Yep, it's a ludicrous idea . . . a lamp doesn't turn on so we start taking the bulb out and checking it, lol . . nope, no one does that, we make sure it's plugged in and turned on . . . it's like saying if your mouse won't wake up your computer from sleep mode then you start to unscrew your computer . . . nope, you'd check if it's actually switched on . . . I suspect your point about 'growing up with them' is why people who've not grown up with this system might think it's confusing for some reason.

The switch also means that we don’t ever leave plugs on the floor to trip over… The switches are also always on/off the same way up… so it’s trivial to check.

@@JohnR31415 I agree. As a European, usedthem in Malaysia. Switch, fuse, dinosaur plugs, just perfect!

...and is always the first thing you'd check if a device doesn't work. Personally I always troubleshoot from the socket towards the device and not the other way around. Confirm you have power and then trace why that power is not reaching the device as it should.

The biggest design flaw is that you can step on the prongs hurting both the plug and your foot. We need a redesign that incorporates a 3 pin design, but also lies the pins flat. No one should copy our design, they should take the best FEATURES of our British plug designs but redesign the layout...They say "don't fix it if its not broken" but lets be honest it IS broken.

👍

rather forget to turn on a socket than have it throw me across the room just a preference!

Not only that if you are unsure what's broken you just plug in something you know works to rule out a faulty switch/socket..

An electric cooker won't be on the same ring circuit as the sockets, it will be directly connected to the consumer unit by a higher gauge cable.

just turn it off at the wall before bed!

I preferred the plugs when I was in Sweden tbh, Don't remember ever having a problem with a sagging cable neither unlike I've seen some saying on here with an American plug, I've also used a plug in Mexico, Perhaps it's similar to the US plug?

In general I agree but I'm not thrilled about ring circuits.

@@danielbliss8014 not all UK circuits are ring circuits, and installers are using radial circuits more commonly here now. Ring circuits are good for smaller gauge wire to be used, typically 2.5mm twin and earth. For a radial circuit 4mm twin and earth is commonly used (to allow for heavy loads), which is obviously more expensive. Can i just add, that standing on a UK plug is 10 times worse than standing on a lego brick :(

@@paulgregory8973 I know all too well about the risk of standing on them.......I grew up over there. Thought US plugs were in that grey area between a practical joke and a dare when I came over here.

No.

Yeah. It's a fair evaluation, but the conclusion is that British plugs are, in fact, undefeated

I agree, and their size means easy to grasp

Lol USA greatest country uses 120volt 8:46 while the rest of the world 230volt.

With everything going low voltage seems completely overkill to have every outlet capable of 230v.

@@davejulien 110v systems need larger diameter cables to avoid volt drop, so a 230v system uses less resources.

Yep, that only happens in Ireland.😁

Stepping on that. Made me start screaming and cursing in languages I don't even know i could say

I jumped off my bunk bed and landed on one...it wasn't the best! 😞

lol me too.. stepping on an upturned plug feckin hurts like a b4stard

Yeah, that and lego

bruh... guess whats the global human race language is.

@Colin Mitchell Please elaborate. I'm not a professional electrician or engineer, but I just spent all day trying to wire up my shed and then watching KZfaq videos about how bad I did it and the English outlet/plug certainly looks better to me right now. I'm American.

@Colin Mitchell Safety features that prevent potential death via electric shock aren't "over-designed". I feel terribly sorry for anyone who hires you as an engineer as you clearly have no regard for health and safety if you want things to be simple at the cost of danger

@@Nvggs Facts broski!!! 😳😳😳😳😂😂😛😛😛😛😛😛

@Colin Mitchell Yeah, but to be fair Australians need to save every penny they can on wiring in order to pay to fortify their houses against random animal attacks... Nobody wants a Kangaroo kicking their door through and punching them in the face, or dare I say, a dingo breaking in and stealing their baby!

Aye, I personally love that the lighting is on a seperate ring so that on the rare occasion where I have caused a load imbalance or a piece of equipment had an earth leakage, I don't have to feel my way around to find a torch in order to get the sockets back on.

Agreed with you that British plugs are very safe and foolproof. Sometime I even think the safety standard might be too high that used too much material.

The plugs fit flush to the wall as well which means they hardly take up any space when connected

Yeah, I don't understand why load balancing was even brought up as an issue, as long as you don't exceed the ampere rating of the circuit breaker you never have to even think about it

Our plugs are always perfect, to the level that we go abroad and cant believe how bad other systems are.

Excellence is expected 🇬🇧

Separate rings for the lights too IIRC.

@@unclemick-synths radials for lights in uk

32A is the standard

@@shaun1293 You can find British sockets on 16A radials, 20A radials (on 2.5), 32A ring finals (on 2.5) and 32A radials (on 4mm). All those are common, but there are other variations too.

As an Aussie i agree.

I’m in the UK and there are no switches on any of my sockets. They are optional.

@@pencilme1n Same though to be honest the amount of plug-in gadgets I have is far less today than when I was a kid at least outside of the kitchen. 'Fondly remembers all the separate parts the stereo system and VHS, Laserdisc, DVD and SKY boxes under the TV'. Now it's all just USB charging mobile devices.

