ARE OUTLETS IN THE UK MORE SAFE THAN OUTLETS IN AMERICA?
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- čas přidán 3. 08. 2024
- ARE OUTLETS IN THE UK MORE SAFE THAN OUTLETS IN AMERICA? Let's find out. I learned a lot about UK outlets and they seem much more safe
Original Video Link: • British Plugs Are Bett...
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00:00 Introduction
00:17 my thoughts
02:01 reaction
09:15 The Winner Is - Zábava
Our plugs also don't fall out of the socket. All in all, they are the best.
Yeah I saw how they locked into place!! Great design for sure
@@_Kicks1 maybe check the German system... even better!
and if you blow a fuse for the power outlet, the lights are still on, we use different fuses for both and different Amp, 10A lights, 16A plug socket!
@@Arltratlo Same in England , i can turn power off to the lights , plugs or the kitchen , all separately by clicking the fuse switch off .
@@Arltratlo Its really the multi European system. The C-E-F socket that is really a combination of 3 different standard, made to be inter compatible. Used in most of Europe, most of Asia, 2/3 of Africa that the CEE 7/7 plug can fit in all of the sockets of the united standard and be complaint, compact, safe, and have relatively high power (3.7kW). Some thing as simple as a washer/dryer can just be plugged in and go and there is no issue with moisture electric shock or power. And they are nice and compact so you hide the slitter cord easily.
UK class G is bulky, unsafe and can in absolutely best case carry 3.1kW
@@Arltratlo In the UK, the fuse value is chosen to suit the appliance. You can find 2A fuses in the plugs for smaller appliances.
And out sockets have a on off switch for each socket.
In the UK we still have circuit boards with trip switches on. Usually these will be simply split into downstairs sockets, downstairs lighting, upstairs sockets, upstairs lighting then there will be separate trip switches for high power items such as cookers and showers.
That’s interesting
He left out "The wire come out of the plug at the bottom" this makes it very difficult to accidentally trip on the wire and pull out the plug
Oh that’s a great point thank you
And for added safety, liquids cannot run down the cable into the plug. They'll always drip off the bottom of the loop under the plug. Most plugs are sealed now but not all.
1. A normal home gets one phase so no risk of overpaying due to unbalanced phase use.
2. Normal homes get a 100 amp supply to the meter, used to be 60A. At the 230 volts used in calculations that's 23kW of potential supply.
3. The usual ring circuit to sockets is protected by a 32A RCBO, a combination of overload and leakage/imbalance protection. 7680W. Older installations may have removable fuses or even fuse side holders in the consumer unit/ breaker box, usually 30A.
4. 13A per socket means 2990W and 3kW as well as 2, 1 and 500W heating devices like fan heaters, jug kettles for boiling water efficiently are readily available. Washers, dryers and some stoves don't require a special circuit but they are common for hob/oven combinations and electric showers.
5. Every socket has a ground/earth connection. No screw an adapter in and hoping that there's grounding for it somewhere.
All of this makes day to day use without worrying about special supply or overload easier.
Thank you for all that information, I really apprecieate it
Germany...most houses have a 35A to 63A main fuses!
400/230V...
if you have unbalance, something they did wrong in your wiring...
Also, the vast majority of sockets (outlets) have individual switches on them, so other than when you want to put a gadget or small appliance away when not in use, rather than unplugging them, all you need to do is flip the switch to 'off'...
That’s really smart
you have 32A in the power outlet....
here we have only 16A...so i have the switch at the lamp or in the cable!
Depends on how old the socket is / if its been replaced, than of course there's extension sockets which may or may not have switches
@@ArltratloYou can still have the switch at the lamp or in the cable.
While the video has a patriotic slant, it's actually an interesting insight into the design process.
Designers try to ensure that, in the case of a failure, the product fails to a safe condition, rather than failing to a dangerous condition.
A few things he missed out. The blue wire is longer than the brown, so pulling out the cord disconnects live first. Pulling out is not easy, there is a cable clamp in the plug. Treading on a plug? never done it, we leave our plugs plugged in. if we wish to switch the appliance off there is a switch on the socket!. They don not pull out easily, like type A and B as the lead exits the bottom of the plug, not the face.
Finally, power to a UK home come as Phase and Neutral, with 230v across. The US brings in two phases, with phase to neutral being 120v. So lose a wire on your type B and you still have 120v on the other. In my book that is shocking.
Mains voltage in the UK is double what it is in the US. That means if you get across it, twice as much current will pass through your body. The mains voltage in the UK is far more dangerous than the US, so they need those safer plugs. In the US, we only use that higher voltage for cloths driers, electric stoves, etc, and use safer plugs for them.
The only downside to these plugs is when you tread on them!
