I like that the British and Americans have used protective earth throughout the entire system for decades. I dislike the Swedish idea of sticking to ungrounded sockets.

I like the Belgian use of 20A radials instead of our 10A radials.

I like the Belgian and Irish systems with 40A or 63A single phase rather than our 16A 3-phase. (32A 3-phase would have been even better. [Linked Image] ) I don't see the point in the oversize British 100A single phase service.

I don't see the point in the British fear of 3-phase, but at the same time I don't like the Swedish overuse of it. Today we need to get a fan in the office running. It's 3-phase, but only 100W, with separate control gear (which has failed). A 230V plug and a built in pull cord switch would have worked just as well, and been a lot cheaper to fix.

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 07-17-2003).]