iaink

That makes sense. FWIW some marettes are rated up to 600V anyway. D'Oh

Are you seriously telling me nobody splices lines in UK houses to add extra outlets etc...they just use terminal blocks or junction boxes instead or something dont they?



Surely in any electrical wiring situation you run the risk of having two wires, one potentially live in your hand dont you...thats how electricity works. Thats why you turn off the curcuit at the main box if at all possible before starting.


Im still waiting for someone to demonstrate that there are actually more electrical mishaps in Canada that the UK.

PeterF

Not true.

Possibly true for twin and earth type cables, but twin and earth is not the only choice.

PeterF

If you have the cables in a terminal strip, you can disconnect just one and pull it out, leaving the other in the terminal. You can let the terminated one go to test the 'loose' one in your hand to see if its the dead one.

You should turn of, especially if your not an electrician, but sometimes you may not want to kill the whole circuit.

With a wire nut, you have to unscrew it then untangle two wires, one or both potentially live, then find some way to safely drop one to test the other.

PeterF

Shouldn't really do that, although I have seen it done, its not nice,

The correct way is to find the nearest socket (or light fitting if your adding a light) and supply from there.

If there isn't one or its already got a spur wired in and its a bit full, then you can cut a cable and install a terminal box, a bit bulky that's all.

iaink

Thanks Peter, good points I guess.

Is there any evidence anywhere that there are more electrocutions or electrical house fires in Canada as a result of the differences? It seems the dangers such as they are are to DIYers who dont cut the power, rather than the regular guy going about his day in a regular house. DIYers who dont cut the power get what they deserve...its a form of natural selection I guess.

MikeUK

Well my recent experience is the Central air isolation switch catching fire, the metal link between the switch and terminal block was not a good fit and from what I can work out had come loose (possibly due to vibration form the compressor?? but not sure as its wall mounted) an arc must have started, when I dismantled the unit the whole metal connector had melted due to the arc and partially combusted the surrounding bakelite, I though it unusual until I went to buy a replacement, only to find that these $15 units are prone to some kind of failure
I never saw anything like this in all my experience in the UK

The wiring in my house (about 6 years old) would fail inspection in the UK, and will never believe its safe to have an electrical outlet within 30cm of a sink even if its does have a breaker in circuit

iaink

And yet you dont seem to hear about bathroom electrocutions.

I cant find any stats to make me think canadian standards are putting anyone at risk. Is there a lot of central air installed in the UK?

Souvenir

If you do, it'll be my bathroom.

PeterF

I just can't find any stats

PeterF

Central heating is more common in the UK, heated water pumped through the house via radiators.

PeterF

I sometimes feel I've gone through a time warp, it seems very much of a 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' society. I often see things that are just very old fashioned in design.

Even my wife has noticed things and that's saying something.

iaink

Like you say....


Maybe it aint broke, so why would you fix it?

PeterF

We have people around here who do that to the extreme, mennonites their called

There's always room for improvement, further development or added features.

Souvenir

Shit. My missus is posting on here.

scimdarren

I totally agree, when I was an Electrician in the UK, a machine arrived from the states and we removed all the wire nuts (we thought someone twisted the wires with felt tip pen tops)!
Now in Canada, I use them all the time, they are awkward for testing purposes but they are 'quick' thats about the only advantage.

Darren
Electrician
Royal Canadian Mint