Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them?
Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them?
They're like that in this apartment we're renting and I keep seeing them elsewhere. I don't get it.
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Kind of off topic, but I've just gotta add that the safety shutters over the positive and negative terminals that only open when the ground pin (which is longer than the others on the plug) is inserted up top is brilliant, it basically makes short circuiting impossible. Electrical outlet design is one of the few things I'll concede the UK does better than the rest of the world.
I too am relatively envious of the UK's outlet design, I only hate how bulky and foot destroying they are.
I'd like to think Australia has a nice middle ground design to their sockets/plugs without the foot destroying bulk. Still get the shutter variants for bathrooms too.
I like the Australian 90 degree plugs, too. Much slimmer than the UK ones.
Yeah, I can only tut and shake my head when non-Brits complain about stepping on Lego.
Tom Scott has a video all about the UK power outlet plug and socket and it's an engineering marvel. The switch is just one feature.
The switch isn't really a a feature of the UK plug, rather just something they seem to have started doing with their sockets.
Well, the design of the plug also implies the design of the socket. I was born in the eighties, and I've never seen an electrical socket without a switch, except for the appliance socket used for the cooker, which is behind where you install the appliance - the switch is higher up, above the countertop where it is accessible.
Basic extension trailing sockets don't, most of the time unless you buy a snazzy one. But it's by no means a recent development.
Plug and socket obviously go together but I just mean that you could have the switches for any plug, it's not tied to the plug but just rather what socket plate (or what's the term) design is adopted. Schuko could have those switches, I think Yanks have them in newer plug plates and so on. It's just that the UK has adopted (in a standard or just commonly for some other reason) the switches.
Maybe, but with the switches on the sockets, I hardly ever unplug anything at all unless I'm moving it. Why would I?
So pretty much every time something's unplugged, it's in my hand or away in a cupboard, never lying on the floor.
the safety shutters over the positive and negative terminals that only open when the ground pin (which is longer than the others on the plug) is inserted up top is brilliant
The US is catching up in that regard, at least, with tamper-resistant (TR) outlets being mandated by the NEC since 2008.
It's balanced by light switches being outside of the bathroom, which I absolutely hate.
You can have a pull cord in the bathroom or a switch outside, as I understand it
You can't have standard switch inside?
I'm currently renting an Airbnb where the bathroom fan switch is in the living room, two rooms over
Good for announcing guests that you're going to take a shit and they'd better shuffle off