Comments by "John Burns" (@johnburns4017) on "The US electrical system is not 120V" video.

@TiagoAlmeidalive I have never stepped on a UK plug ever. I know no one who has. I have had these around me all my life.
12
@iamnormal8648 Also, fitting RCBOs and RCDs keeps people alive.
6
I always switch off at the wall socket all the appliances on the kitchen worktop when not in use. Many people do. UK plugs are weird? A design classic having been around since 1942. The world's best. The size is for the average hand to hold for ease of pushing in and out. The fuse in the plug also facilitates using ring final circuits. The weirdo plugs are those flimsy frightening looking third world looking US plugs which drop out the wall socket, being outright dangerous arcing a lot of the time when pulled out by the chord. Why don't you people campaign to get the US standard to adopt the the British sockets and plugs? Do not reinvent the wheel, the British have done it making the best then US/Canada is compatible with many parts of the world by adoption. The US electrical system is way inferior to others around the world. It need a massive catch up. The first part can be plugs and sockets, which is quite easy to phase in. The fuse in the British plug is maximum of 13A. Fuses are available from 1A to 13A. Depending on the appliance to insert the correct type of fuse. For example as a ballpark, table lamps plugged into a wall socket should have a 1A fuse in them, as the flex may cook and catch fire if 13A is fed through it in a fault situation. Appliances come with attached moulded plugs with the correct rating of fuse inside. If it needs replacing you replace type for type.
4
@guytech7310 Nothing stopping you pulling a UK plug. Switched sockets are far better.
3
First he has to understand them.
2
@moos5221 Domestic houses in the UK are single phase, minimum 60A supply, 100A these days. Only large houses have three phase.
1
@snow-js4te 3-phase in apartments is madness.
1
@snow-js4te Only needs simpler single phase.
1
@Ignisan_66 Amazing.
1
Appliances are capped at 1.5 kW in the USA !!! I can plug in a 3kW appliance into any of my sockets in the UK - which are all off a ring. He shows plugging and unplugging a light into a socket, which lights up, just by pushing and pulling the plug. Yikes! In the UK, you are supposed to plug in with the sockets in the off position, then switch on at the socket. Obvious. That is why we have a superior electrical safety record. I have never found pulling in and out a UK 3 pin plug being awkward.
1
"In the UK are sockets are usually ring mains this is where the current has 2 paths to travel through the circuit and you can use a smaller wire 2.5mm usually." Yes. There are advantages. One is cheapness. Another is a large number of sockets can be off one cheap ring. Having the same number of sockets using radials would mean multiple radials and multiple breakers at the main panel. Far more cable, expense, labour and hassle. The 32A breaker and 13A fuse in the plug ensures safety. They have a 32A breaker at the main panel. Using push-fit Wago connectors to connect up the ring makes them a lot safer. The plugs are designed with rings in mind having a max 13A fuse in them - can be as low as a 1A fuse. Small flex and appliance? Then a smaller fuse. Radials are also used. Rings are not mandatory, but used because they are generally trouble free and safe. They can be installed using rule-of-thumb. A disadvantage is that rings are more difficult to fault find. Another is that if a number of high current drawing appliances are one side of the ring, say near to the main panel, most of the current draw may be down one cable of the ring which is rated below the main 32A breaker. 2.5mm cable is rated at 27A max. Although tests have proven the cables do not exceed their current capacity, just an imbalance in distribution of the two cables from the main panel. Good circuit design will prevent this or use 4mm cable if it is troubling for some. Using 4mm cable on a ring is still cheaper than a bunch of radial circuits. Overall I consider one ring superior to a bunch of radials needing their own breaker at the main panel. They are simpler, cheaper, being proven to be safe and work over the past 75 years.
1
@bennewton3560 Once you understand rings, fault finding is not as difficult as you think.