Shocked indeed

Multi sockets and extention leads don't commonly have switches though.

Do you hit your head on low ceilings and doors as well.

Everyone will learn to stop leaving things on the floor, one way or another

3 prongs makes three points of pressure which distribute the force, it would probably have been a lot worse with a two prong plug

its worse then lego

@@mas_aco309 one of them is longer than the other two, it's like stepping on a one prong plug at first

@R Voit make me laught...the metric system was adopted in France in 1799, and some years later was use on all the european continent, inclusive germans who was not realt friendly against France in that times... but the US, despite they recive a significative help from France to access to independance in 1783 which was signed in Paris, did not adopt the metric system from he's friends and hold to the imperial system from they colonist and the weird farenheit t° scale , that's was alway considered in France as a realy strange attitude...all the more strange that the 2 first US embassadors in France was Benjamin Franklin and he's successor Thomas Jefferson, both founding fathers from the USA...

You've never stepped on one, don't worry son one day your coming of age ritual will be achieved 😉

Your lucky, don't think my school ever taught that, if they did I can blame the idiots of the class but also the punishment system for also punishing everyone else :p

That's because back in the day you had to attach plugs your self

​@@Magic__7 I'm 19. I was taught how the plugs work via a diagram at school, but it was Dad who taught me the practical side of wiring them.

@@lennonhorrocks3754 im 20, i we learned how to wire them in phyisics in year 9

School never mentioned it but at like 13 i found some old hifi equipment and needed to swap a plug to use some of it. Although these days more and more plugs come sealed.

I think it's great that new items already come with a fitted plug as standard long time nowadays and now that actually makes me wonder why and if you can still buy plugs? What would be the actual point ha

@@David.L291 yes you can still buy plugs. I often convert foreign equipment to plug type G. Its also still possible to damage a plug, say crushing it when the equipment is in storage. Or pins wearing with very heavy use over 20 years.

Unfortunately, most plugs are automatically sold with 13A fuses. In reality you should be asked what the plug is for then be provided with the appropriate fuse.

The fuse in the plug trick is in most USA dangerous gadgets that are not directly wired like afurnace. Blow dryer, clothing dryer, clothes washer etc.

The rest of the world just have to do everything wrong don’t they!

As a french living in the UK, these plugs are one of the things I like the most in this country!

Let's talk about Brittish faucets next. Shall we? >:)

@@XtreeM_FaiL you mean "taps".

@@jonnyjackson6050 Yes, but should they be called double taps?

also, yes it big and bulky but it sits flat against the wall with cable coming down which is great if a plug is behind somthing like furniture

As a Brit you’re lying if you say this has never happened to you 🔌 🦶

As another Brit, I refute your claim that we never step on plugs. I have done it a few times. It’s even worse than stubbing your toe on the coffee table.

@@miles7374 No really, I've never stepped on a plug! Maybe I'm lucky, maybe I look where I'm going or maybe we don't leave plugs lying around the floor! But really, I suspect I'm like the majority of Brits who have never stood on one, and I've just asked my wife and she tells me she hasn't either! Please don't accuse someone of lying just because you have a different experience.

@@LoFi3 I didn't say that. It would be a foolish claim.

We have those kinds of cables in the eu as well

You still need lots of clearance regardless if you want to plug something in and out because of how long the pins are. Some North American plugs have the cord parallel with the wall, but it's not a standard.

@@pikachuchujelly7628 once plugged in what remains on the outside is very minimal, you can definitely push your furnitures right against the wall and have a very minimal gap

@@pikachuchujelly7628 usually things that are being plugged in and out don’t go in sockets behind furniture so it’s a non issue. Things that remain plugged in long term such as a lamp or television do not need much clearance.

Lived in the US nearly all of my life. I've literally never been shocked plugging or unplugging anything unless the cord going into the plug was frayed.

@@Angelsilhouette Yeah but this guy got used to the additional safety features of the UK plug so has never really needed to take much care whilst inserting or pulling them out... prior to his trip to the US.

@@DAN.eight6 yep exactly :)

@@Angelsilhouette these comments are why people think americans are...let me not be rude nvm

@@ShakTMT We might have good plugs, but they built the most advanced and powerful country in just around 250 years.

I've stepped on plugs because my house doesn't have enough outlets for all the plugs (especially back before USB C laptops, the TV always seemed to have a few different laptop chargers on the floor near it) and it's bad, but you usually notice before putting any serious weight down and it's more of an "oh god that was scary and could have gone badly" than an "oh god that hurts"

I wish I could say the same but I've definitely stepped on them

@@lilithstenhouse267 Not to mention that as a consequence of their weight and "bulkiness" they pretty much always lay/rest on the floor pin sides up, so almost every Brit has experienced the profound agony that ensues from stepping on one at some point in their lives . Lego has nothing on British plugs. 😂

I was spinning around on an office chair as a kid and fell off, hitting my head against an upright plug. Now my mum is pretty self sufficient so she washed the blood out my hair and patched me up herself, but for most people that would have been a trip to A&E :)

@@harrylangton3206 Thought you were going to say for the rest of your life you had three prong marks in the middle of your forehead.

Until you stand on one 😄

​All those safety features meant we had to swap character-building electric shocks with character-building foot impalement!

