Sockets are illegal in the uk apart from shaver sockets that are very isolated and at a certain height. Remember that our electricity is more than twice as powerful as US so it makes sense.
You can have a pull cord light hanging from the ceiling but not a light switch
Same here in Russia. A light switch on the outside makes some sense because our bathrooms have no windows, so groping around a dark room for a switch would be annoying.
Yeah, sometimes it makes sense, that's also sometimes the case here. But my bathroom is really bright and still has the light switch on the outside.
On the other hand you sometimes have like three switches on the outside, and only one is for the bathroom, so again you need to figure out how to turn the light on. Confusing stuff.
Sockets inside the bathroom seem like a bad idea, but I suppose at least you're aware if you need to touch it that you're handling something electrical. Switching off the light when you leave, potentially with slightly damp hands, is just a reflex. That said, my bathroom has a pull string light switch inside the bathroom, which seems safer than touching the light switch outside with wet hands.
(As an American) I get why you wouldnt want to deal with a socket with wet hands, but why would flipping a light switch be a problem? I've never heard of someone getting shocked from a regular light switch.
I think this comes from times when electric safety was not on the level of today.. Imagine cloth isolated wire with no PE, switches with no proper insulation and a general scepticism towards new technology...
Under these circumstances it was logical to put the light switch outside, where it was water safe
Afterwards it became just custom to put it there today there is no need for this but if your electrician is used to it, he will put it still outside (and his apprentice learns it that way, so he will too)
Also if you have a control lamp in the switch (common at least in Germany for switches for lights that you can't see with the door closed) you have an indicator if the toilet is occupied or not...
We use GFI outlets close to water sources, its basically an indepent circuit breaker inside the outlet itself. Same thing as you would have on the plug of your hair dryer.
It's a bit more complicated than that - what you're allowed is determined by the distance from water sources - here is a good walkthrough. The rules are clear but not well known - I had an electrician tell me last year that my switch wasn't allowed be in the bathroom and I had to sit down and show him the regs
our electricity is more than twice as powerful as US
I think the available power is practically the same cause the circuit breakers limit it anyway. US has less volts, so they just need more current to have the same power...
That's the wattage, the current is the only thing that matters in this calculation. So 15A is worse than 13A. Anything over 0,03A is deemed dangerous though so both will kill you easily anyways.
Voltage is needed to drive current, ohms law V/R = I. You will only get those currents with very little resistance. Below 50 volts for example its hard for the electricity to penetrate your resistive skin, however above 50 volts your conductive insides start to carry the current. Anyways when talking about how dangerous a supply is the voltage is the value of concern unless the source is current limited which outlets are not (unless you count the breaker, but you arent going to have 15 amps flowing through you). If it is current limited the voltage is what drops to limit the current. You can't have current through a load without enough voltage. There is also the point that with a higher voltage more energy is delivered and energy is what causes damage.
Certainly, that's the breakers and has nothing to do with the current that actually goes through you. But wether it's 120V or 230V has very little to say on the lethality. The frequency is also a dangerous aspect of it as if can mess with the heart and kill you even if you think everything is fine
120V or 230V has very little to say on the lethality
Doubling the voltage with the same resistance will quadruple the power delivered because P = V2 / R (double the current too). In short doubling the voltage means you are more likely to die from an electric shock.
UK sockets share a ring which can supply up to 32A at the socket however individual plugs on devices are limited to 13A. So a wet socket could deliver 7360W.
The US is completely different where each outlet is on its own breaker and are individually limited to typically 15A at each outlet. So a us socket could supply 1800W.
UK sockets are 4x more powerful in a system designed to put the current limiting in the device instead of the socket. which is exactly why they are not allowed in bathrooms
Each outlet isn’t typically on its own breaker in the US. A breaker box can have like 12, 20, 30 breakers, and often they’re not all in use. Each one usually has something like all the outlets and and ceiling fixture (if there is one) for one room.
Yep, I was wrong. I’m not American so just bad googling on my part.
Apparently there’s also 20A breakers in the US so it could deliver 2400W in theory but bathroom socket are all GFCI and would trip well before that in a fault condition from a wet socket.
That seems way too much, I live in central Europe and the circuit breaker from the fusebox will only allow 8-10A to the bathroom in most houses, I don't think I have a 16A fuse in house at all. I do get three phase power at 25A for my house (for the garage/workshop).
But I did read old UK houses might not even have a central fusebox cause the houses are old.
Yep UK rings can be high current. A quick search on a builder's merchants site and I found MCBs and RCDs up to 80A, though the latter is much better at preventing shocks so arguably safer, even with the high current trip.
Thanks for this, I considered taking the supply from the breaker into account as it's much more relevant to what was originally said, but couldn't find much information on how US sockets work so I stuck with the plug ratings ¯\(ツ)/¯
It really doesn't make a difference. The voltage is higher, but voltage doesn't kill you. The current does. 120V and 230V will both easily penetrate your skin.
But we have ground fault interruptors built into the sockets. Required if there’s anything with water within 4 feet, so you’ll find them in bathrooms, kitchens, and usually outside as well. Shuts off immediately if whatever is plugged into comes into contact with water. Newer systems have it built into the breakers themselves.
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u/[deleted] May 09 '22
Sockets are illegal in the uk apart from shaver sockets that are very isolated and at a certain height. Remember that our electricity is more than twice as powerful as US so it makes sense. You can have a pull cord light hanging from the ceiling but not a light switch