chartreuse

Well, you started it with GFCI, so you're on shaky ground criticising my RCD (Residual Current Device).

Most houses in the UK that don't have shitty wiring do have them - the reason you haven't seen them is that they're typically located in the main Consumer Unit (fuse box to you) either as standalone RCDs or as RCBOs (Residual Current Breaker with Overload - an RCD combined with an MCB - Miniature Circuit Breaker).

In contrast, in the US they're typically incorporated into the socket, because the electricity supply is shit and the frequent wild fluctuations cause too many false trips if they're in the CU.

One good reason to pull out the plugs, here, is the prevalence of unswitched sockets. Or outlets, as they call them.

cindyabs

My mother runs around unplugging everything everytime there's a bad electrical storm.

SDDep

Hehe kudos to you chartreuse for explaining that ))...it makes sense now, mum has a newish house without the RCD thingies...and i remember her telling me the wiring was shitty (she obviously didnt say shitty.

In the US they are tripped at the outlet, and then at the breaker panel itself..

And of course if one outlet in the GFCI circuit trips, so do the rest in the same circuit, bathrooms, garages (some) and kitchens (except for the fridge etc).

I wont agree on the electricity supply being shit though, I've never had a problem in sunny CA, except when some drunk idiot hits a power pole and blacks out ten blocks...

One request, next time please use even more acronyms and dont explain any of em...make me work to understand it...especially early in the morning...it helps my brain to get going...until then TTFN...TGIF (really and have a nice day..

Jerseygirl

You mean to say when you turn the Hoover on your lights don't dim?

SDDep

Funny you say that, I do vacuum, and Iron..And if the lights dim, that simply means the circuit is overloaded...i.e. Too much crap plugged in...

Residential circuits, specifically outlet circuits, are usually only 15 amps, thats the total for all the outlets added together on that particular circuit..

Thats why I try and do the vacuuming in the morning...so if the lights are gonna dim, they arent on anyway...)

chartreuse

Just you wait until the height of summer, when everybody has their AC on full blast. What's the acronym for "Rolling Blackouts"?

Jerseygirl

That reminds me of last week's Criminal Minds episode. I don't know why but I thought that episode was particularly scary.

chartreuse

That was what reminded me of it. I remember thinking at the time, OK, rolling blackouts the first year - fair enough, you didn't expect the demand. But every year?

SDDep

Where I live, we barricade the streets and put SDG&E under siege..holding them all hostage so they can't shut the power off...no rolling blackouts yet...

And being environmentally conscious, I avoid using the AC and try to just use the ceiling fans...pity everyone else isnt so considerate..

Englishtart

Carzy person!

Ridski

In the carzy, I tend to use the extractor fan, or just open a window.

Sally Redux

and we have a fair number of power cuts.

Bob

Blimey

How long you lived here?

I've never experienced so many brown outs and black outs in my life since living here and it's so much worse here in Mass than it was in Maine.

Kettle on and the lights dim, the AC causes the lights to dim...you can't even fart without the lights dimming or a fuse being tripped either at the plug or the fusebox

I'm not to bothered about pulling plugs, but as there isn't a switch on the plug, it's a good idea to unplug some things, mostly chargers that get plugged in because they're wasting power.

tonrob

Leslie

That's what I want to know. Bunch of plug-pulling-out turning-things-off-and-on freaks of nature.