@@bucketheadothers2384 Why would we stand on them?

@@user-nr2cs2rq7h 99% of brits will have done at some point when they are left unplugged and you unknowingly stand on it, followed by a few cuss words 😄

Swear* words.

First time an American has complained about something being too big. As a UK home owner the large draw items like cooker, water heater or car charger are on independent circuits. My house has a few loops all feeding back to the panel. But the cooker is its own loop.

Other systems have 90° plugs too. The European style plugs usually have straight plugs for small power devices and angled plugs for higher power devices. Your comment has made me aware of this. 😁

Indeed. In the UK homes will be wired with ring mains for the lights and electrical sockets with something like a 3-6 amp breaker for the lighting circuits and a 16 amp breaker for the circuit with the electrical sockets. The rings for the lighting is usually done by floor so all the lights on the ground floor will be on one ring and all the lights on the upper floor will be on another. The electrical sockets are often a hybrid of radial and ring with all the sockets in a room being on a ring but each room being connected to the breaker box radially so there will be a single wire from the breaker box to the kitchen but all the sockets in the kitchen will then be on their own ring. The same will go for all the other rooms with all the sockets in that room on a ring but that ring being fed with a single spur from the breaker box. High power electrical items such as electric ovens, hobs, electrical shower heater units, and immersion heaters for hot water tanks will all be on their own individual spurs usually with 30 Amp cable that goes directly from the breaker box to an isolating switch that has an indicator light to show that power is being supplied to the appliance. This is so that if the appliance has to be powered off for some reason it can be powered off with a switch close by without needing to switch it off at the breaker box. For instance, in the kitchen an electric cooker and hob will be on their own 30 Amp spur that is independent from all the other 13 amp sockets that will be on the kitchen's 16 Amp ring main. The 30 Amp spur will come into a faceplate with a 45 Amp switch for the cooker and hob and a 13 Amp socket that can be used to test that there is power to that faceplate from the 30 Amp spur. The switch can turn the power to the cooker and hob on and off while not effecting the 13 Amp socket. Under the counter appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers and larder fridges or appliances such as floor to ceiling fridge freezers which will be plugged into sockets that are inaccessible will usually have a fused switch in an accessible location that controls an unswitched that is located behind the appliance. As has been stated elsewhere, in all cases fault finding will start at the switch first with this either being a switched socket or the fused switch in the case of appliances that run off a switched spur. These will usually have an indicator light to indicate whether they are supplying power or not. Finally, because power outlets in the UK have individual switches in them, an appliance can be electrically isolated by simply setting the switch on the outlet to the off position so there is no reason to unplug the device and so having stray plugs laying around the room with their pins in the air to step on is not really an issue as the socket does not need to be removed from the outlet to power off the device.

@@paulchartley UK domestic ring mains are usually 32A. Domestic lighting tends to be a radial (not a ring) between each light fixture with a live and switched live dropping down to the light switch ( no neutral)

@@Isnt_that_Aaronic the cooker will be on a radial circuit

hahaha

And you can put furniture right infront of the outlet and still have something plugged in.

@@electricpaisy6045 I was going to comment that too, the cables sitting flush to the wall is very convenient

It baffles me that people are baffled by plugs with angled cables. In continental europe both types are in common use.

A receptacle that allows a two-prong plug to sag is defective and should be replaced.

As a Malaysian using the same UK plugs, I can confirm on the satisfactory of punching and snapping the plug to the outlet. It’s like “yup, done ✅” Think flip phones.

EU plugs are utter garbage. They should be outlawed.

Exactly....everyafety feature he likes on british plugs is done better by EU ones xD -the switches

@@stixinst5791 what do you mean the switchs?

@@lewiskidd9568 he wrote "minus the switches", meaning the eu plugs don't have switches

@@lewiskidd9568 minus the switches

@@stixinst5791 aand then there's the swiss plug, which is better than the Schuko plug (can't mix up live and neutral), and also the smallest one.

Agreed. Think it's one of the qualifications required to enter 'extreme ironing' competitions.

@VyktorAbyss - I think you've been watching too much Monty Python! That sounds like one of their comic routines.

🤣👌

@@wranglerboi " ... watching too much Monty Python." Sorry, not familiar with that concept.

Also running a space heater because the window's open to let out the cord for the hedge trimmer. (true story... hangs head in shame). :D

Consider it a live service update. One of a few in fact.

Up there with the battered Mars bar, imo.

Curry The London Underground The Electric Motor The Type G plug The Steam Engine In that order 👆🏽

@@stickykittyNo mention of the The G String… 😅

@@smoketinytom I knew I forgot something 🤣 well done lad!!

don't forget telescopes, toothbrushes, chronometers, the printing press, fire extinguishers, lawnmowers, cameras, telegraphs, the chocolate bar as we know it, tin cans, thermos flask, telephones, stainless steel, spoked wheels, turbines, ATMs, jet engines, the world wide web, cement... and there's more.@@stickykitty

That's really electrical engineering, it's a truly amazing subject but people just take it for granted.

@@Fastnet72 has the Mona Lisa helped power millions upon millions of homes in a safe manner? She can smirk all she likes but she's done nothing on the scale of a type G plug.