1
♦ Spark are not dangerous? The USA is now installing arc detection devices on main consumer boards (main panel), mainly because of the agricultural switching they have; ♦ To unplug an appliance from those appalling US sockets, most in the USA hold the cord then pull. No kidding; ♦ UK 3 pin sockets have a gate so children cannot poke forks in the sockets; ♦ US sockets and light switches must be the ugliest design made - antiquated; ♦ The British 3 pin 13A fused plug is vastly superior to the antiquated junk seen in the USA. To unplug you have to hold the plug; ♦ Having a switch on the socket is obviously superior and safer - a no-brainer; ♦ Anyone who thinks the British 3 pin 13A plugs are bad has brain damage. For one, they look better than most others; ♦ USA main panels (consumer units) are gigantic! Crazy design; ♦ USA main panels look like they are museum displays; ♦ The quality of the average US breakers (micro circuit breakers in the UK) looks like they were made in the cheapest and nastiest Chinese factory; The USA has lot to learn from others.
1
UK shaver sockets have a transformer behind. They are induction with no physical electrical connection to the 230v RCD supply behind, giving 110v and 220V outlets - with no ground connection. We do not have RCDs inside bathrooms.
1
You cannot see the advantage of a switch on a socket (receptacle)? Are you being serious?
1
Few sockets do not have switches. The non-switched versions are fro appliances when the socket is inaccessible. Final ring circuits are still being fitted. They are the norm, being highly efficient. With the introduction of of expensive AFDDs on socket circuits, the less radials used the cheaper, so rings will still dominate. Those advocating radials tend to be pushing the sale of more cable and breakers in main panels. The UK plug was part of a whole process of setting building standards for post war reconstruction, when committees were formed in 1941 during the height of WW2. The Electrical Installation Committee was set up in 1942 with the study off all aspects of electrical installations in buildings. The eventual standard (BS1363) appeared in 1947, so it had been in the works for five years.The previous 15A round-pin plugs were not fatally flawed; they could have been modified to introduce modern safety features - India and South Africa kept them upgrading them to 16A. However, there were multiple plug sizes pre WW2 with the committee deciding to go for a clean sheet design rather than adapt the existing one, as happened in Europe and North America. Great move. The older 15A round-pin UK standard is still legal to be used, but only for special circumstances. Notably in theatre lighting.
1
Electricity always wants to get back to where it was generated - to the generator or transformer. If you connect an appliance across the 240v (the two hot wires, which are both positive to the centre tapped neutral), one wire will be positive and the other becomes a negative. The negative is the return to the transformer. So when using 240v one of the hot wires will become the return, the neutral. So this wire will become a neutral (negative) when using 240v and also a positive (hot) when using 120v. It will be a hot and neutral at the same time, if two voltages are being used in the home. It is all possible that a wires can be a positive and a negative, as it is AC - the electricity moves backward and forwards in the wire 60 times a second.
1
The 110V isolated supply transformers on UK construction sites go back to the 1960/70's, when most power tools were metal cased class 1 equipment. Most tools now class 2 double insulated. The H&S Dept recommends battery power tools where possible. 230v is permitted but an RCD has to be used. In fact 230v was always permitted.
1
The comments on UK Ring Circuits (sometimes called Ring Mains) for socket outlets shows great ignorance. Plug-in portable domestic appliances in the UK cannot draw more than 13A (approx 3kW) as the plug has a maximum of a 13A fuse - can be less right down to 1A, depending on the appliance. Subsequently washing machines, dishwashers, etc are limited to 13A - most draw far less. The rings were designed during WW2 anticipating the post war construction boom, being limited to 32A on the ring. A ring takes less cable than a number of radials and less breakers at the main panel. One ring can replace four or five radial circuits. The 13A fuse in the plug is specifically designed for rings. In the UK you do not have to use rings, nothing says you have to. Many install radials, but the appliance off the ring is still limited to the 13A plug. If you say want a 16A appliance (usually brought in by an individual), it has to be a permanently fixed, not using a plug. A ring also can be installed in any country. One down side of a ring is that if the two cables forming the ring on the rear of a socket become loose, as the screws loosen over time (expansion-contraction). The current may be sent predominately down one cable (one side of the ring) with a max rating of 27A on a 32A ring circuit. The use of push in Wago service free, screwless connectors eliminates this problem, making rings even more attractive. Germany now is selling sockets that have push in connectors behind - expected in the UK soon. This means that apart from the main panel's breakers, no screwed wire connections are used. Many electrical fires are because of loose connections. Rings are only generally feasible when the plugs and spurs off them used have fuses. In the UK the plugs ensures rings are safe.
