andrew63

Well, I got a friend of mine in Australia to send over 20 plugs to me in old Blighty where I changed them myself (or got my sparky brother to change them) that way they were done before I got into Australia as I thought customs would check this on entry of my container. Customs never questionned me about the electrical goods I imported so my point is proven. After all, wouldn't customs place a "changing plugs by yourself is illegal - you must appoint a certified electrician to do this" on all imported goods with non-Australian plugs?

PS: The law here is changing and plugs will soon no longer be allowed in bathrooms and will need to be at least 2 metres away from sinks and other water sources in other rooms. New house builds may well already be doing this.
Whilst Australia has strange extremes, UK is the opposite - you can totally rewire your house if you want to with absolutely no training at all. Again, this is changing in the UK and starting with commercial premises, all electrical wiring work must be carried out by a certified electrician coming soon!

Andrew

Pickle

oh so rite.........i can't believe they put electrical sockets within easy reach of water, its just asking for trouble.
its murder trying to tell my partner not to sit in the bath playing the playstation.

Rachel1978

And the light switches in the bathrooms arn't pull cord ones, just regular switches, also for the extractor fan, so easy to go to turn the fan off when you get out of the shower with wet hands, have forgotten and done it a couple of time now :scared:

ABCDiamond

WA, where you are, is different. You ARE allowed to change your plugs over there, it's just the rest of the States that aren't

All houses are supposed to have to have a Safety Switch, (at least in QLD) so if you jump in the bath, with the TV aswell, you will trigger the auto cut off, and just disconnect the power, rather than damaging the TV with a power surge. (and of course yourself )

Amazulu

It's an RCD or earth leakage as it's called in South Africa. Most countries require it's use now, although loads of older houses in the UK don't have it. Light switched in the bathroom are fine. This idea that you can get a shock if you touch them with wet hands goes back to the days when switches were made of brass & were badly insulated. Modern switches are so well insulated that you would basically have to spray it with a hosepipe to get it to short out. Again I have no problems with plugs next to the sink for the same reason, In fact it's quite handy to charge up the Braun toothbrush.

rossifumi

Don't the sparkies put a tag on the plug?

gedge

Don't be so silly, you've got to get a certified plug tagger to do that

rossifumi

Mate sorry, I should have known that.

diddy

I knew about the plugs, but a light bulb - that's a joke right?

ABCDiamond

Yes, of course it is.......... I think ........... isn't it ?

Just off to google....................

cam_uk

well the guy in bunnings said that we were not supposed to even change a lightbulb ... but i'm not sure how serious he was being ...

Gill C

We have changed all our plugs but my son in law got a friendly electrician to tag them. Thats how they know if you have changed them yourself, if equipment caused a fire and the plug is not tagged them they could argue that it was the plug that caused the problem and not the equipment.This would invalidate any household insurance. Is it worth the risk

Gill C

Just for your info YES leccies do have to tag the plug.

gedge

nah that doesn't sound right at all

he might of said you weren't allowed to change a light globe

gedge

you're a veritable mine of information
can you tell me why when I buy a kettle the plug doesn't have a tag on it?
also I'm interested to know how the insurance company would know that the plug on that kettle isn't the original one and that I'd naughtily changed it?