@@Fastnet72 Calm down Peter. You'll get there in the end..

Can confirm, am british, didn't notice.

@@Fastnet72 its much better than the mona Lisa. Beautifully designed engineering which is taken for granted

I've actually never trodden on one. Unless it was so painful I've blanked the memory.

@@offshoretomorrow3346 I have - the Apple phone chargers with the removable USB cable, the cable comes out, plug ends up face up, I forget I've dropped it and... well... you can see how it ends

Usually a light plug when your wondering round to the toilet at night with no foot protection.🤬🤬

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As a kid I Jumped off my bunk bed straight on to a plug. I remember there was blood but its was about 40 years ago now :(

"Like you do when you go on holiday". This is exactly what I've done for a couple of decades. You are going on holiday and don't want devices draining power or presenting an electrical fire risk, you just go round switching off the sockets. With a TV for example, we would have a dvd player, vhs, sky, speakers... plugged into a 4 way extension. Simply flip the switch and you can be certain that it is isolated. Mid 90's we were on holiday in France and we had a call from a neighbour (we lived in rural Ireland), the house alarm had been going off for days. Turns out we hadn't turned off the fax machine and my Dad (a Doctor) had been receiving faxes which are printed using heat (fax/receipt paper turns black when heated) that triggered the infra-red motion sensors. The alarm would finally turn off just for another fax to arrive and set it off again. Hahahahaha. Our neighbour was a couple of fields away but it had been annoying them for days until my Dad told them where a key was hidden so that they could go in and flip the switch.

This Fact has been proved so many times. Step on a UK plug once and scarred for life with 'The Fear'.

It's up there with kicking a bed leg with your little toe barefoot

after your first time your feet will never leave the floor with the shoeless-in-the-dark shuffle.

I would never wish someone to go through that pain, not even my worst enemy.

I think stepping on one of our UK plugs is the only real negative. The size makes no real difference. In fact with the cable running down from the outlet you can have furniture far closer up against the plug than with a US version. We do a lot of things in a mixed up way here (like our odd mix and match of metric and imperial) but our plugs are just objectively better.

If it's something your used to, I guess you don't take any notice.

@SeekCraft No she's right. They don't handle weight well either. Try plugging some wall adaptors in and tell me how you get on.

you know you're a Brit when you say hoover instead of vacuum lol

your suposed to pinch the prongs together a bit so they hold in

Maybe travel to Hong Kong the next time you are in Asia and you will feel right at home! With these plugs, I mean.

I'm happy for you.

As an Australian, I would have to agree and have to say that this whole system with ring main, individual fuse and plug is pure genius! However, To improve this would be to have each power outlet RCD protected with a lower tripping current than of the main.

@@andrewstewart8704 How do the RCDs in Australia work?

@@jovetj trips the circuit if there is an earth leakage. AKA earth leakage detector safety switch

@@andrewstewart8704 No, sorry, I meant how much leakage current do they allow there? Are they installed only as MCBs or are there receptacle versions like in the States? Or?

Flat design plugs are now becoming more readily available.

Excellent point! I’m currently traveling in Scandinavia and noticing the same thing: flatter plugs = furniture tighter to the walls and less risk. The US has these as well but they’re just now getting some traction and it will be a while before they’re common.

The first thing I thought of when he mentioned the size is the number of times I've had to squeeze a plug through a gap. I could never do that with the UK plug.

@@LRN2DIY Is it still a lot easier to mold inline plugs than 90 degree ones? Most US plugs are molded unlike the assembled plugs in the UK, but I still agree the 90 degree plug is wonderful when working with furniture.

Annoyingly, in the UK most plugs sockets are a few inches above floor level (except for the kitchen where they are sometime installed at work-surface level) . . . so having a cord that exists the plug go downwards is rarely ideal . . . for example you've got a radio or computer or TV, and the plug will usually be plugged in 4 or 5 inches off the ground and the cord exiting it then heads downwards, only to then need to go upwards, I see this as somewhat of a design flaw - I 3D printed myself a bunch of plugs where the cord exits from the top, which are much more practical if you want your leads out of the way or to better fit behind things. Another solution is to mount the sockets upside down.

@@GlennHoddleSucksSocks Never known anyone to step on one, I think a tad of cynicism

@@GlennHoddleSucksSocks I'm sure someone somewhere in the UK (or anywhere using these plugs) has stood on one, but I've never come across anyone that has - and I'm not young!

@@GlennHoddleSucksSocks Pro-Tip, don't chuck a plug on the floor when not in use. Better yet, leave it in the socket and switch it off! Can't step on it if it's in the wall. I'd rather have a small chance of hurting my foot at my own error than the 101 safety flaws of the ones in the US.

Agreed. I also live in singapore and feel very safe with these plugs

Be careful, Shouldn't leave plus lying around but yeah good plugs I guess but I much preferred the ones when I was in Sweden tbh

Stepping on it is a painful experience but we can avoid it altogether by placing the unused plug in an area where there's ZERO chance of stepping on it.

You can't expect that Britons will admit that something from Germany is better. They already have a hard time with german cars. 😂

Went to Spain and used them before. Horrible experience with socket stability and how it just seems to want to come out of the socket with a little cable weight. UK plugs have never failed me and always plugs in tight into the socket.

