2-Gang 13 amp RCD Socket

[stoner]

Thinking of buying MK K6231WHI 2-Gang 13 amp RCD Socket 30 mA Active

But seems steep price (about 60 quid) : there are others available at much less.

Is it worth paying the extra?

[Graham.]

I'd look for something cheaper.

If there's another RCD upstream, expect that to trip as well.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Never been quite sure why people seem willing to pay a premium for the MK name. It's not as though they are the best looking on the market.

If it has to match the looks of others in the room, may be worth it for that alone.

[charles]

It also used to have the best contact with the pins of the 13A plug, minimising heat damage. No idea if that's true nowadays.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've never been a fan of MK dating back to the days when I did lots of house re-wiring. About 40 years ago. I far preferred Crabtree then. Looked better too.

Can't remember last time I saw a burnt out socket. Adam would probably be the most up to date now?

[Graham.]

This house was rewired in about 1975 with all MK two-gang sockets. I have never had a problem with any of them.

Do MK still use their novel shuttering system, or have they dropped it?

[DerbyBorn]

Probably less 3kW Electic Heaters in use nowadays!

[ARW]

I come along of heat damaged (often cracked but still working) but not a lot of burnt out sockets.

As you would expect they are nearly always in kitchens and far more common in pub kitchens, cafes and sandwich shop type places.

I do of course still see them in domestic properties from time to time and they are usually burnt out for the obvious reasons - supplying a high continuous load such as an electric heater, the age of the socket (they are often the original ones from when the house was built in the

60's) along with the owners carrying on using the socket when there are signs of damage.

Fortunately business owners and staff are a little more clued up on H&S these days and do report things such as cracked sockets more often than homeowners who have just watched Rougue Traders and are shit scared of having an electrician (or indeed a handyman for such a small job) in to do a basic £20 job (probably a little more on Oxford Street).

[tabbypurr]

+1, Ashley & Crabtree. MK have suffered cable cutting cordgrips & plug pins that melt. And the current MK stuff looks lousy imho, unlike the previous generation.

Ashley had a different type of safety socket, it switched off if the plug was 3mm out, but it never caught on. Legislation picked the sleeved pin approach MK used.

MK stands for multy-kontact, a safety feature of its 1920s sockets. All modern sockets are multi-contact.

4 way leads still burn out.

NT