Colour code for 3-wire room stat?

[Tim S]

Dave Plowman (News) coughed up some electrons that declared:

Exactly Dave - they should have left the whole installation side alone and lead red/black as the single phase scheme. It would probably have been betetr for everyone if the appliance flexes had been left alone, but I've already said that I can see the point of a world standard for those - pity it wasn't our standard.

But houses don't get ebay'ed across borders, so I see no need whatsoever for this level of harmonisation.

Cheers

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

There certainly was a need for a change in flex colours - as something like 30% of the adult male population with blue eyes is red/green colour blind. And mistaking those was the most dangerous situation. Hence the green/yellow stripe - even a dog could tell that one apart. ;-)

And having standardised on one set of colours for flex- why have different ones for rigid wiring? Makes no sense at all.

[ARWadsworth]

Apart from a couple of customers who actually have used brown for earth most people would not have a problem.

But "Magnolia for neutral". LMFAO.

Adam

[Rod]

But isn't Earth the Blue Planet?

[David Hansen]

On Thu, 28 May 2009 20:17:16 +0100 someone who may be Tim S wrote this:-

Anybody who is able to cope properly with three phase wiring is unlikely to be bothered. The new colours seemed strange to me at first, but they soon became natural. I can cope with both sets of colours without thinking now and I don't do wiring every day. If the IET have made a mistake then there should already be an observable effect. AFAIK there has not been one.

I suggest that the changes to DC wiring colours are a little more difficult to get to grips with.

[Dave]

Your sig was very apt on this subject :-)

*Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. ie, the EU

Dave

[David Hansen]

On Thu, 28 May 2009 19:35:55 +0100 someone who may be Tim S wrote this:-

Did anyone claim anything of the sort?

I hope you are not thinking of Frank's "EU". Personally I think they should have done it a long time ago, but the delay did at least allow grey to emerge as a colour. Had they done it earlier we might have ended up with brown everywhere.

I have had no trouble. If I did I would shine some light on it. I'm not convinced about RYB being clearer in the same lighting conditions, I suspect familiarity is at work.

[Dave]

Oi, I am slightly red/green colour blind and I have never wired a plug up wrong. :-)

I have seen someone who was totally colour blind, paint parts of an aircraft that were green and brown and get them back to front.

That also puzzles me. Thank Gawd I have lots of cable with the old colours left.

Dave

[John Rumm]

I do try, my failing was to assume your argument was logical - I thought we were talking about brown, not blue ;-)

[John Rumm]

There has been a rise in fatalities from fixed wiring recently, although I expect most of these have been caused by part P - three phase does not feature often enough in domestic work to figure.

[Bob Eager]

My wife said that brown was obviously earth, because brown is the colour of earth.

Then she remembered she was using the wrong aide-memoire - brown is line, because that's the crispy colour you turn if you get it wrong.

Personally, I prefer brown as the colour your trousers should be in case you get it wrong...

[David Hansen]

On Thu, 28 May 2009 20:56:14 +0100 someone who may be Dave wrote this:-

True.

Not in the case of wiring colours in the UK.