@@nevmiku I personally never had that expierience with a Schuko plug, only some Europlugs here and there - but those usually don't have heavy and long cables attatched to them in the first place. The full size Schukos (round with ground pin contacts) sit so tight in the socket, that one has to really put some force in when pulling them out, at least in germany and france. Did you use an adapter that was UK Type G to Europlug? That's the only scenario i can imagine where this would happen. If you adapter only had a slim, 2 prong plug then it was definetly a europlug adapter and no proper Schuko adapter, so sadly it makes sense as those were never designed to have much weight on them in the first place. But since they are compatible with more outlet types, those adapters are also more common than a proper UK type G to Schuko adapter.

@@nevmiku In Spain sometimes there are still type C installations. They look like type f but the lack protective earth. what you describe sounds like type C.

All good points and a fine example of a plug that is engineered to suit its environment, as the G-plug is. But there's no need to defend it; just because it wasn't mentioned, doesn't mean the presenter wouldn't think it was well designed. However it is not standard. Several plugs can be inserted into the corresponding socket, whereas the Type G is the only type, it is not cross-compatible with anything else. The Schuko does not have a separate fuse, and can also be found corded dead straight, i.e. easy to pull out. Nor are shutters part of the core specification. Then again, it doesn't need a separate fuse, as the radial circuit is commonplace in Germany and elsewhere. BTW it would be interesting to go into why the UK historically has used a ring circuit. I know why, not sure everyone does though!

It is quite uniquely painful isn’t it? Still - I wouldn’t recommend it!

Be more careful then.

Yes, you know when you've stood on one of these bad boys with bare feet

There is no pain like it, it's not even pain, it's like an out of body experience, it's like being so cold that you don't even notice how cold you really are

It’s up there with stepping on Lego at 3am while trying to find your way to the toilet in the dark.

Ikr? I’m also a Brit and checking the switch is a pretty common thing to do, not a flaw. It’s just Americans aren’t used to it 🙄

Yeah, but I HAVE stepped on it, and it is excruciating. Still not as bad as an electric shock though 😂

@@1815matt I think every Brit knows the pain of standing on a plug! It normally happens at 3am on the way to the toilet 😂

Reckon he tried a bit too hard to find downsides!

@@imlanding when you're trying to be quiet... but the barrage of expletives you let out when you step on one is never quiet 😂

Probably need better shutters, the ones we have need quite a bit of force to open. A child shouldn't be able to open it.

@@sh-ehmed Leverage is a powerful force, my friend.

@@_Pikahiiri_ nobody can stop a child with levers

Yes I agree.

People always complain about Lego until you remind them of that time they stepped on a plug.

Only stepped on one once and i learned my lesson No plug is outside of a socket unless it's bundled or spooled together

Why would you unplug something and then leave it were you going to be walking? You probably deserve sore feet.

I've done that once or twice, thanks for reminding me lol.

Believe us, if the Empire had its way, everyone would be speaking English and using 3 Pin Plugs (pretty sure they were our main objectives). But everyone wanted their independence back so here we are. I mean, it was definitely our fault...

@@rhysblaney3121don't get too high on that nostalgia - if that was the case, we'd also have very bad food everywhere

@@ReynaldoJAbreuR74 hey, you can't beat a Sunday roast 😋

@@lees6057 he wouldn't know

@@ReynaldoJAbreuR74 no we wouldn't, the British eventually adopted good aspects of a culture

> which can be quite common for EU/US plugs. That's pure speculation. I've lived in Brazil (which adopted a version of IEC 60906-1) and in Canada (NEMA-2 and NEMA-5) and all of them do just fine. > the ON/OFF switch is a great invention! Adds to cost with a dubious return value. > every cable is coming down from the socket 90 degrees connectors are indeed nice, however, if your wall panel has two outlets, then 180 plugs are much better.

EU plugs fit pretty tight as well

I have never even heard of such a thing as a plug falling out of the socket on its own, so that surely only applies to US plugs.

@@HeriEystberg yes, US plugs sometimes do that. some just fit extremely loosely

@@leonardopsantos the swithch is indeed redundand IMO. There are spliters with builtin one that dimly glows when on. I usually get a one with 1.5m extension cord and operate it with my feet. And yo are also correct on the falling out part. In my 20years of using them this video is the first place I heard falling out is a thing. The 90° cord is superior in every way, if you have two above eachother you justtilt the top connector by 60° for german efficiency

Brit living in Mexico currently and I feel the same, they feel so fragile also!

The US _is_ a developing country.

I'm in a developing country and we use the British plug & wiring standards.

