.
And people survive still.
@@Robert-cu9bm i live in south america. if these people found out how SA electric showers work they'd freak out. the reality is that electrical security is way, WAY overrated. i take all precautions, have RCD for the whole house, earth etc. but most (older) houses have no earth, no RCD, and people still don't die left and right by electrocution, and houses don't start combusting every night.
@@drgenio2006 While I find the South American standards severely lacking, I concur that the UK is taking electrical safety to absurd extremes.
@@HenryLoenwind absurd is an understatement. the efixx CZcams channel shows ridiculous amounts of labor and tools for the simplest of electrical jobs.
Never laughed as hard to the phrase, that British wall outlets are well thought out to be as safe as possible. 😂
Australians have 240V available in bathrooms and we aren't dying every time we blow dry our hair and shave. All new builds here since 1991 have had to have RCD protection, firstly on all general power circuits and nowadays on all final sub circuits. Many older homes now have RCD protection as a result of rewires or switchboard upgrades.
Of course there are also rules on how close to water fixtures that switches and outlets can be located. All outlined in the AS/NZ3000
I was astounded by British electricity and plumbing on my first holiday there. I couldn't have a light switch in the bathroom, but I could have an electric instant hot water service in the shower with me.
The water heater is double insulated. The light switch is not. Modern circuit protection, provided it is installed correctly, pretty much eradicates all of the legacy rules we still carry in UK. Our governing body on electrical standards is notoriously old fashioned (belt and braces and two pairs of underpants).
@@MikeSmith-tx2lp Depends on the switch, if the switch is completely plastic (like most of switches nowadays) it doesn't require an earth connection thus it's class II.
@@alerighi Agreed, I was only on my first coffee when wrote that 🤓. So why can we not have a double insulated (class II) light-switch in a bathroom, regardless of position zones ?
Fun fact: If you plug your 110V shaver into the 240V outlet, you can shave twice as fast!
Very old fashioned system in the UK. The smart thing is to have centralized fuses instead of in every single plug.
I have been using electric shavers since the 1980s; all of them have been rechargeable. But I still need someplace to plug it in in the bathroom. In the United States, some decades ago all outlets near Water are required to be ground fault circuit interrupting. Otherwise there's nothing special about them. Also, every electric shaver I have ever owned, and there have been many, our dual voltage. 110/220 V.
Nerdy subject but as ever well presented and informative.Anyone remember the round 3 pin plugs with a cartridge fuse as one of the pins? I remember being in a Beijing hotel in the early 80's and being surprised to see they used standard UK 13 amp sockets everywhere. Still find Chinese origin items, eg discount supermarket own brand soldering irons, sold with 13 amp fuses instead of 3amp - always worth checking.
I was a kid before the universal 3-pin 13A pug and socket. We had 2-pin and 15A 3-pin pugs and sockets at home. My grandparents house had a system where the _live_ pin of a 3-pin plug consisted of a screw-in fuse.
I remember light sockets being used to power toasters and irons.
I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) and have THREE regular outlets in my bathroom They are grounded (earthed) at least! And the light fixture is METAL and has a normal wall switch INCHES from the sink! It's FOR SURE a more dangerous setup than what the UK uses even if it's half the voltage. 15 Amps at 120 volts is STILL deadly! My house was built in the 1870s and was originally wired before 1910 and was last electrically updated in the 1960s! Said bathroom sink DOES have a UK ish thing: Separate hot & cold taps!
if the shaver uses the thin pin europlug, you CAN usually ram them into a normal uk 3 pin socket if you use a tool to push down the shutter release in the earth socket, i've done it several times on devices i have that use that plug , the shaver adaptors dont always contact those thinner pins well or at all
The amount of times I’ve gone abroad assuming my shaver or toothbrush will just plug into the wall 😂 you’d think I’d have learnt by now 🤦🏻♂️
In Germany (and probably the rest of continental Europe) we have standard sockets (CEE 7/3 in Germany, like everywhere else in the house) even in bathrooms. For extra protection, it is mandatory to have a RCD (Residual Current Device) for the entire bathroom (and nowadays the entire house). This apparently is sufficient and requires no special sockets and plugs...
Those sockets were standard in all night sleeping compartment trains throughout Europe I used very often
These shaver sockets are in NZ too. The house I grew up in had one (1970's).
I remember in the 70s and even in the 80s occasionally coming across the round pin 5A plugs and sockets
Still liked today if we want to plug in a freestanding light and have it switched from the wall by the door
That's the BS546 standard and they can still be legally installed to this day. Sometimes you find them in hotels for side lamps, and one place where they are very popular is in theatre stage lighting systems as it makes fault finding easier. Sometimes people fit them for things like under cabinet lighting.