1
@billelkins994 You have not a clue. Do you want a bulky micro circuit breaker in the plug? The British plug is a design classic having been around since 1942. The world's best. The size is for the average hand to hold for ease of pushing in and out. The L & N pins are parts insulated to prevent fingers touching them. The fuse in the plug also facilitates using efficient ring final circuits. The US plugs are weird. Flimsy, frightening third world looking, which drop out the wall socket, being outright dangerous arcing a lot of the time when pulled out by the chord. Why don't you people campaign to get the US standard to adopt the the British sockets and plugs? Do not reinvent the wheel, the British have done it making the world's best.
1
@billelkins994 wrote: "In recent years the British standard for new ring installations requires a wire size equivalent to a radial run so the ring's big advantage of using smaller wire is no more." Nonsense, you made that up. Many clearly do not understand what a final ring circuit is. The ultimate system is to have a radial circuit to each socket outlet on its own fuse at the main panel - the optimum solution of course. This means you will need a very large expensive main panel and lots of fuses/MCBs (one for each socket) in the main panel. Impractical of course. 🎊🎈 BINGO 🎊🎈 A ring gives this by distributing the main panel around the house via a ring cable, distributing the fuses from the main panel around the building to each socket. The ring is a busbar. This saves the vast expense of a plethora of radial cables back to the main panel and also a plethora of expensive fuses/MCB's/RCBO/AFDDs at a very large expensive main panel and expensive labour to install. a) A ring uses less cable and gives a longer route. b) No limit to sockets on the ring, but total is limited to typically 32A. c) A ring uses less copper for a given load/area. d) Rings rarely have voltage drop as it is fed from both ends. e) Rings have lower impedance, less volt drop is less waste! They are more efficient. f) No single point of failure for the protective earth. g) If you are covering all rooms in one floor then a ring can do it. h) An appliance and its flexible cable may have a fuse sized to its rating inside its plug. 1. Ring final 2.5mm cable, 32A B-curve MCB, length 106m on TN-C-S. 2. Ring final 4mm cable, 32A B-curve MCB, length 171m. 3. Radial final 2.5mm cable, 25A B-curve MCB, length 33m. 4. Radial final circuit, 4mm cable, 32A B-curve MCB, length 43m. If a ring is in 4mm cable protected by a 32A MCB/RCBO, then no problems if the cable is broken - which is a very rare thing. The ring can be partially 4mm to heavy current appliance sockets and 2.5mm for the rest The ring final circuit is safe, simple, and highly effective after 80 years of use. The introduction of MCBs/RCBOs/RCDs/AFDDs, and Wagos on the ring, has made the ring even safer.
1
@billelkins994 wrote: "I don't want any fuse or circuit breaker in the plug" Yet the best plug/socket system in the world has a fuse in the plug to protect the flex and appliance.
1
@kenoliver8913 In 230v systems the introduction of RCDs, over-current disconnection, fault detection and arc detection, double insulation, etc, all make the system very safe.
1
@NukeFinity Sweden is ahead in what?
1
Having a switch on a socket outlet is a no brainer. Yes, applainces do have their own on-off switches.
1
Or partly insulated pins to keep fingers away from the metal - standard in the UK.
1
I fail to see the relevance of unions.
1
You may find it is not two phase, being single phase with the coil on one phase having a tapping half way down to spit voltage in half.
1
Electric showers have no switching in bathrooms - apart from pull chords from the ceiling if wanted. Isolation tends to be outside the bathroom. The cable comes from behind with sealed covers. All is plastic to the touch. They have to be on RCDs. Find out how they are installed and made before you comment.
1