@@JivanPal - no, not anymore. Considering the lack of a public and normal/proper health care (after all, you can be bankrupt because of one accident and pay a couple of thousands for a simple ambulance), declining education levels (easy to prove), lack of employee protection (what happened with a paid 25+ days of holiday each year (with 5 unused days each year going forward), a paid maternity leave longer than 6 months+, paid sickness days longer than a few weeks, normal 35-40 hours working week so you can have a proper balance between work and your private life, 1-3 months notice if you going to be fired - based on a particular job role)... and plenty of more examples. At the end: even based on info from this year from "Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development" and PIAAC, and description of the education levels in US: - half of US adult can't read a book writen at the 8th grade level - 2% have a high literacy level - and in this year, for the first time ever, PIAAC combined the fourth and fifth literacy levels. That's because there were no longer enough people at the highest level to count. Just sad, as this could have been a great nation. Now it is just a laughing stock, and it is just... sad to see that. And that is not even talking about, Uvalde or Sandy Hook (which should have been an eye opener for people) or whatever US is doing with gun issues... Pretty much the country run like a corpo with people being treated like commodities. Nothing more.

@@tannhauser5399 I think you misread my comment. I said the US is a _developing_ nation precisely because of all the things you mention and more; not that it is a _developed_ one.

On that you are absolutely right. You can also think in watts. A standard 32amp ring can take 7000 watts (i think I am correct) so if you don't know the amperage of your kit you can calculate in watts as most equipment has at least that written on it. For a spur socket, should you happen to have one, that should be capable of handling about 2800 watts. A lighting circuit can handle 1100 watts but if you use LED lighting there are no concerns you will ever get up to that. By the way I am not an electrician. This is just knowledge I have garnered over my many years. Always consult a professional electrician if in doubt. All wattages here assume a voltage of 220 volts.

​@@ThePuterMan That's decent knowledge for a non-electrician, nice one. I wish there were more basic courses on conduction/resistance in schools and colleges, just so more people were aware of the processes. For example, most construction companies use the minimal safe amount of wiring to pass the safety inspections. But 20% more copper would give more than a 200% increase in safety for little cost, but they don't because they don't have to and no one seems to care enough to change regulations.

@@spookybuz7803 Thanks for sharing! Tell us more about the 20%! What spec cable is typically installed, and what do you recommend?

With Americans it is neither the volts or the amps; it's the thinking part in my experience.😏

PREACH

He did say Master electrician. And then proved it!! The rules here are very strict regarding electrics and although DIY electrics is allowed there are a lot of situations where a qualified sparky is necessary to be compliant with the regulations. Doesn't matter much - until you want to sell the house...

I'm fairly sure that 1 Amp fuses are available for the type G plug.

@@manolisgledsodakis873 They are but they are super rare it's normally 3, 5, 13 I've only ever seen a 1 in Christmas tree lights

@@manolisgledsodakis873 The best fuse is a piece of aluminium foil , twisted around the failed fuse and inserted carefully into the clips. :))

@@jonsouth1545 There are also 10 amp fuses, although they're not very common, and of course they're all colour-coded: 3A - Red 5A - Black 10A - Dark grey 13A - Brown

Yes, plugs should be sold without a fuse, making the user fit the correct fuse.

Then British plug is that size for hands to hold it.

Or they have ON printed on the upper face

@@applejuice5272 They still confuse me though, if you can see the word 'ON' it means the outlet is on/ live correct?

@@chatteyj Yes

Some even have red led that get turn on when you switch the power on.

British, what a fkin disgusting word.

He was scraping the barrel trying to find negatives to the point they were silly.

Our UK plugs are so cool lol so many features we take for granted

European plugs have that too

T'is actually especially useful because I have some plugs that don't have these "wings" and whenever I try to plug them in, the skin on my fingers wrap around the plug and when I press down on, It basically just turns into a pinching machine between the socket and the flush plug. So, yes. it does have more implications than just the fingers touching the pins.

I'm from the UK and didn't know that🤣🤣

@@codname125 The European Type E/F plug is pretty cool, too. I think it looks better, but type G has more features. Both are pretty safe

@@TD75 yes. It is

@@TD75 the guy in the video literally tells us how he has been shocked multiple times. That's just not something that happens in the UK. Why design something poorly when it could be done better?

sorry for your loss

@@TD75 Your anecdote is not data. Remember that your experiences are not universal - just because you haven't heard of it happening doesn't mean it doesn't happen. An easy google search tells me there are 400 fatalities caused by electricity in the USA per year, while the UK has only 30, despite the increased voltage. That's 0.41 per million in the UK and 1.2 per million in the US. This plug saves lives.

@@TD75 You've never heard of it? You can find many video compilations online.

Yeah! I thought the same!

haha yea, I have offpeak electric at 9:30pm to 2:30am, At 9:30 I charge my electric car, put on the dishwasher, put on the washing machine and also the kettle to make hot water bottles or cups of tea, not had any issue

OR making a brew and toast at the same time! Talk to me about load balancing lol.

Not only as a Brit, this is the case in the EU as well. That's just a normal thing for a western country with 230V

Out old house had a 1940s dual amp age wiring system this predated the square pin system and had 3 pin round pin plugs. You had a 5 amp circuit for lights etc and a larger socket 12 amp circuit for electric fires, hairdryers etc. Such set ups could still be found into the 1980s but have pretty much been replaced with modern wiring

I did this when connecting up my offgrid solar to my home office, got a big extension cable, put the cable through a vent (60s house) and reconnected, no need to require a massive drill to drill a big hole through the wall

We can take the plug off and have an even smaller hole😉

@@infideluk They really don't get it, do they

@@FirstNameLastName-hahaha who is/are they here?