BS546 originally had 2A, 5A, 15A and 30A sockets, all on different sized radial circuits and matching fuses, although the 30A variety was quickly dropped. Whilst BS546 doesn't have some of the safety features of the BS1363, such as shuttered sockets, internal fuses or sleeved live and neutral pins, they can be bought with all of these if you want. BS546 is also still current in several countries, such as India and South Africa.
Also, in the UK some people would simply convert a BS546 socket with a BS1363 socket, and that's all within regulations, provided that the fuse was still appropriately rated for the circuit. No problem with a 15A circuit, but more problematical with a 2A or 5A circuit. The danger in the latter case is the householder would get tired of blowing fuses and put some 15A fuse wire on a circuit rated for 5A...
Wow, interesting that they actually pulled off what's thought by many people as nearly impossible: changing a nationwide commodity service standard like power plugs and outlets, or like which side of the road to drive on (that video was very fascinating)! How did they do this, and do you have a video about it?
It was even more than this as the supply needed to be standardised as well. This started from the 1920s and wasn't fully completed until into the 1970s. Although the frequency was standardised to 50Hz more or less when the new plugs / sockets were introduced, voltages could be anything between 200-250V, and that isn't considering some supply was still DC, sometimes as low as 110V.
The fuse isn’t there to protect the appliance, it’s there purely to protect the cable attached to the appliance.
Great well researched video.. Despite the great engineering, I dispair at having to carry something the size of a brick on the end of all my portable electric devices wish we could adopt the EU or US styles of 2 pin plugs for double insulated devices.
We use a shaver socket in the bathroom to power a 240v water flosser that is kept on the top of our vanity units.
4:58 'accidently' should be in inverted commas there 😇
I also saw some running off one of those very old 4.5V batteries once, though that might have been in the Netherlands.
It's always rather funny when you look at toothbrush or shaver reviews and loads of people seem to be totally unaware of the shaver socket/plug, the reviewers ask why they've been sent a europe plug 😂
Unearthed non fuse plugs are what we use in Denmark 🇩🇰😂
I know that UK plugs are safer and all that stuff, but I can't stop thinking about the convenience and easy of use of european plugs instead. I have never heard of anyone getting shocked in the last 20 years at the very least.
We moved into a house in 1986 that had an unholy mix of the old two pin, three pin and modern three pin standard. How it passed inspection is a mystery, but I remember my parents having a sudden and unexpected expense within weeks of moving in that they were not pleased about! Still, I befriended the local electrician and he's the reason I have always had an interest in electronic tinkering.
That explains those strange plugs all over older Hotels, I've seen those, but I have never seen an electric shaver without a battery. And I was born in the 80ies.
I've always wondered what it was with these sockets, also good to know they're limited in output power, many modern phone chargers would exceed the 20W of the built in transformer (if that's still a thing) so that's something to bear in mind when one forgets his travel adapter and wants to charge the phone on this socket.
The BS1363 plugs you show are the old original type with unshrouded pins.
can't speak for the rest of the world but here in sweden we thecinally still have 4 plugs, 2 pin which I think normally is only up to 2,5 amps, 3 pin 16 amps, which uses the same wall socket, these are what your average person is using, then we have 3 pin 20 amps, which you can find on single face bandsaws and such, and lastely 5 pin which has diferent sizes depending on amperage,
That's interesting, in America we utilize GFCI outlets in the bathroom, so while we do have a 120v, 15A outlit in the bathroom they are wired to a GFCI that will go off if there is any issue with the power, for instance if an appliance gets wet. I do not know if the same is done with the light switches though.
I was still taught how to wire a plug socket 4-5 yrs ago in secondary school.
Oddly enough, I'm designing the electrical layout of my boat, right now. My shaver is battery-powered, of course, but its charger/cleaning stand plugs into the mains. Using a wall-wart that outputs 1.2A at 5VDC. I've pretty much settled on using USB-PD for my DC outlets, and I'm wiring up a cable with a 2.5mm barrel connector on one end and USB-C on the other.
It is actually having one side of the power supply earthed that makes it more dangerous, if one side is not earthed ( like a shaver socket which has a transformer inside ) you have to touch both poles at once to get a shock - if you have once side earthed ( the neutral and Earth on UK power is earthed ) you only have to touch the live pole to get a big shock...
Mean while in my bathroom (and many others like it) uses a GFCI outlet next to the sink.
Funny thing is, I rarely ever use it.
ALSO above the mirror cabinet, the light for the bathroom ALSO has a plug but I guess being up that high its exempt from requiring a GFCI
I run an extension cord into the bathroom from the bedroom for my toaster as I like to eat toast in the bath while balancing a portable tv on the taps.
1:50 As an American, I like how unfused was included there.
In Germany, we live dangerous and put normal sockets up above or next to the sink. It's been mandatory since the 90s to have 30ma RCDs protecting such circuits in particular.
Took a while to get there!
But hopefully an interesting journey!