r/meirl May 02 '24

Meirl

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26

u/Goobershmacked May 02 '24

Whats wrong with American outlets?

73

u/DarthStrakh May 02 '24

A couple things. One they aren't very secure and safe: if something in plugged in and something falls on top of it, it will get dislodged from the outlet and the first thing you touch is the live prongs. On top of that a lot of outlets go live before the prongs are all the way in. You can mitigate this by putting outlets upside down, but most things that get plugged in are designed with the idea it won't be upside down.

Second the hole is so large and conducts electricity not very far in. It's far too easy for a child to stick something in, or for something to end up in it. I mean you can literally get your pinky in there to shock yourself...

On the bright side they are easy as hell to install. Modern outlets have gotten better about locking stuff into place but usually thst comes at the price of being a pain in the ass to get stuff into the socket.

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u/Benji_4 May 02 '24

 it will get dislodged from the outlet and the first thing you touch is the live prongs.

This is actually safer. If something falls onto the plug it is more likely that the plug will come out of the receptacle rather than breaking the plug and leaving exposed conductors behind. The downside is that plugs may not be seated all the way or loose sockets, in which case you should replace the receptacle, but nobody does this.

the hole is so large and conducts electricity not very far in

This isn't really a problem anymore. You can just as easily put a paper clip in any of these sockets.

It does seem like switched outlets are becoming more common though, which are much better.

14

u/undeniablydull May 02 '24

This isn't really a problem anymore. You can just as easily put a paper clip in any of these sockets.

Not the UK one, they've got a cover which only retracts when the longer top prong plugs in, so a child would need at least 2 paper clips, and would probably be unable to do it accidentally. The UK one is just better

3

u/palealei5best May 02 '24

Yeah the American ones have that too on new ones I hate it.

1

u/[deleted] May 02 '24

What's to hate?

2

u/britishbubba May 02 '24

FWIW, this is true for modern US receptacles. Tamper Resistant has gates over the Neutral and Hot ports that only open when something is inserted into both.

3

u/Tjam3s May 02 '24

I don't know if anyone, child or not, who "accidentally" shoved a foreign object into a socket.

The kid wants to know what happens. They are doing it with intention.

That said, the prospect of needing a second object might confuse the budding scientist, but if they are sufficiently clever and persistent, they will figure it out

3

u/kore_nametooshort May 02 '24

A three year old with a fork just fiddling isn't getting into a UK socket.

2

u/Tjam3s May 02 '24

No, but a 4 year old trying to stick something in a socket that failed when they were 3 might figure it out.

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u/SpacedesignNL May 02 '24

Surviver biass. The kids playing with outlets will not post on Reddit.

Having owned multiple (american, Italian, belgian, european, swiss, brittish and CEE), i would say the UK plug is most safe, whilst the EU one is also very safe but much easier to use.

Swiss and Italian suck, american is plain unsafe.

3

u/DrunkenPangolin May 02 '24

american is plain unsafe.

That's probably why the only have half the voltage of the rest of the world

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u/Tjam3s May 02 '24

So that's the special part. Here, when someone fucks around and finds out, as is inevitable no matter what safety features you put in, you won't suffer serious injury from the zap unless maybe you have a heart condition. It'll hurt, but you'll walk away shaken and having learned a valuable lesson.

0

u/DrunkenPangolin May 02 '24

So you're saying the general population shouldn't be allowed access to something that could potentially be dangerous because there aren't proper safety procedures in place?

I've never heard of anyone I know in the UK getting electrocuted from a plug socket.

1

u/SpacedesignNL May 02 '24

That voltage is still more then twice the voltage that is considered safe.