Your foot hurts for days after you tread on it 😂
Oh I don’t doubt that at all😂
@@_Kicks1 Why would you tread on it as there is no point in removing it from the wall socket, which is switched? To turn the appliance off, just flick the switch.
@@RonSeymour1, not so much these days but I do remember having to unplug items so I could plug in the vacuum cleaner and sometimes forgot to put the original plug back in.
I've never stepped on a plug
There are other features that this short video doesn't mention. The wire exits downwards, so less chance of the plug being pulled out of the wall socket accidentally. A wire grip inside the plug, so less chance of the wires being pulled out. Every wall socket has an on/off switch, so there is no real need to unplug them. There are different fuses for different power requirements (common 3 amp, 5 amp and 13 amp).
The comment about standing on the plug is correct it WILL HURT but.... our sockets tend to have a switch so you can switch off the device at the socket and do not need to remove the plug to isolate the device, just switch off the switch and leave the plug plugged into the socket.
Every home in the USA has a 220 V AC supply to the property this is then connected to a centre tapped transformer then most outlets and lighting circuits are fed from connections between the centre tap an one end of the supply giving 110V AC. Supplies to hard wired power hungry devices such as washing machines electric cookers etc. are fed from the 2 incoming supply cables giving 220 V AC.
Our outlets need to be safer because they are almost twice as powerful as those in the US... It means we can use more powerful appliances and everyday things such as electric kettles boil very quickly..
Recently moved into a new place and been doing some electrical work + I am pretty proud of UK electrical stuff. It's just layer upon layer of safety features that are all pretty sensible and easy to work with.
Can't just pull out of socket by the flex as the pins are too tight in socket
Flex exits at the bottom so keeps inline with wall
Flex angles plug face so grips socket more
Since you can't pull out by accident the plug ends up near wall so unlikely to be trodden on?
Fuses come in 13, 10, 5 and 3 amp for extra safety for low power items
Any plug can be fitted with a different fuse!
You can even change fuse on a moulded plug as they have access to fuse
Sockets on wall
Majority are switched so you can turn off at the wall rather than take out
Most switches have a red end for indicated it's switched on to tell at a glance
It's also standard to have a circuit breaker fuse box
Our wiring is also a ring main
Double insulated appliances also retain the use of an earth pin this allows the plug to take advantage of the rigidity this third pin also provides
Even the simple idea that you can replace the plug head or the fuse negates throwing the rest of the flex and plug away and having to purchase another!!!!!
The wires come out of the plug from the bottom. This is so no accidental pulling out of the socket occurs.
Electic cookers are on a different and higher circuit. You cannot plug the cooker in the wall . Has a separate connection and has to be installed by a qualified electrician
Stepping on one of these plugs is painful, as is stepping on a leggo brick in the middle of the night. But the plug shouldn't really get stepped on because firstly, there is no need to uplug it when you can just switch off the outlet, and secondly, the outlets aren't usually in the middle of the room, so why is the plug ?
Plus every out let has a on off switch too
In the UK not only do we have sockets that have a 3 pin system. Ie live neutral and earth. Most sockets have a switch incorporated. So you get vertually all round protection.. Plus our circuit boards have zones that feed lights sockets and so on. plus
A master trip if something more major has happened.
I have always found it strange if not dangerous that you guys in America wire your sockets and light on one circuit for each room, ie you come of the breaker an outlet near the door you then come off the outlet to the light switch the on to the light. Is there any reason/regulation that prohibits you from using our outlets and wire your house the we way we do ours ? Ie outlets wired as a ring on a 32 amp breaker light as a radial on a 6amp breaker so you would have one lighting circuit down stairs on a 6amp breaker the one lighting circuit upstairs on a separate 6amp breaker
Then one ringmain down stairs on a 32amp breaker and on another 32amp breaker a ringmain upstairs
Oh and a ring main go from the breaker to each outlet in turn and returns back to the same breaker hence the turn ring main . So if you lose your upstairs lights you still have your upstairs outlets to plug in a table lamp and you still have you down stairs light and outlets . And vice verser .
You want to try the philippines, most usually the 2 flat pin US style plugs, but they have 240v fed to them.
No thank you!
There are better vids that explain the whole Type G plug & Socket system with much more detail than this one did , There are more features than shown here, like how difficult it is to pull the plug out by accident, and the switch on the socket itself.
The only downside is when they are unplugged and left on the floor, the prong will stick upwards......you only stand on one once, then you learn to store them correctly :)
Not really an issue, if you pull out the plug & just drop it, it will normally be close to the wall, how many times have you walked into a room & stayed close to the wall? You normally walk into the middle of the room.
@@Lazmanarus In the middle of my room is a big table. Not everyone lives to a universal blueprint. Walking into the middle of a room in my house, is the foolish act.
In your reply, where you say "You" you me "I".
"I" i drop the plug,
"I" normally walk into the middle of the room.
