They’re like that in this apartment we’re renting and I keep seeing them elsewhere. I don’t get it.
To turn them on and off.
Fair enough
To turn things on and off.
Big if true.
Massive if correct
Large if accurate
Wee if wrong
I remember when I was young and bending down all the time was a thing you could do painlessly. Ah, youth.
Have you tried using your toes?
You can use your toes for switches.
Not when there are no switches and you have to pull out the plug everytime you want to switch off the appliance.
I can still bend down ok, but getting back up off my knees however….
Smart plugs are awesome!
I present to you my favorite YouTube person:
The GFCI/RCD, a simple but life saving protector:
https://youtu.be/ILBjnZq0n8s?list=PLv0jwu7G_DFU62mIGZNag5vQ0a6tDGBpO
In defense of the Switched Outlet:
Electrical topics playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv0jwu7G_DFU62mIGZNag5vQ0a6tDGBpO
I could just watch this guy all day lol
A fellow human of great and distinguished taste I see
I expected Technology Connections or ElectroBOOM, was not disappointed.
One teaches what to do, the other teaches what not to do.
ElectroBOOM keeps me alive sometimes, and Technology Connections told me how to properly use a dishwasher.
UK household electricity is pretty spicy compared to many other places - it has more safety features as a result. (3 pinned fused plug, socket switches etc)
The rest of Europe has 220V as well and they don’t have switches on their outlets.
Isn’t it just 230v 50 Hz like most of the world?
Apparently around 65-70 % of the world population (with access to electricity) has 230v 50 Hz.
How is it more “spicy” than anywhere else in Europe?
The many other places is the US
And Japan, and Canada, and Mexico, and the majority of South America, and a handful of countries in Africa and the Middle East.
I was mainly referring to almost all of the American continent(s), lots of Africa, China and a few other places too. I didn’t think I’d mentioned Europe.
I have been with 110v plenty of times used to wire houses in my youth. Been hit once with 220v knocked me on my ass for 3 days. I stopped being so cavalier after that I wish they had those outlets vs the midevil outlets the US has.
This is virtually standard in Australia
It is standard in NZ
Depending on who built the house, it’s the standard for a “good” house in Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and I think Kenya.
deleted by creator
Allows you to remove power from the plugged in device without unplugging it. This provides convenience to easily and quickly turn things on and off and prevents arcing when unplugging. 240V 13A can arc a bit, particularly if unplugged under load, or on older sockets where the contacts have worn. While a little arcing doesn’t do much damage immediately, over time it will cause pitting and make a high resistance joint that will generate heat.
The switch only disconnects the live terminal, but the neutral terminal should be similar potential to earth (depending on how the building is wired).
Truly the king of plugs and sockets. The plugs are individually fused according to the device needs, ergonomic to use and exciting to stand on.
How many devices do you have that don’t have a switch on the device itself?
Allows you to remove power from the plugged in device without unplugging it. This provides convenience to easily and quickly turn things on and off and prevents arcing when unplugging.
That’s exactly what I do, because it’s more convenient than unplugging everything.
I live in South Africa, where we had rolling blackouts (called loadshedding) for a few years. It’s easier to switch everything back on when the power comes back than to plug it back into a socket without a switch, especially with my fucked up spine.
The electricity in the place I live was done poorly, so having something plugged in “live” risks a surge or something and then the appliance gets fucked and then everything smells like burnt plastic.
And that’s the best case scenario. Others have had housefires.
Also, the South African plugs aren’t pleasant accidentally to step on. It won’t pierce your foot, but it can still hurt like a motherfucker for a few seconds if you step on it in the wrong way.
Those UK plugs do look a lot more nasty to step on. I shudder at the thought.
I like the EU and US two prong cables ( 🔌?) where the prongs are parallel to the cable, but not the cables with the orthogonal prongs.
I like the EU and US two prong cables ( 🔌?) where the prongs are parallel to the cable, but not the cables with the orthogonal prongs.
