You've never seen a toaster with a two prong cord? That's all they come with. Toasters don't require, or come with, a three prong plug because they're double insulated. Oh and it's impossible to get electrocuted by putting a mental object in the toaster( ie: metal fork). A little education goes a long way in today's world.
Toasters are expected to be plugged into a GFCI "small appliance circuit". There is a great amount of safety because of that.
I guess that's how it's impossible to get electrocuted by sticking a metal fork in it, because otherwise seems it would be pretty easy....
Mayhaps now, but certainly not for most of the time the electric toaster has been in existence...that's a quite recent phenomenon. There's not a GFCI anywhere in sight in this '80s remodeled 100+ yr old farmhouse with a mid-70s era toaster.
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I bet that over half the houses in the US do not have a GFCI in the kitchen.
The first apartment and the first house I lived in (not counting the one I grew up in) only had fuses in it, no breakers at all.
My current house that was built around 1980 only has the GFCI on the bathroom and outside sockets.
As another pointed out, toasters have been around many years before a gfci was even heard of, probably many years before even breakers were used in homes.
I suppose there are plenty of cars without seat belts and they sell the shit out of cigarettes so it is clear that people don't want to live forever. GFCIs have been in the code since 75 or so tho. All that being said you don't really see the pile of bodies you should expect from 120 years or so of toasters so I guess they aren't that unsafe.
If NOT plugged into a GFCI you CAN get an awfull nasty shock if you stick a knife into a toaster when thebasket is down (toaster on) They have a POLARIZED plug co the case side is ALWAYS at ground potential if plugged into a "properly wired" outlet.
snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote
No it not if you hold say an earthed metal water pipe with the other hand.
You clearly didn’t get enough.
You're saying the case is wired to the neutral? That seems very dangerous because with a two prong plug if you plug it in backwards, now the case is hot without any fault in the toaster.
You'll have to work at plugging a 2 prong plug in backward. The prongs are 2 different widths, so the plug will only go in one way.
Bill
You really believe all outlets are properly wired, eh?
Actually, I don't think this one even has a polarized plug...I'll have to look later; maybe it was replaced once without. But, I've never gotten 'bit' by the case and pay no attention when plugging in -- as another said, I presume they're built as "double insulated".
Was a fad in hand power tools of that back in 60s-70s when hand drills, etc., etc., came w/ unpolarized two-prong plugs. Still have a couple of those from the era when JC Penney still had hardware and SWMBO was working there while we were still in uni so could get a deal. Old Mr Penney was still around then and pay envelope every week was made up of two-dollar bills and change; no checks JC!!! Still no credit cards at JC Penney, either, as long as he was around...
Well, if you're going to tie the case to neutral, then I'd say the plug and receptacle system needs to be far more robust to make it virtually impossible to plug in backwards or you're creating a bigger danger than you are solving. I say it's BS, that Clare is likely wrong, that toasters and similar do not have their cases wired to neutral.
Many years ago, say around 1940, some radios with metal cases came with the case hooked to one side of the AC line. Later the so called 'All American 5' radios had the chassis connected to one side of the AD line,but were in plastic cases and everything external was plastic like the tuning and volume controls.
The plugs were made so you should not be able to plug them in wrong, but the house could be wired incorrectly.
They are double insulated, neither circuit conductor connects to the case. In fact U/L will not list anything that uses the neutral as an equipment ground. I understand "Hot Chassis" was common in old electronics in the 50s and before but that was made that unacceptable in the 60s.
How something qualifies as double insulated when you can very easily stick a fork in it and touch the live heater wire, IDK. And not only that, but unlike say an electric drill, with a toaster there is a powerful motivation to do so, ie the toast is stuck in there.
I just checked the old Sears toaster here that has a metal case. I read 6 volts between the case and the neutral, so obviously that case isn't connected to neutral. So, with that and your UL observation, looks like I was right. Given all the fuss with dryers and using the neutral as ground, didn't seem likely that toasters would be doing that.
Good way to clean the gene pool.
Electrocute those too stupid to do it right or too cheap to have it done right?
Most are - BUT - SOME are not - and they have polarized plugs. I would say a pretty good proportion inuse in N America have polarized plugs and are NOT double insulated.
On SOME the switch is DPST - disconnecting both power and ground/neutral when shut off
Many tools are STILL double insulated and non polarized
OK - mabee not "connected to" ground - but built in such a way that the neutral is the only conductor that COULD connect direct to the case in case of a normal failure
On 8/5/2019 8:08 AM, Bill Gill wrote: ...
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That's also a (relatively) recent evolution in the history of the electric toaster...
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