Then it become a relatable experience.
But projecting as a "You" it infers that somehow i don't know what i'm doing, when the truth is yours is the position of ignorance as you had no idea how my house is laid out and just assume that everyone must live the same way that "I" do.
@@Tommy-he7dx Even if I'm only passing through the room, I (& just about everyone I know) won't be hugging the wall to do it, I (& everyone I know) walk about 2 feet away from the wall.
Yes they are
this is not a re-post but the question has been done before and not just once why dont people look before they leap?
Yes we have this in America it is code , they are called TRX
You do not have those outlets, they are similar in that they have the same arrangement of pins, but they are not interchangeable with UK sockets
So all there outlets are on the same circuit? That would mean that they have to use some really heavy gauged wire for all those outlets or it would be a real fire hazard
No. Not everything on the same circuit. For example, the socket outlets are on a 'ring' ring circuit, with a 30 Amp breaker, cabled with 2,5mm wires to the first outlet, then on to the second etc' .When you get to the last outlet, you then wire back to the same breaker, creating a loop. The breakers are for protecting the circuit, and the fuses in the plugs are for protecting the appliances. The fuses are of different ratings. (Max 13Amps).
As a rule, a british house would have 2 rings for sockets (one per floor) 2 rings for lighting then dedicated feeds for the bits that draw higher currents such as the cooker or showers.
Up to date systems have a 32 Amp breaker protecting the cables of a ring main max. 7680 W. You could technically plug in lots of devices on the same ring but once you exceed the Maximum 32A current the breaker WILL trip.
Dedicated feeds for the likes of electric showers and cookers will have dedicated feed with cable sizes calculated for current ratings of the devices and taking into account cable lengths and routing. Breakers for these circuits will also be sized so as to not exceed the power rating for the cables sizes.
In the UK the breakers protect the cables and the fuses installed in the plugs protect the devices, this means the fuses in the plugs should also be sized for the current rating for the device ie: a device that is say, 500 Watts at 240V AC will draw 500/240= Just over 2A so fit a 3A fuse.
Yes British electric plugs are better, saying as an Aussie!
Possibly if people are saying things about you I would think they are generalising and meaning Americans. I doubt they’re meaning it personally.
Yeah I would agree with that, I guess I don’t understand the purpose of leaving comments like that on a persons video. It’s neither constructive or informative🤷🏻♂️
YES, they are more safe to the USA...
The UK plugs are thicker..
Yes they really are
try a EURO plug!
works even in US hotels!
The electricity in uk is a lot stronger the USA & Canada
you mean the world to the USA and Canada!
The British plug is the best in the world. If you disagree. Invent a beeter one.
Modern safety switches and surge protectors, at the smart meter, negate the need for fuses and circuit breakers.
The UK outlet design was originally very dangerous. The shutter, fuse in insulation section on the pins are add-ons which had to be added to make them safe. The insulation on the pins is also used on others designs. such as Australia.
Most small home electrical gadgets are made of plastic which don't require an earth pin. Fridges and washing machines, with metal cases, still do. Due to the very large size of the it's socket pins UK require a shutter in the wall sockets. This means all plugs require an earth pin to open the + and - sockets and can't accommodate a small 2 pin plug,
Countries which don't use the UK design don't have any problem with people being electrocuted.
"Countries which don't use the UK design don't have any problem with people being electrocuted."
The per capita rate of fatal electric shocks is about 6 times lower in the UK than the US, at about 12 per million (1.2 per 100k) for the US and 0.15 per million (0.015 per 100k) for the UK.
German outlets are the best.
I can't believe you didn't get 1 reply to your comment from an English person. Hehehe!. This is the perfect opportunity to start another war. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I have a feeling you might not be German. If you are, I bet you have lived in England and understand why your comment deserves a few replies. Excellent effort.. You're wrong by the way.....
The UK plugs are just auwfull. The video of Scot is pretty much misplaced nationalism. There are multiple problem with them, and the ring based system is not really working well with modern homes.
A other issue is that the UK system (as is the US) don´t work well with phase splitting. In basically the rest of the world we use 3 phase splitting in homes. That is we have 5 cables ( 1, 2,3, N, Gnd) to carry 3 full load circuits.
The child protection is outdated and clumsy and far to way to crack. The plug are large and fragile and often crack.
Yep, the UK electrical system/plug is utter garbage!!.....
In the UK 21% of fires have an electrical origine (the lowest in Europe), In France its 25% (25% is average for Europe), Germany its 30% (the 2nd highest in Europe), Portugal is the Highest @ 33%
Data Source: FEEDS (Forum for European Electrical Domestic Safety) - Document: "European data on domestic fires from electrical source"
The figures for Domestic fatalities by electrocution also show similar trends with the UK again being the lowest in Europe.