ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Comparitive safety: UK vs. Elsewhere

QUOTE: I feel the strategy to try limit the opportunities people have to electrocute themselves is good,

Gideonr hits the nail on the head here. Socket outlets in bathrooms have always been a talking point. Forums like this one on ECN are the best way of solving the problem.

Does anyone have a 100% safe way of supplying a hairdryer and water heater in a bathroom. BTW I reserve the right to steal any ideas posted hereafter and manufacture them as my own, to get rich ! !

Oh dear. I can only try to imagine his feelings. I have all sorts of workshop items which I've built up ever since I was a kid, plus many other tools and pieces of test equipment which I inherited from my father and which have much sentimental value as well as being of practical use.

Many bathrooms have the 2-pin shaver outlet fed via an isolation transformer, either as a separate item like the one in Dave's post above, or combined with a strip light over the mirror, for example:



Some older models would accept only the British standard plug, but these days almost all are designed to take the BS plug and the Continental round-pin plug. Many will also accept Australian and American flat-blade plugs as well, and also provide 120V power from a tap on the secondary, either switch selected or by provision of two separate receptacles.

(We really cater for overseas visitors with their electric shavers, but the ladies are out of luck with their hair-dryers! )

You can also obtain the strip-lights with a shaver outlet but without the isolation transformer, intended for installation in bedroom vanity units and such like.

Just cut us in for a percentage!

I've seen a wall-mounted fan heater which has a short hose and nozzle to enable it to be used as a hair-dryer as well. I'm not sure whether there are separate heating elements for that portion or whether it just redirects the air flow, but it's one ingenious way which I assume has arisen purely due to the British "no sockets in the bathroom" rule.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 02-14-2005).]

Regarding the radio:

It seems fine provided it's not perched on the side of the bathtub, while you're in it having a soak!

it's on a shelf, at the side of the bathroom way way outside anywhere that water could splash or anything that it could fall into.

Regarding the sockets in the bathroom:

1) toothbrushes and shavers are, almost without exception, operated by rechargable batteries thesedays. You very rarely have any reason to plug a shaver in while shaving and it's actually not possible to do so with any electric toothbrush manufactured in the last 20 years.

2) Dry your hair at the dressing table and if necessary install lights all around the mirror theatre dressing room style

Btw, I've seen french households with socket outlets in the bathroom and kitchen with flip top covers designed to prevent splashes.

That's an interesting lamp fixture, Paul. I see I would have to pay attention to the voltage switch setting before proceeding. Nice design to allow for those BS shaver adaptors.

The travel kit also has a BS1363 adaptor with a plastic "ground pin."

Ah well, a travel can of shaving cream and a disposable razor works best for me anyway

"Bed, Bath, and Beyond" sells battery operated water proof shower radios. The only kind I'll use in the bathroom.

On the subject of "safe design", keeping the fingers away from the pins either with a hood design on the plug, sheath on the pins, or a recessed socket plus safety training since grade school, will go very far no matter what country.

[This message has been edited by GeneSF (edited 02-14-2005).]

I'll go with Gene: Protection from water and abuse is important. Another thing, somewhat related, is that all things that are safe when they come out of the box today won't be safe ten or twenty years down the road. Some are just too fragile, IMHO.

Two RCD's in series could maximise safety:

- 10 mA in socket outlet, American style.

- 30 mA in panel, Euro style. (RCD/RCBO)

I'll have to agree with Dave: Mains only shavers went out of use years ago and I see no point in a shaver socket. (Have you noticed the huge improvement in the performance of rechargeables?)

{Edited for terrible spelling}

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 02-15-2005).]

I don't see a problem with that either. If it were propped on the corner of the tub, it would be a different matter. As I said befire, it comes down to people using a little common sense.


Agree entirely C-H. We have a heap of extra standards and regulations these days covering all aspects of electrical safety, yet the basic quality of construction of most items is pretty poor compared with, say, 30 years ago.
You'll find plastic pins on some of the "wall wart" type power units these days as well. The pin is needed to open the shutters, but unfortunately these plastic pins can snap fairly easily if somebody is a little heavy handed.

I'm still old-fashioned I guess. I tried electric shaving some years ago, but never really felt that comfortable with it. I still use a stick of shaving soap, a brush, and a razor.

In our house, the MK sockets will happily accept a 2 pin BS1363 with the plastic pin snapped off

Interestingly MK introduced the shuttered socket outlet in 1928 !

[This message has been edited by djk (edited 02-15-2005).]

Getting back on-topic...

Part of me wants to say that the USA, "land of the free," is over-run in rules, regulations, and codes as no other place is!

A counter position is suggested whenever there is a disaster....be it fire, earthquake, typhoon, whatever....outside the USA, with a casualty toll in the thousands- where similar events here have but a handful. Could all these codes be actually accomplishing something?

The best "code" seems to be education. The "Darwin Awards" document a Mexican (immigrant) using pruning shears to remove himself from an auto that had a fallen power line on it.....something every American seven year old knows not to do!

Ah, it's that type of shutter mechanism! We all needed to adopt a completely different technique of using meter probes when they came out.

Good point. Remember the San Francisco earthquake back about 17 years or so ago? As terrible as that was, we know from experience that earthquakes of a similar magnitude in less-developed countries generally result in a death toll many times greater.

I remember reading that Darwin story.

I'm very much in favor of education rather than increased regulation. I believe we should have a bare minimum of official rules, solely to insure that somebody's actions do not threaten to harm anybody else. It should then be left to the individual to add extra layers of safety if he wishes.

People always moan about "excessive" codes and standardisation and laugh at US Federal and European agencies. However, they do make life a lot easier and safer. The UK tabloid press does a lot of unnecessary damage to the EU by highlighting obscure regulations and taking them out of context.

Take a look at this "EuroMyths" website.
see: http://www.cec.org.uk/press/myths/


Quite funny