The campain against the use of child proof socket covers is wriggling more than dennis.
Liam Boyle (ISTR it was Owain gave us all the details of the death at the time and inquest)
"The lead with moulded plug attached had been removed from an appliance that was being installed by a handyman, instead of removing the fuse and ensuring that the lead was safely disposed of the lead was left lying where Liam could find it."
That does sound careless. If I dump an electrical appliance I always break the live pin off the plug.
insulated. When did that come in?
1947 ... i.e. it came in from the start when all pins were solid brass and it never changed, it was only later that shrouding came in for the L and N pins, alternatively an all plastic earth pin (insulated shutter opening device for the pedants) can be used where the appliance doesn't require earthing.
In fact if you see a plug with a partially insulated earth pin, then its a guarantee that its non BS compliant, and probably dodgy in all sorts of ways. (plenty on ebay for example)
I posted about this a while back. I was fairly neutral about Fatally Flawed until then. We now have a couple of deaths which could have been avoided by the use of dummy plugs, and not even a single injury caused by their use.
So I now think Fatally Flawed is basically a bunch of misguided time wasters. If they want to do something useful, they could try and get the dummy plugs included in BS1363.
Thing is, if dummy plugs were covered by BS1363 it would remove the point for them, eg: must be removable from socket without tools by grasping sides of body.
On second thoughts, yes, get them covered by BS1363.
JGH
I am not convinced that the plugs would necessarily have helped anyway. I have seen so many removed by kids without any difficulty[1] - plus the "fuss" created by their parents insisting on using the protectors only seems to draw their kids attention to the socket as something interesting to play with, that can also jerk mummy's chain with whenever they feel the need.
[1] where quite often the adults have more difficulty getting them out!Having them conform to proper pin length and tip shaping requirements would seem like a sensible precaution to avoid socket damage. As would a specification of appropriate material composition...
I discovered a 2-way trailing extension block lead that I had bought a couple of years ago - I don't know where from - was pretty dodgy. I think there must be a lot of nasty stuff around now. Is it possible to buy plugs and leads made in the UK anymore?
This particular item was so poor: the cable grip inside the 2-way block was simply not able to function as a cable grip. The cable was loose and indeed had worked its way out so that the insulation was no longer within the grip. I noticed that (I need to PAT test all the equipment for my jazz orchestra for a wedding we're doing in September) and so I tried to put the cable back in properly thinking it hadn't been assembled correctly - but no, the grip was quite clearly never able to hold the cable.
This means that it could have been pulled out of the block whilst the
13A plug at the other end of the cable was plugged in - leaving some exposed live wires! YUK!Michael
However, if parents use dummy plugs, they may be even more complacent about leaving electrical stuff lying about, thinking their house is safe. The problem is not that sockets are dangerous, it's kids plugging unsafe things in. Therefore the solution is to control what and how kids can plug things in.
The old-fashioned approach of unshuttered 15A sockets and giving the bairn a good skelp whenever he went near was probably close to optimal.
Owain
I have come across several examples of molded on 13amp plugs, with an IEC plug on the far end, where there has been no fuse at all in the plug. Typically they have been supplied with computer equipment originating in the far east. The plugs are triangular and just large enough to contain the pins.
Michael Kilpatrick was thinking very hard :
This problem was true of several examples of UK made plugs from several years ago. The clamp piece was made from some poor fibre board where if the two self tappers of the clamp were tightened up adequately, the clamp would simply delaminate and rip. I don't think these are made any more and all of the modern ones use a nylon clamp.
there is no user replacable fuse - not the same thing.
The clamp in question of the form of two flexible plastic lugs either side of the cable with reverse-facing teeth such that the teeth should dig in and grip the cable when tension is applied. However, the teeth were barely teeth at all and the lugs put so little pressure on the cable (yes it was a 13A cable of a standard diameter) that it couldn't possibly ever work.
There are several designs of plug which have more than adequate designs of cable grip which work without the use of the screws. This wasn't one of them.
Michael
charles submitted this idea :
There was NO fuse, I dissected one to make sure. Plug shape was illegal as was the fact that the L & N pins were not insulated.
Michael Kilpatrick wrote on 22/06/2012 :
MK introduced a type like that several years ago - unfortunately the grips were so inflexible, it made it very difficult to get any but a small diameter cable in without a lot of force.
I've never had a problem with them except on very large cables that really should have been used with a BS4343 connector.
IMHO all other 13A plug designs are inferior to the original MK Safety Plug. The design was groundbreaking and such an advance that other plug manufacturers should have hung their head in shame and withdrawn from the market because their products were instantly rendered as obsolete shit.
I'm less happy with the more recent MK plugs as they are significantly harder to wire due to the use of unequal core lengths. If there was a need for the earth to disconnect last then moving the terminal internally a few mm would have been sufficient. But with a cable clamp that does just that you won't pull the cable out of the plug in the first place.
There are some such design whereby the opposing grips can be lifted out and replaced slightly further in or out to accommodate different diameter cables.
On the other hand, there seem to be many which are designed specifically for certain cable diameters only, and I guess that's what you came across. By pure coincidence I found three old such plugs on my desk right now! Here's a photo.
a) flat 2-core 3A cable b) round 3A or 5A cable c) standard 13A cable
Indeed, 3A,5A and 13A are exactly the fuses present in the plugs! Each of the cable grips work perfectly well - when the correct cable is used. If I try a flat 2-core 3A cable in the middle one, it's just a little two narrow to be gripped sufficiently. Plug (c) came from a kettle or something as it is branded Morphy Richards. You have to push a 13A cable reasonably hard to get it between the grips. The grips have only the tiniest of teeth but they clearly work extremely well!
Somewhere in the house I've got a plug with toothed grips like the above, but which are adjustable. I don't know where it is.
Michael
Owain
The original 'safety plug' made virtue of having the same length tails. But it was easy enough to put a loop in the earth wire.
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