New electrical appliance with wrongly colour-coded flex

[Lobster]

A few months ago SWMBO bought a veg steamer from Sainsbury's (FWIE, (or ) and today (for reasons not relevant) I needed to put a new plug on it. I was intrigued to note (well, I don't get out much) that the earth wire in the flex was solid, dark green in colour rather than the usually green/yellow combo that you'd expect. Appliance has the usual CE mark, but no country of origin that I can see)

Have to say it hasn't caused me any lost sleep (yet), but out of interest, are Sainsbury's being naughty flogging appliances without the correctly coloured flex?

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Lobster saying something like:

I've seen that a few times. It's a moment.

[Dave Osborne]

You quite often used to see notional green/yellow flex as yellow/green. This presumably is because they had to make yellow as a phase colour and decided it was cheaper to put a green stripe on yellow rather than to make flex with green insulation and then put a yellow stripe on.

[ARWadsworth]

I thought was was supposed to be green/yellow or yellow/green with a maximum ratio of 70/30 between the two colours and no preference to the green or yellow having the the bigger slice of the cake.

Cheers

[Jerry]

Doesn't the regs still allow a single green for earth conductors and are you sure that it's not just a crimp on the end of multi-strand that is making it look like a solid wire?

: Have to say it hasn't caused me any lost sleep (yet), but out of : interest, are Sainsbury's being naughty flogging appliances without the : correctly coloured flex?

I suspect that the problem is with ignorant (in the true meaning if the word) end users meddling were they obviously should not be than anything to do with the retailer or their suppliers! :~P

[ARWadsworth]

I suspect that your suspicions are not based on fact or experience.

[Graham.]

)

He said "solid, dark green in colour", I agree the comma was unnecessary but I suspect, given the context, the meaning was clear to the rest of us. Viz. Solid colour, not solid vs. stranded conductor.

[js.b1]

Doesn't france use solid green for Earth(CPC)?

[Dave Liquorice]

Donno, why not mention it to you local trading standards? Both the colour coding of the flex and missing country of orgin. These things are made down to the price, if the maker and shave a penny of his costs by buying cheap flex he will.

Bought a branded hair drier for daughter a while back full power is

2kW or so (about 8A). The flex is 0.75mm CSA (6A) and yes the flex does get warm in use...

[js.b1]

Kettle's 2000-2250W often get H0VV-F 0.75mm fitted, but I suspect they argue the thing will boil and cutout. Perhaps, unless you do not shut the lid and come back to find it doing a good impersonation of a sauna and the cable absolutely scalding hot. Philips kettle.

What worries me more is the number of moulded plugs which run "smelly" hot, replaced a few with MK toughplugs and the drop in temperature was very considerable.

[JTM]

E = Yellow/green N = blue L (phase) = any (single I presume) colour except blue, is what I read recently.

John

[Steve Firth]

Often grey or grey with a black stripe in my experience.

[Matty F]

I'd like everybody to go back to red, black, green. A pox on people who keep changing things. Colour blind people should not be electricians.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Jerry" saying something like:

I suspect you're spouting bollocks - again.

[Matty F]

Does a red traffic light in Germany mean Go and a green light mean stop? If the lights mean the same around the world why can't the wiring be consistent? Mind you the Europeans and Yanks drive on the wrong side of the road anyway so they are used to being difficult.

[Terry Casey]

Vehicles have been crossing country borders for much longer than flexible cords have been around!

Consider this: colours of flexible cords were standardised in europe in

1969, or thereabouts. (Note that this standardisation was not limited to the, then, EEC!)

Why wait another 35 years, or thereabouts, to standardise fixed wiring colours?

Look up the history of railway signalling and you will find all kinds of colours used in this country, let alone internationally! In fact, a (flashing) white light is still used as a 'Go' indication on UK railways. (Next week, I will be crossing the channel for a few days and I will also be on the lookout for the flashing white lights that signal priority to road traffic!)

Railway signalling was a century old before traffic lights were first introduced in the UK and the red/green/yellow system had, eventually, been standardised a long time before. Not surprising, then, that on a basis of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!", the same colours were adopted on the roads - even in Germany ...

[JTM]

But I do like the German 'count down to lights going red' that they have. Gives you that advance warning and no excuse for going through a junction on red.

John

[dennis]

How is it better than amber -> red? You don't have an excuse with that either.

[Jerry]

"Grimly Curmudgeon" wrote in message news: [e-mail]...

: : I suspect you're spouting bollocks - again.

Talking about yourself again Grimly...

[Jerry]

: : I'd like everybody to go back to red, black, green. A pox on people : who keep changing things. Colour blind people should not be : electricians.

People who can't learn the new colours should not mess around with electrics either...