Non-grounded plugs aren’t that great, though, and once you add the third prong the plug gets much less flat. Compare:
Maybe Italy and Chile have the best idea in terms of slim grounded plugs, although the lack of polarity might be a problem?
Also, IMO right-angle plugs are often better than straight ones because you can put furniture closer up against them and do so without stressing the cable.
why would the lack of polarity be a problem? the outlets only deliver AC, and everything plugged into them are made for AC.
I gotta admit I don’t entirely understand it either, but people claim it matters. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/why-is-the-correct-polarity-important-with-ac.979324/
right-angle plugs are often better than straight ones because you can put furniture closer up against them and do so without stressing the cable.
Yeah that is definitely a huge bonus. I’ve taken it for granted.
We’re slowly adopting three pronged Italian/Chilean-type plugs that will be “backwards-compatible” with the EU plugs. I have no clue about polarity or anything like that.
New sockets include em. The original three pronged socket is kind of a hazard. Kids can stick their fingers in there. Not sure how that got approved.
Wait until you step on with bare feet an upturned UK plug. Worse than stepping on Lego
exciting to stand on
Thanks, I hate it.
the UK power grid is weird. mostly due to echoes of the war. used to be that, to save copper, the entire house and sometimes multiple houses on a street would be wired as one big loop of wire, no fuse box or anything. that’s where the individually fused plugs and switched sockets come from. then, since it turned out to be quite a good idea for safety, they kept doing it.
This is the answer. When all sockets are connected to one big loop, there’s fuses in each socket to prevent a device from screwing with the whole system.
This isn’t strictly true. Most houses built between WWII and the '90s were built with sockets that didn’t have switches on them. It was only later safety regulations / suggestions that made the switches preferable.
Where I live was built in the late '80s right before switched sockets became more common. All the original sockets have no switch. Some in the kitchen have switches, but it’s clear these were added at a later date.
I’m not sure of the exact rulings and where and when a socket must have a switch, but you can still find switchless sockets for sale at the sorts of retailers who sell those sorts of things, so there are definitely places where those sockets are still allowed.
Sorry but I’m going to need a source on that because there is no evidence of that being the reason UK plug sockets have switches
Other countries have switches on their sockets, Australia being one because I live here
Switches on sockets do make a ton on sense though for safety reasons for example if you need to quickly isolate electricity from the switch and the breaker hasn’t done anything
Switches also prevent arcing when you pull out a plug if an appliance doesn’t have an off switch and you can switch something off that you use commonly say a kettle but don’t unplug because you use it commonly so theirs less chance of an electrical fault happening while no one is there and its also the same reason I’ll demand an isolation switch be installed on electric stoves just incase the dail on the stove fails and the stove turns on
looking for a source is not hard. anyone can do it.
switches are not required by the bs1363 standard. the provision for them only arrived in the 1960s. there.
When I bought the apartment I’m living in, the previous owner had refused all modernisation, even legal ones (he had mental problems), so the appartment had the original 1 hot wire going everywhere, you just “tapped” off power where you wanted to to ground. 1959 era.
The old Ring Circuit
eastern block solution to copper shortages was to wire houses with aluminum instead of copper. this avoided all that bizarre bullshit that brits do, and in principle it’s a good idea since aluminum is used for big time power distribution as well. this worked pretty well until it was noticed that under some conditions hot spots can form on connections over time, requiring replacement of connectors. it’s still legal to use aluminum wires in some places, but copper is more common now
So that switch will trip like a breaker?
No - there’s fuses in the plugs themselves, the switch is largely for convenience and safety - if you want to unplug something broken and potentially live, it’s much safer to switch it off at the wall than risk a shock given the current limit is on the breaker is so high
Are folks able to replace the fuses without exposing live parts? I totally get the safety angle.
fuse is in plug and accessible only when plug is disconnected
it’s also a very weird thing because fuses are supposed to protect what is downstream of them. so effectively fuse in plug protects cord and appliance only, not the wires in the wall. there’s breaker box for this
It is safer for the fuse to be in the plug for those people who think they are electricians and end up causing house fires or bzzzt’ing themselves
i understand that it’s remnant from times when fusebox wasn’t a thing and it was an attempt at protecting ring circuit, that’s all. it makes little sense
Whoa. Thanks all!
