In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
A friend of mine has recently built a new house and her wiring has in
one room - quite legally - an old-fashioned 5-amp round pin socket.

All the 'old' round 3 pin sockets still comply to UK regs - provided they
are on a suitable circuit. A common use is for floor or table lamps
switched from the wall, etc. If on a dimmer, plugging the hoover into that
wouldn't be a good idea...
Some of the modern versions available are shuttered.

--
*Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Jerry wrote:
: You keep your fridge in a cupboard?

Err, news:alt.troll is that away Mr Plowman ===

Not surprised you have that to hand.

But heck, you have kitchen cupboards that you don't put anything
in?!

I don't put 'anything' in the fridge housing, no. Or the one for the
washing machine etc either. I'd say it's rather rare for anyone to keep a
fridge in an actual cupboard these days. Putting something used for
storage inside something else used for storage strikes me as wasting
space. But then it does sound like you live somewhere with something not
representative of most kitchens.
:
: Stick some gaffer tape over the switch.
:

Oh right, so your solution is a bodge on a bodge, rather than
doing the job right first time?

FFS. If it really concerned me I'd not be whinging about it here - I'd
have changed it years ago.

--
*I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
: In article ,
: Jerry wrote:
: : You keep your fridge in a cupboard?
:
: Err, news:alt.troll is that away Mr Plowman ===
:
: Not surprised you have that to hand.

Well when the suit fits...

:
: But heck, you have kitchen cupboards that you don't put
anything
: in?!
:
: I don't put 'anything' in the fridge housing, no. Or the one
for the
: washing machine etc either. I'd say it's rather rare for anyone
to keep a
: fridge in an actual cupboard these days. Putting something used
for
snip further trolling

FFS, what pills are you on these days Plowman?! The cupboard
*next* to a free standing or otherwise fridge, were electricians
(and you, IIRC) often suggest the socket for the fridge supply is
placed -along with a bloody great hole on the side of said
cupboard for the plug to pass through- rather than the more
professional approach of an accessible and visible
'neon-indicated' switched-fuse plate and remote fixed flex outlet
or (if disconnection of the appliance needs to be tools free) a
15A round pin socket outlet.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
A friend of mine has recently built a new house and her wiring has in
one room - quite legally - an old-fashioned 5-amp round pin socket.

All the 'old' round 3 pin sockets still comply to UK regs - provided they
are on a suitable circuit. A common use is for floor or table lamps
switched from the wall, etc. If on a dimmer, plugging the hoover into that
wouldn't be a good idea...
Some of the modern versions available are shuttered.

And of course the 15A version is the de-facto standard for theatrical stage
lighting.

David.

In article ,
Jerry wrote:
FFS, what pills are you on these days Plowman?! The cupboard
*next* to a free standing or otherwise fridge, were electricians
(and you, IIRC) often suggest the socket for the fridge supply is
placed -along with a bloody great hole on the side of said
cupboard for the plug to pass through- rather than the more
professional approach of an accessible and visible
'neon-indicated' switched-fuse plate and remote fixed flex outlet
or (if disconnection of the appliance needs to be tools free) a
15A round pin socket outlet.

Right. You need a neon to tell you the fridge is on? And a handy switch to
switch it off? Have you ever sought treatment?

--
*Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

yet more trolling snipped

In article ,
LID says...

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
: On Wed, 4 Jan 2012 19:51:51 -0000, Terry Casey
: wrote:
:
snip
:
: Nothing to do with legality, just practicability. If you want
to sell
: goods in the UK market, it is a pretty good idea to supply them
with a
: UK mains plug. Adaptors are for when you travel, not at home.
One
: current exception is mains-powered shavers (only a few left
now), that
: use a two-pin plug specifically designed for an isolated
bathroom
: connector.

Not sure what Terry means by "Mains Powered" (only 240v ?),

Err ...

That was Don, I think you'll find ...
--

Terry

"Terry Casey" wrote in message
...
: In article ,
: LID says...
:
snip
:
: Not sure what Terry means by "Mains Powered" (only 240v ?),
:
: Err ...
:
: That was Don, I think you'll find ...

So it was, sorry! :~(
--
Regards, Jerry.

On Jan 3, 4:39*am, "David Looser" wrote:
wrote in message

...

The British electrical standards are the dumbest on planet, or at
least the dumbest I have ever run into. Except for the Japanese, who
are combine the worst possible voltage standard with two different
frequencies.

In the US, we have two voltages in (all but really really old)
houses: 120 and 240, although most outlets are 120, the ranges,
clothes dryers and air conditioners are 240. And that 240 is balanced.
If we were SERIOUS audiophiles, we'd have 240 volt four pin dryer
outlets put in our listening rooms and run our power amps on 240.

A very large number of countries run their mains supplies at 220-240V, not
just the UK! Electrical standards were not designed for the benefit of
audiophools, but in practice there's nothing wrong with the 230V standard in
this regard. The standard of electrical installations I've seen in the US
are far worse than those normally encountered here. And the high-powered
audio equipment I've seen in the US runs off 120V thus supplies requiring
heavy-guage mains flex. Definitely no improvement on what we have here!

No, my beef is not with 220/240 volt distribution-I prefer it. It's
the goofy room wiring in loops and the goofy sockets the Brits use I
think are ridiculous.

That's why I said the Japanese standard was the worst of all.

In the US we are blessed with having three wire split phase 120/240
in most every house built since WWII and many earlier. We just don't
use it for audio, and my argument is that we should. We also have 60
as opposed to 50 hz, which is better from a power supply design
standpoint, although prudence dictates design for any frequency
between slightly under 50 to well over 60 Hz. except in the case of
motors.

On Jan 3, 5:24*am, "David Looser" wrote:
"Eiron" wrote in message

...



Can I just mention another example of European Union lunacy?
Voltage is standardized at 230v +- a fudge factor so that the UK
can keep to 240v and the rest of Europe can keep 220v with no plans
for any country to adopt 230v. Now that is dumb!

I'm not sure it is so dumb
There always was a tolerance range on the UK 240V mains, what happened was
that these tolerance limits were widened and re-centred on 230V. But these
new limits are now EU-wide so any equipment manufactured to these new limits
(230V +/- 10%) is suitable for sale anywhere within the EU.

And the UK plugs are rather large. That would be a valid criticism.
It spoils the lines of a laptop bag....

I agree, the BS1363 plug is not my favourite design. Some years ago there
was a serious attempt to introduce a EU standard plug & socket, an attempt
that failed because of the NIH (not-invented-here) factor. I rather like the
German 'Shucko' socket and would be happy to see it replace the BS1363
socket here, but can you image the reaction of the Daily Mail readers? :-)

That or the Australian socket would be my choice, or one of the 220
NEMA sockets.

If you are going to build "valve" equipment for the world market you
need a winding scheme on the PT that gives bogey filament voltages at
220, 230 and 240 volts and, I understand that in Australia 250 vac is
not uncommon in practice.

In Britain one may readily obtain a "site transformer" which will
give what is advertised as 110 volt balanced power. I haven't been
there in 20+ years, can any Brits tell me if that's really true or if
120, or more, or less, is actually common? They are used for electric
drills and whatnot outdoors. Vintage US gear works fine at 110, but
mostly not current stuff.