Good shout

I use a plastic pen lid to do it so that I can use US plugs without an adapter (assuming the device is 220v compatible).

@@joeasher2876 disturbingly that trick also works with European plugs... I wouldn't recommend it though.

@@joeasher2876 I used a matchstick - when the plastic 'ground' prong on my gameboy power supply snapped off.

I used to british plugs.. i put the earth from one plug only connected to the earth then i connected the other 2 pins with the other adapter then i took out the earth and plugged my dwvice in and i was suprised when it charged

you wouldn't have died

I have stepped on the plug once and it is incredibly painful especially as I was running around

@@roadtof1. I can imagine. Stepping on a lego is already too painful. This must be worst.

I live in the UK & I nearly stood on a 3 pin plug once so have made sure to leave them in the socket or just put the appliance back in the box so that my family don't feel such agony

As a Brit, I am honestly baffled by the amount of people who have stood on plugs. I mean, how exactly? Also, yeah, the folding plugs for travel are very useful indeed.

@@1Thunderfire You forget that Americans use this site and so we are confronted with the lowest intelligence possible, disregarding the monkeys in Kenya and they are not allowed into houses without certificates or identity cards showing that they are not American.

Not to mention the size of the plug helps those with disabilities. You put that sucker in the palm of your hand and ram that thing into the socket. You probably don't even need fingers.

@@RACE.TV1 A smaller, lighter plug would most likely still be easier though.

@@RACE.TV1 it’s better for some, worse for others. Probably great if fine motor skills are your problem, but it would also be very clunky to manipulate for others

@@deletemedeleteme43 Some people still find them harder to use than other types of plugs. Ask any of the millions of people with arthritis in their hands.

Except when you accidentally stand on them barefooted, most painful thing

@@jamiehughes5573Agreed, hard to avoid any cognitive biases but it seems like we all had a some form of tribalistic/ethnocentric indoctrination, and if the plug is other way around then the plastic earth or metal live/neutral pins which are made out of brittle metal keep braking off when stepping on them. On all of the other plugs pins just bend and can be straightened out.

There is a lot we do well. Just educate yourself.

Most think the fuse is to protect the appliance too but this is false, the plug fuse is to protect the cable and should be sized as such.

The downside to this is that when people casually replace the fuse, they almost always slap in a 13A one regardless of what the requirement is.

@@moopet8036 I do like for like everytime.

@@moopet8036 assuming they bother with a fuse and don't go for rolled foil from their last pack of smokes.

​@@anne_frank_lol a pack of ten assorted fuses is £1. I keep a couple of packs in a drawer 🤣

This is the video that the now-shill Tom Scott did well.

Please what did he get wrong?

@@adon8672 The circuit type used, ground pin always being metal ie present, all sockets having switches.

@@adon8672 all the negatives - no-one leaves a plug lying in the room like that.. we can isolate them when plugged in - they are super safe and can handle up to 13 Amps - the old 15 amps round pin ones are awesome.. just not as safe . and Lego or pin tacks ( drawing pins ) are waaaaay more painful than a UK plug - tested!

@@effervescence5664 A few omissions too, such as switches on less cost- conscious outlets being double pole, switching L & N not just L, and fuses being available from 1A to 13A with 3 & 13A being the most common. [Edited to correct the 'not just N' goof.]

In Hong Kong, we are still being taught about wiring plugs in grade 7 science classes XD Even tho all appliances come with a plug pre-attached nowadays.

I could wire a plug from a young age too. My mum went to work in electrical repairs for the Telephones during WW2, and then she was widowed when I was only 6 so she taught me all the basic electrical stuff around the house. I'm with you, not very proud of our country at the moment, and not terribly proud of our colonial heritage either, but one good thing we did export around the world were good engineering systems.

"safer". You've over engineered every single plug in the country to compensate for the fact that your grid is inherently dangerous. In NA, we just made the entire grid safe. Don't need to be concerned with the safety of literally every single plug.

@@nitePhyyre But you can't run a decent kettle to boil water rapidly for a brew with 110v, so hurrah for 230v :-D

i wonder about australia(similar to UK) and EU one that has circular 2 pins with ground in top and bottom as some sheet(with pins oj the port instead of plug)

With that huge size, I bet you could fit two Euro plugs in the housing. :D

@@digantdalal you can still fit two UK plugs in the double UK socket, as the converted plugs sit out a little deeper and power, not wider. European plugs are so easy to bend break and come out socket. Really a down grade once you've lived with type G.

@@Dosedmonkey The whole euro plug/ socket system is a genius design. If your your plug comes out easily, you are probably using a dodgy converter or it is meant to come out to protect you from tripping over. Euro plugs come with only low power devices, for high power bi polar devices, it comes with round CEE 7/2 plug. There is no way, you can stick this CEE 7/2 into a hexagonal Euro socket. It has to be a type E/F round socket with earthing. Unlike in Type G, CEE standard plugs comes with straight wire out. It is meant for ease of plugging out and the device should not remain powered all the time. e.g. Irons, laptop chargers. Once you are done, plug it out and take it away. Vacuum Cleaners and hair dryers come with CEE 7/2 plugs with straight wire out while TVs come with 90 degrees L shape. You will certainly not trip if you step on a long vacuum cleaner cord because it will come off from socket before you trip. Type G is boring and big. Who needs a clunky plug for low power mobile charger or an led lamp with a low amp fuse? The mechanical design of hexagonal Euro socket prevents any high power round plug to be plugged in, and you can convert each round pin Type E/F socket into 2 or 3 Euro sockets with a cheap converter on wall.