The screw to get to it is supposed to be on the side that would be facing the wall when plugged in so no
So we can turn the power on and off.
Why else would you have a switch next to a power socket?
Most of the places in the world I have been to do without them, or at least did when I was there, so it confused me. But some people have given good explanations now.
Open one up. There’s also a fuse connected to the live wire. The amperage is dependent on the normal draw of the appliance. Just added safety features. Also the live and neutral holes only open up if you put the earth in first (that’s why it’s longer). British plugs are arguably the safest… Unless you leave them prongs up and step on it accidentally. That makes stepping on Lego feel like a shag carpet.
The real question is why did the UK decide that on the outlet itself is the best place for that switch, as opposed to e.g. in the US where outlets are sometimes wired to a switch located next to the door to the room?
Switches located next to the door are for lighting, as opposed to switches on the socket which mean you can fully turn off your rice cooker without unplugging it. We do sometimes have sockets in the UK with the switch at the door, but they are usually a different shape socket that is designed for a lower current and is only intended to be used for floor lamps.
- Okay, that makes sense.
- Wait, your lamps use a different plug? That seems needlessly limiting/inconvenient.
The specific-plugs-for-lamps think is very rare these days. The reason for it is that it’s not uncommon for our plugs to be on a high amperage circuit - sometimes 30A, occasionally higher - that can’t be safely controlled with a light switch or similar, so the lamp-only circuit will be capped at, say, 3A with unusual plugs to avoid someone trying to connect a tumble dryer.
Do you have individual switches for each plug socket / outlet wired next to the door? That seems like it would take a lot of wiring, and need a lot of switches.
The room I’m currently in has six double sockets spread out around the room. They each have one switch per socket like in the post’s image. If they were wired back to the door, they would need a lot more wiring, and one of the two entrance doors would have to be chosen. You’d then have to walk to that door every time you wanted to turn something off.
It seems like a lot more work for no real benefit.
Do you have individual switches for each plug socket / outlet wired next to the door?
No, the rooms I’ve seen wired with lamp circuits would typically have one switch next to the entrance with several outlets wired together to it in the same circuit, along with another circuit of several unswitched outlets. Flipping that one switch would turn all the lamps on at once.
(More rarely, there might be two lamp circuits in a room, with two switches controlling two groups of outlets. I think my parents’ formal living room might be like that, but we barely used it and I haven’t lived there for 20 years, so I can’t quite remember.)
and one of the two entrance doors would have to be chosen. You’d then have to walk to that door every time you wanted to turn something off.
Nah, that’s what three-way switches are for: you can have a switch at each entrance that controls the same group of outlets.
Having a switch next to the door would be useful if you’re using that socket for a lamp but not if you’re using them for anything else. In my kitchen the sockets for my under counter oven and fridge are under the counter and the switches are above it so I can easily access them.
Having a switch next to the door would be useful if you’re using that socket for a lamp
That is specifically what switched outlets in north America are intended to be used for.
So you don’t get confused which outlet the switch turns off.
Why can’t you just unplug it? If you have to go to the socket anyway… maybe I don’t understand because I’ve never lived with the convenience?
It’s easier to flip the switch to turn it back on than to fumble with the plug. You can get a variant without the switches if you don’t like, or simply leave the switch always on.
Depends on the device.
Something like a vacuum, sure. You’re probably going to move it around anyway.
But I used to have a Spectrum computer, and it had no power switch. If you plugged it in then it was just on. Much simpler to power off at the switch than unplug it and risk the plug falling down the back of the table into a rats nest of cables.
Plus I guess it’s one more step a toddler needs to do to electrocute themselves…
Even if you unplug it, the socket is still live at more than 200 V.
