3 pin mains v. 2 pin mains (abroad)

Gothic Draconia

Gothic Draconia

Gothic Draconia

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Joined
22 May 2003
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492
Location
Derby
Hi,

I really need your help on a question i've had for a while seeing as i'm not an electrician.

Why does the UK use 3 pin mains?

After a recent trip to Spain, it has got me wondering. They use 2 pin mains sockets. I am wondering if there is any benefit in being earthed by a 3 pin plug or if it's just down to different standards with no real benefit to either system?

It may sound silly but i want to know.

Thanks.
 
im pretty sure its just the earthing means you are safer. europe hasnt caught up/hasnt bothered catching up

im sure deaths from plug sockets is not a huge number and will be lower in our contry ;)
 
Kazatan said:
im pretty sure its just the earthing means you are safer. europe hasnt caught up/hasnt bothered catching up

im sure deaths from plug sockets is not a huge number and will be lower in our contry ;)
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I doubt places like USA and the rest of europe are behind so to speak there must be another reason why they use 2
 
two pin plugs in europe that need earthing are also available.. only tends to happen on big appliances

if you look closely on the socket theres a pin that sticks from the top/bottom that connects to the outer plate of the plug going into the socket

electricity-1.jpg


see the metal bit on the bottom.. thats where the earth pin in the socket connects
 
I'm sure pretty soon Princess Tony will say that we have to conform to European standards and we'll all have to change to 2 pins.
 
yermum said:
I'm sure pretty soon Princess Tony will say that we have to conform to European standards and we'll all have to change to 2 pins.
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id fight that like i fought the euro, not for any monetary sense but simply because the POUND IS BRITISH.

.. and so are 3 pin plug sockets!
 
most product in UK has dual insulation, which means that it has another later of metal around product so that you wont get electricuted.

those products dont need earth. therefore earth is no longer usefull...
 
Last year sometime there was an article in National Geographic all about plug standards. And there were a lot more than just european 2 pin and British 3 pin. From what I remember there was about 15-20 variations commonly used throughout the world. At some point, there had been a push to standardise them, but it unfortunately failed, because as Britain would, every other country also wanted to keep their unique plug.
 
Kazatan said:
im pretty sure its just the earthing means you are safer. europe hasnt caught up/hasnt bothered catching up

im sure deaths from plug sockets is not a huge number and will be lower in our contry ;)
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Catching up? We where discovering the world when you where sleeping in caves my mate :cool:

Anyway, instead of using a third dongly for the earth, we have two metalic pins on the side, it is completely the same in function other than the fact that most UK plugs have an on/off switch which is pretty handy actually, I'd give you that. ;)
 
That Wikipedia article and at least a few others report that British plugs are about the safest in the world - if rather bulky - so lets not start worrying about changing them yet.

On many appliances an Earth wire is still important, and these are present abroad as well - the only significant difference is the design. Ours is safer because the socket only opens the live sockets once the (longer) earth prong is inserted, and plastic insulation on the upper part of the prongs on most modern plugs stops small fingers touching a live wire. It's pretty much impossible to get a shock from a properly fitted UK plug. Not that any others are enormous deathtraps, of course.
 
There are coverable sockets so the whole thing is covered by a plastic tap if not in use. Also the UK sockets stick out, so if there is a spillage it can cause a shortcircuit, whereas with the EU ones where the socket is inside the wall this is reduced a bit. Sure it's safer if you have a kid around, but I've gotten electrocuted a few times and I am still around so it's no biggy :p
 
pyro said:
There are coverable sockets so the whole thing is covered by a plastic tap if not in use. Also the UK sockets stick out, so if there is a spillage it can cause a shortcircuit, whereas with the EU ones where the socket is inside the wall this is reduced a bit. Sure it's safer if you have a kid around, but I've gotten electrocuted a few times and I am still around so it's no biggy :p
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Eh? you can get flush mounted wall sockets in the UK, in fact they are very common in all but re-wiring jobs (where is faster, thus cheaper, to surface mount everything). While there probably are some, I have never encountered a new building installation that didnt have flush mounted sockets. As for the earth pin, its generally used on any electrical item with an exposed metal/conductive surface or a heating element.
 
PinkPig said:
That Wikipedia article and at least a few others report that British plugs are about the safest in the world - if rather bulky - so lets not start worrying about changing them yet.
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Yes, we british seem obcessed with our fused plugs, on the continent everything is wired in 16A radials instead of the 32A rings that are so popular here (an engineering compromise that came about during a copper shortage and when electric heaters were widely used to lack of central heating, like many ideas I suspect if it was proposed today, it wouldn't get accepted, but in reality it doesn't cause too many problems, of course you get the odd broken ring, but they usually lead to crispy cables and not to fires)

There is a good reason not to change because its an established standard, but I don't buy the fact that a 32A ring with fused plugs is safer than a 16A radial with unfused plugs.

We seem to have a rather weird attitude with regards to sockets in bathrooms as well, just about everywhere else in the world seems to manage with them ok...
 
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