When I served my time as an industrial sparky back in the 90's, the flex colours were indeed, brown, blue & green/yellow. Standard house wiring cable (from distribution board to sockets, light fittings etc. were red, black and green or green/yellow sleeve. Three phase cabling was red, yellow & blue with the neutral being black. If you were wiring ring mains in singles cable in an industrial setting, you would often find the live cable would be either red, yellow or blue, with the black neutral. Times moved on and we standardised on the mains wiring being the same as the flex wiring, brown, blue and green/yellow, with 3 phase colours changing to brown, black & grey with a blue neutral.... Many older buildings can have a combination of wiring colour standards and a label has to be placed on the distribution board stating that both colour schemes are in use from that board. Complicated or what? 😆 Final point, you can get un-switched sockets in the UK, not as common as switched ones, and often used as a means of disconnection behind built in appliances or washing machines etc, but with a separate disconnection switch above the counter...

They are also that colour because bLue - for Left. bRown - for Right yeLLow for middLe

@@brooke1639 No, that was a mnemonic. The colours were chosen because most people who are colour blind can distinguish them.

Confusing the red and the green is rather unlikely unless you're trying to splice into it from the middle somewhere. And even then, you'd likely not have problems as the live lead is going to be carrying voltage when the neutral and ground aren't. It's something that you'd test for regardless of whether or not you're colorblind as you'd want to make sure that no numbskull wired it backwards. Which, for many applications wouldn't be an issue as the current does flow through both of them when in use. It is better not to use colors that are easily missed by those with colorblindness, but it's more of a convenience and extra measure than anything else.

@@brooke1639 Except, that it would still work with the hot and neutral reversed, this is an AC circuit after all. You wouldn't do it because it isn't standard and can result in issues if somebody does come along later and assume that there's standard wiring going on.

My house built in 1972 has no original switched sockets. I have replaced some over the years with switched sockets though unswitched are still available. Either meets code.

You can still get unswitched outlets, they are generally used for things that you never want to be accidentally turned off. A classic example would be a freezer. They are also sometimes used on things like a washing machine or dishwasher with a remote switch so you don't have to move the appliance to isolate it at the mains.

In fact, wiring regulations make it difficult to have unswitched sockets. Every appliance has to have an obvious point of isolation and the switch is the easiest way to achieve this. Even the freezer will have a switch - but it should also be labelled to reduce the chance of it being accidentally switched off.

@@gavinminion8515 where does it say that in the regulations because I have not seen it.

@@jonathanbuzzard1376 BS7671 chapter 53 mandates isolation for every circuit. The on site guide also says (under 5.1.1) - "Means of isolation should be provided for every item of equipment". Whilst I don't think there is a specific mandatory requirement (hence the word 'should') it would be difficult to defend the use of unswitched socket outlets.

I've been wiring up British plugs for over 50 years now. Okay they can be fiddley and difficult to access sometimes, but I'm so impressed with the design and safety that they bring. Long live BS 1363 - for our American friends that's the UK standard for plugs and sockets (if you're having trouble sleeping - well worth a read).

Yes, luckily we actually had clever people in charge when designing these basic systems

​@@BlatentlyFakeName unlike our politicians currently 🙄

It's OK to be British 😂 Why can we be proud of our plugs but not our nationality!? 🤷‍♂️

@@cheddarfodder I'm guessing history. Probably history.

Ordinarily I'd agree with you, but having lived with someone who didn't tidy up after herself, the plug left on the floor does hold 😅

Have you met many humans? They're capable of a wide range of careless actions, and the person stepping on it isn't necessarily the one who put it there.

It does hold up. We are humans, if something can be solved the excuse to not do it can't be lazy like that.

I get people saying humans are fallible and will leave the unplugged ones lying around... its true. But only once, until they stand on one ! Then never again.

@@salty1977 why should they experience it even one. Just design it so it doesn't stay with the prongs up like eu sockets

They redesigned them a couple of years ago… they don’t have that problem anymore

apple bad (obligatory Android user comment)

@@RYNOCIRATOR_V5 your wrong (typed on iPhone)

@@josh_1518 yore grammar are bad

@@josh_1518 *you're _puts shades on, in defeat, you explode_

Except for the stepping on them thing. That's always a curse

@@Faliat a result of untidiness, nothing else.

@@_rtj the switch on the earth pin you mean? A downside to these plugs is the difficulty of removing them for people with arthritis or some other issue with their dexterity.

@@Faliat I would say not even that. Due to the switches on the plugs themselves I always just turn them off at the wall - virtually never unplug something and leave it on the floor. If I’m unplugging something it’s normally because I’m going somewhere and taking the plug with me.

@@lukemclellan2141 there is a clamp available at mobility stores that allows full hand grip to remove, less than £5 last time I bought one