Maybe this was meant to be a joke, but that’s not how it works. If it were the switch would also not do anything, because what the switch does is exactly the same as unplugging the thing, i.e. cut a piece of the wire out.
Edit: unless you meant for safety reasons, in which case the shutter inside is a lot safer than the button.
A switch shuts the supply to the socket. Even after unplugging the socket does have electric supply, i.e. it is live. If any metallic object is inserted into the live socket it can give you a worse shock. Since the voltage supply in UK is 220V not 110V.
Shutter inside is much safer than button but is slightly costlier.
Lots of wall warts suck down 5w unused. I could see this being nice
“so many”?
isn’t it all of them?
No not all of them.
Source, I was born here.
i live in malta, we inherited your plugs and sockets. Never seen one without a switch over here. Til
All of them in the UK.
I like them, personally. You don’t have to use them but they are sometimes handy. I just spent 30 seconds feeling around a TV to turn it off only to discover it doesn’t have buttons. Killed it at the wall.
It’s not a deal breaker, in any case. The weird foreign convention I would like to shame is doors that require a key to open from the inside.
I usually see keyed from the inside locks when there is glass in/near the door to prevent someone from breaking the glass, reaching in and unlocking the door.
Can’t that be prevented by safety glass instead? Doors that need a key to open from the inside risk trapping people inside the building.
If a burger is gonna break the glass, a keyed lock isn’t going to deter them. Unless it’s like only a tiny glass window on the door.
If a burger is going to break the glass, it’s either really bad glass or a really bad burger.
I stand by what I said.
I just spent 30 seconds feeling around a TV to turn it off only to discover it doesn’t have buttons.
Ugh. That annoys the shit out of me. Our dog chewed up the TV remote when she was a puppy, but only got to the power button. But since the TV had no physical buttons, we couldn’t turn it on and off anymore until we got a new remote.
I have an old android phone I keep around because it has an IR LED on top and I loaded it with a few free universal remote apps. They all work offline and it’s come in handy so many times.
Some new models also still include ir blasters. Good stuff
The weird foreign convention I would like to shame is doors that require a key to open from the inside
You can’t lock yourself out with those
But you can lock yourself in. During a house fire.
You can lock yourself in with the other type too.
No you can’t. You can lock yourself out, but a typical residential house built to code in North America has a latch handle that always turns from the inside, even when locked, and usually unlocks by doing so to prevent accidental lock-outs. And likewise if the door has a deadbolt, it must have a deadbolt with a handle on the inside. Most other kinds of locks are also easily accessible and removed by hand from the inside. The point is that they can’t require a key from the inside, because if you can’t find the key then you are locked inside and in thick smoke and fire that the key may be impossible to reach. If any egress door requires a key to unlock from the inside it is considered a serious fire hazard and will never pass a code inspection. (Of course, foolish people can still add them later but you can’t prevent stupid and it’s still a fire hazard not to mention impractical)
These types of building code and fire code rules are typically written in blood. People have died because of this.
All house doors/egress doors in Brazil require keys to unlock. BUT (and it’s a big but) most houses here are made of bricks, with ceramic roofs.
It does make sense to have easy-to-escape houses when they are built of flammable materials with an accelerant for a roof.
You can burn to death, though.
As any cautious parent could tell you, these are helpful when the toddler starts sticking things in places where they don’t belong. Such as metal cutlery. In the power sockets.
Don’t toddlers start pressing buttons even earlier? Not sure this alone could protect them
True, but this is at least a little safer
The shutters inside the socket are more effective at preventing Anthony from being stuck in.
I think you meant to write “anything”, but I have to laugh anf think this could be another internet moment like what started “Karen” or “Chad” or “Stan”.
Er… I stand by what I said…
also small child/baby protection.
But who will protect the big babies?
Children love playing with the switch, so I’m not sure how that’s supposed to protect them.
