How's this for DIY special?

[Clive Dive]

Went to a job and needed to plug drill in [pre cordless days]. The owner told me there was a spare way on a 4 gang extension lead in the kitchen [alarm bells on standby]. True enough, 1 spare way, indicator light on and washing machine chunnering away. NO LEAD CONNECTING 4 GANG TO ANY WALL SOCKET!!! ALARM BELLS RING F.LOUDLY. I traced each wire back to its respective appliance...guess what? The little tinker had made up a flex with a plug top at each end and plugged one into a wall socket and the other INTO the 4 gang...NICE!!

Told me that this was what he always did as he did not want to invalidate any warranty by opening the 4 gang!!!!!!!! TO55ER! He nearly invalidated me!

Thought I'd share that with you.

Oh! I cut the lead into 2" pieces in front of him and smashed the plug tops with a big hammer, and sent an invoice for my wasted time.

Why not make it a requirement that some form of qualification is shown before materials can be purchased? In its simplest form there is more than one way to wire a plug top...but how many of these are correct?

[Harry Bloomfield]

on 24/10/2005, Clive Dive supposed :

The plug at each end trick is a regular '....why can't I' when it comes to powering a house load from a small generator during mains supply power cuts.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

What the hell is a plug top and spare way on a 4 gang extension lead?

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Oh, by the way are you not a tosser for not having your own extension leads?

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[dave]

afaik a "plug top" is the correct term for what is commonly known as "a plug" (usually a (2/5/13A fused plug). 4 gang extension lead is simply an extension lead with 4 x (13A) socket outlets on the end! (y/n)?

[Mr Fizzion]

I think you must be making this up! Neither wikipedia nor any of the online dictionaries know the term. "Plug top"...so what happened to the rest of the plug?

I have never heard anyone use the term "spare way", though I have to admit it's quite common to say "4 way extenstion lead". "Spare socket" is what "normal" people say... :-)))

Mr F.

[Bob Mannix]

The use of "plug top" rather than plug is rather confined to those who see themselves as the last defenders of standards in English/Engineering who fly in the face of reality and common usage (but is not made up). They will now emerge from the woodwork again (no doubt :o) ). "Spare way", on the other hand, is quite common as a term, if not as common, in these circumstances, as "spare socket".

[Autolycus]

Shaking off the odd bits of frass, I would defend the use of both terms as being common and acceptable usage.

What I would not defend are the rude, aggressive, and frequently barely-literate postings appearing under the quasi-humorous allusion to a certain fair city in the Midlands.

[Andy Wade]

OTOH if you type "plug top" into Google (as a delimited string) you get

58,300 hits.

FAOD it refers to the whole plug. English is often like that: illogical.

I'd suggest it's the other way round. "Plug top" is a rather quaint old-fashioned expression, mostly used by old-school electricians and vendors. BS 7671 doesn't use it, referring merely to "plugs and socket-outlets" - but I have seen it used in less formal IEE publications sometimes (/Wiring Matters/, perhaps).

Too obvious to be worthy of discussion, surely?

[s--p--o--n--i--x]

A search on google UK brings up almost 44,000 references for "plug top".

sponix

[mrcheerful]

My garage was powered like this when I moved in, only the 'sockets' were a three way adapter with its live pins into a block of wood!!!

I agree it is dangerous, but you are lucky he didn't cut YOU into 2 inch pieces, after using a large hammer on you, I know of people that would, with less provocation.

mrcheerful

[Bob Mannix]

Er re-read? - That's what I said! "The use of plug-top [...] is rather confined to those who..."

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I have never heard anyone use the term "spare way", though I have to

It's in common use too.

[Doctor Drivel]

English/Engineering

A plug top is the lid on top of the plug.

[Mr Fizzion]

In that case one would expect to find it in the Oxford English Dictionary. I have just looked in my "4 inch thick" OED and it's not there.

[Mr Fizzion]

Hmm, looking at some of the hits on google, it would seem "plug top" is used only to refer to mains plugs. So a jack plug is not called a plug top. Would you say this is correct?

[Christian McArdle]

They are technical terms that would be understood by any electrician or person competent in electrical works. As this is a technical newsgroups, their use is perfectly acceptable.

Christian.

[Mr Fizzion]

Hey I spent 3 years doing an electrical engineering degree and I never heard the term "plug top". Then again such things were considered too mundane to be even mentioned in lectures, vector calculus and the how to design an algol compiler being preferred subject matter! :-)

Mr F.

[Roger R]

I'm still confused about this 4 way extension and the guarantee. Was the flex on the 4 way too short, so the made up 'plug at each end' flex was appropriately longer? What then was done with the trailing short extension on the 4 way?

Is it because more recent 4 way trailing extensions are totally sealed, rather than having a cover plate on the end for replacing the flex? If so the problem may lie with the manufacturers who thought sealed units were safer as well as being more profitable on the basis that another would be bought when an existing one was found too short. Perhaps they underestimated the effort some consumers are prepared to go to adapting what they have rather than buy another.

Roger

[Christian McArdle]

Most electrical engineering degrees do not touch upon domestic electrical installations. Mine certainly didn't.

Christian.