Semi OT: Plug Versus Plug

[lazlo]

I stumbled across this hilarious comparison of the world's power sockets, from CNet UK.

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39...9303764,00.htm

To give you a idea of the British humor involved:

The Europlug

Your bananas will be this shape, your cucumbers must be this long, your pints need to be litres and if you sell a pound of plums we'll come and rip your plums off. That's right, Europe is the place to go if you want to pass a law of some kind that annoys at least one of the constituent members. Generally it's either working-class British people getting in a flap about pints, or the French getting cross about some cheese legislation. When it comes to a new kind of plug though, we support such outrage because look at the bloody mess that is the Europlug.

Australia

Like so much of Australian culture, Aussie plugs take their cues from both the Great British plug socket and that useless slacker, the American power outlet. You can see the confusion in Australia over the origin of its culture. On the one hand they drive cars that are largely American in their hoggish sensibilities. On the other, they drive on the left and have a legal system based on English common law. They also make use of our Queen.

But because the men and women of Australia are real men and women, they also have 240V mains supplies. They need this to power their sheep-shearing equipment, so it's hardly a surprise they didn't consider that laughable 110V system of our friends in the US.

[Spin Doctor]

Three words that do not go together. British, Electrical, and System. Face it no countries electrical system is perfect

[MrSleepy]

Three words that do not go together. British, Electrical, and System.

Yer..your quite right...we even had a power cut in the 1980's round our way..nocked out the betamax...be okay since though..

Rob

[rantbot]

I'm starting to suspect that it's not common knowledge amongst the intelligentsia of Europe that here in the US of A we have perfectly good 240V outlets in every hovel and home. That, and nice big 30 and 50 amp-carrying wires. The weenie 120V 15 amp outlets are for the little stuff - toys for the kids, Gran's Nintendo, fluffy trivia like that.

[pgmrdan]

Except for the clothes dryer and the electric stove, which were on 220v circuits, all of the outlets in my previous house were on 110v 15amp circuits except the refrigerator which was on a 20 amp circuit. I couldn't do much of anything in that house without running a very heavy duty extension cord from the kitchen on the main floor by the refrigerator to the garage or the basement or the deck to run my little 25 gallon compressor or my little table saw.

In our current house all of the 110v outlets are on 20amp circuits, everywhere!!! I'm in heaven.

[boslab]

you might not have noticed but...we can only pull 60a through the meter in the UK, thats our main fuse size [domestic], but to be honest we couldent afford to electricute ourselves anyway with the price of electricity over here [or any other fuel for that matter] chose to do yourself in with electricity an you get a mild shock [big one when the bill arrives]
we cant gas ourselves anymore [natural gas]
an a hose of the exhaust will be stolen and used to syphon your tank after you pass out.
diesel dosent work too well
i still see ****loads of different plugs in work, round swiss US 110 aussi and solid 0 BA fuses from time to time [1/4 brass stud/tinfoil/nails]
mark

[lazlo]

I should have pointed out in my initial post: it's very light on technical content, but makes up for it with loads of Monty Python humor

[Fasttrack]

I enjoyed it.

"The USA
Let's come right out and say it. The American plug is a weedy little implement. That's hardly surprising though, because their mains voltage is also half-arsed. Seriously, 110V, is that the best you guys can do? We aren't sure why the Americans think a 5-litre V8 engine is necessary in a commuter car, but 110V is enough to power your juicer. Surely they should have gone for 500V? Or even a trillion?

The Americans never really wanted AC power at all. When he wasn't busy killing elephants, Thomas Edison was leading a smear campaign against AC, telling people it would kill their children. Something about dead children got into the consciousness of an otherwise great nation, and they ended up with weedy mains power and pathetic little plug sockets.

And that has left the US with a plug and socket system that makes Chuck Norris weep. Plugs that hang out of the wall. Pins that are so easily bent you could write off a cable just by looking at it in the wrong way. How anyone ever gets their Apple laptop to fully charge without the adaptor falling out of the wall is beyond us. We're not sure why the company bothered inventing Magsafe -- surely if anyone in the US trips over a power cable, it flies out of the wall so fast no laptop could ever be pulled to the ground.

Sadly, the absolute best thing you can say about US mains sockets is that they look like happy little faces." ~ Ian Morris

[Frank Ford]

And, of course there is that classic old nyuk:

Why do the British drink warm beer?

They have Lucas refrigerators.

But, it appears they have good plugs. . .

[Bguns]

My house came wired with 220 in every room..

Electric baseboard heat in Alaska??? Yes... ever used?? No....too $$$$$$$

Our 110v plugs are terrible. But we have Hospital Grade Twistlocks, and ones that look like the Brits too...

I remember blowing up a paperclip somewhere around 4 years old ...

When stationed in Germany, the 220 plugs used there seemed OK, tho a bit bulky...

Some of my OLD radios had a fused plug, as well as christmas lights...

I have a 220 30 amp circut going to front bedroom (for Amplifiers........Ham Radio type ) and 50 amp 220 going to shop. A 200 amp House service... No Air Conditioning either ...

Could run another 50 to shop if needed


EDIT:
All the houses in my neighborhood, that were built around the same time, have the 200 amp services.. Nothing unusual or competitive...

(evidently the electric co, offered special rates for electric heat, which did not last long...)