How does the switch protect children?
if it is a small child it is assumed that the joint probability of both turning on the switch and inserting a fork through the holes is roughly the product of probabilities of each (therefore lower than each individually), i.e both events are independent.
Have you tried to stick anything metal into one of these plugs? It is fairly todler proof. I think a 7 year old has the dexterity to defeat it but certainly not a baby.
Manufacturers sell the wall sockets in both switched and unswitched versions so I would say the switch is just there for convenience of the user.
It seems that maybe in the 60s having a switch on the wall was very useful because most electrical devices would have been designed to be switched on or off from its mains power connection (like lamps, hairdryers, vacuum cleaners, electric whisk, etc). I assume the standard was to have a switch as this gave a little extra functionality. Today however many electrical devices have digital electronics that don’t expect to be power cycled and so a switch is not really a feature but an inconvenience (think smart bulb, or Apple TV).
Have you tried to stick anything metal into one of these plugs?
No, hold on a second, let me try and come back.
Joking aside, I agree something like what you explained was probably the original reason. But I have seen some parents praising the switch mechanism for this reason as well but perhaps because they are more used to old European type plugs which does not have the internal security feature of UK plugs
Agreed, most people I have asked also think the switch is an additional safety feature. I can see that it is helpful to isolate a device and so can make using all manner of devices safer, but it requires that you know what the switch does and when and why you would switch it so this kind of excludes babies and toddlers.
My wife is from North America and common knowledge there is that wall sockets are just incredibly dangerous at all times. The UK style plug is quite different.
when any electricity leaks out (for example through your body) it switches off. the eu also has the same system, but its one switch for your entire house. the us also has this but only in bathrooms.
These aren’t automatic switches, but other people explained the reasoning.
oh, according to electroboom they were gfci.
They’re connected to an RCD, as modern UK wiring has all sockets connected via an overall RCD in the fusebox, but the switches on the socket are just basic on/off switches.
GFCI circuits are required by code around sinks and the like. Bathrooms, kitchens, utility wet rooms, etc.
You can relatively easily install them anywhere you want though.
Great for turning off a device or several devices without having to unplug (e.g. if the sockets are behind a bookcase, this is much more convenient). Not a super common need but when it saves moving furniture it helps. Given that UK switches are tougher to plug in and unplug than most (due to safety features), I prefer using a switch. Also, the switches are cheap and give more options, so may as well!
I rely on one for a light where the switch broke and wasn’t easily replaceable, so being able to fall back on the mains switch meant I can keep using the light.
It’s not about having a switch it’s about having the switch right next to the plug instead of next to the doorway (where it usually is in the US)
You have a switch for your electrical sockets by your door? What a weird place to put them all.
We have our light switches by the door. Much more useful.
It’s common in the U.S., especially in apartments, to have rooms with no light fixtures. Instead, there will be one outlet that is wired to a switch by the door. That outlet is sometimes upside down to distinguish it from the other outlets. That gives you the option to connect a lamp to the switch to get the same result as having a light fixture. I would generally prefer that every room has a light fixture on the ceiling, but this is marginally better than having to walk across a dark room to turn on a lamp.
Huh, TIL.
Here in Australia every house I’ve been in that has an electrical connection has had a light of some form mounted on the ceiling of each room of the main structure.
It just shows how any assumptions we might make will be proved wrong at a global scale.
As I understand it (thanks technology connections), the sockets linked to light switches are made that way in case you want to have like a floor or desk lamp and turn it on when you enter the room
I mean there can be either outlets or light fixtures connected to them, generally the switched outlets have lamps plugged in though.
And we have that too.
We are talking about standard sockets, they all have off switches on the socket.
I like the integration of the switch, should be standard. I use many switch plug-ins just to avoid stand-by consumption (it really adds up over the year) and to avoid high pitch humming on some devices.
YSK: there’s also remote controls for these switches, very handy
I’m not an electrician, but wouldn’t remote control imply that something still remains on standby? So that it can receive a wake-up signal, if nothing else.
Indeed so but the power draw is very miniscule.
