Comments by "eDoc2020" (@eDoc2020) on "Holey Plugs, Batman! But... what are they for?" video.

@danielfay8963 Those outlet testers can only detect a few of the possible wiring errors. Most notably, they cannot detect if neutral and ground are flipped or shorted. The most exciting thing is a reverse polarity bootleg ground. A tester will report such an outlet as perfectly fine, even though the ground pin is actually connected to live.
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@lztx They can't be shrouded because that would break compatibility with outlets that grab the prongs further up.
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@BenRattigan I was thinking the plug casing might break if the cable is yanked away perpendicular to the wall. While British plugs may have a tendency to fall pins up, let me tell you that if you manage to step on a US plug it hurts, probably much worse.
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While a 120v device will use more current than an equivalent 240v device, that increased current makes no difference in terms of getting shocked. The only thing that matters is how much current flows through the person, and a lower voltage means more current will flow through a person on higher voltages assuming they touch the live wires the same way.
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@christopherbedford9897 Higher current only means more heating if the same thickness of wire is used. However I believe we use thicker wires so that point is cancelled. The thinnest mains cords we have here are 18AWG, equal to 0.824 mm2. And regarding chaining power strips, the advice not to do that seems to be gone from the general mind. People chain them all the time but more importantly overload them often. In something like a breakroom where there's only one outlet there might be a microwave, coffee maker, and toaster oven all plugged into the same power strip. When too much is switched on at once the splitter's built in breaker trips. Perhaps in the past unfused splitters were more common, and of course if a 15a power strip is plugged into a 10a extension cord there is the potential for overheating. Basically if we put fuses in our 120v extension cords they should be just as safe as 230v ones. And regarding the actual shock hazard, skin resistance appears to be nonlinear. This means an equivalent shock at twice the voltage is more than twice as dangerous.
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I actually have an outlet which uses the holes to improve retention; there is a definite feel of the bump sliding into a plug's hole and the reverse when removing a plug. It's a three-way splitter which is quite old; the receptacles are non-polarized and it is made of a Bakelite-like material. It may not be used anymore, but in the past it definitely was.
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Wall-wart is specifically referring to blocks located on the plug. Plenty of external transformers are not wall warts (many are mounted inline) and a modern AC-DC adapter is much more than a transformer.
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@lztx I think those outlets would be rare at best but with well over 100 years of history, a good portion of which was without a formal specification, you can never be sure of what's out there. I have an ancient power strip / power bar which is just two long vertical slots where plugs can be inserted anywhere. Maybe that grips near the body? I don't know. I should mention that I have seen a shrouded US-style plug before, on a travel adapter which allows British appliances to be used here.
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What do you mean they can be used on both sides? Are you referring to the fact that plugs can be rotated 180 degrees and still fit? That's bad from a safety perspective because it doesn't allow for polarization.
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@cedricalexander9319 If believe Europlug is just a safe design for certain low-power double-insulated devices like device chargers. If I'm not mistaken "real" appliances still use each country's native plugs. Europlug doesn't even have a ground pin!
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On the other hand straight-exit plugs are much more likely to pull out if caught. I can't imagine the damage that would occur if somebody trips over a British plug.
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Most toasters are built like that today.
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That would only be an issue if both appliances have their incoming hot wires shorted to the case. With the exception of three wire stoves and dryers, I'm pretty sure no US appliance was ever designed with the case connected to a current carrying conductor.
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