Chris_UK2WI

This thread isn't as controversial as the title suggests... nothing to do with life support!

I pulled the plug out of the window fan without turning it off at the switch and Mrs Chris went mad at me... now I know not to just pull the plug on stuff like computers or the tv but just a fan?

So, would it explode or something? Is it something to do with US electrics?

Or have I always been risking my life every time I absent mindedly switch off the fan?

Octang Frye

Of course, I'm no export, but it seems to me that electrical wiring here is a bit flaky. I've lost count of the number of flashes I've seen when pulling plugs out of the wall.

chartreuse

Perhaps it's because plugs in the US are deadly pieces of crap and you'd be much more likely to touch a pin while it was live, thus electrocuting yourself, than you would with a proper, British, plug, designed the way Jesus* intended.


* Who was a Geordie, incidentally.

fatbrit

Americans are brought up to be scared of everything. I just pull the plug -- and have lived to tell the tale. Tell her not to be such a wuss.

Jerseygirl

I sometimes bypass the plug pulling and just tug the cable.

penguinsix

It can spark when yanked out but more likely is the possibility you'll bend the prongs (which is easy to do) or snap the wire. They're both a bit flimsy. Take a look at an 'older' appliance in your house that has been plugged in and removed many times and chances are the prongs are actually bent a bit.

Jerseygirl

It does spark and the prongs do bend...I just bend them back again.

SDDep

bloody hell...if he was a geordie everything would be backwards...case in point, the footie team...:

Q What have a 3 pin plug and Newcastle United got in common.
A Their both completely useless in Europe.

tee hee

SDDep

I'm sure there are upsides and downsides to both...however, i will say this, at least here we have outlets in the bathrooms...and the light switches...tell me that aint convenient...

Its a wonderful thing having GFCI circuits...will the old country ever catch on to that...

meauxna

This is another one of those "do you put oil in the pasta water" threads, isn't it.

It's just the way things ARE.
If Mrs Chris said not to, it's simple. DON'T DO IT.

chartreuse

The latest version of the building regs (before we left the UK) permitted socket in bathrooms, if protected by an RCD (something the UK has had for years and which the Yanks, for some reason, call GFCI). IIRC, it also eliminated split load consumer units, but that's another story...

Rete

Then that opinion has to apply to Canadians as well. I also yank the plug out of the socket rather than shutting off the machine and Canadian DH screams like a wash woman.

Englishtart

traceym

Cant say I've ever noticed a switch, I've no time for such trivial time consuming things! Anyway I'm with Jerseygirl as far down the cable as possible, keeps me away from the sparks

SDDep

Okey doke Smarty...GFCI means Ground Fault Circuit interrupter, what does RCD mean? (I'm too lazy to google it And if they had it for years how come most houses there don't have it?

I do admire your use of Acronyms though...very useful for dumbfounding the enemy...

Besides all this banter...short of an electrical fire, whats the need to pull all the plugs out anyway?