How do I charge a toothbrush in the bathroom? It fits a shaver socket, and I'm allowed a shaver socket within the relevant zones, but all the shaver sockets I've seen (which admittedly isn't that many) have a tendency to hum when something is plugged into them.
Does anyone make a silent socket?
Unless you intend to sleep in the bathroom it shouldn't be a problem. We have a toothbrush permanently plugged into the shaver socket in our ensuite bathroom and yes, it hums, but after about two minutes you become oblivious to it.
I had a hummer - I loosened the screws slightly and wiggled it about until it stopped humming, worked quite well.
Buy a good make? I haven't noticed a hum from MK ones I've fitted over the last decade.
Fit a non-isolating one in the bedroom with the toothbrush permanently plugged in there, and then lift it off as you go into the bathroom, returning it afterwards.
Another point about isolating ones when using chargers with them... They are allowed to output up to 270V off-load, and most chargers draw so little they are going to see nearly the off-load voltage. If the charger is a wide voltage range one, it's probably better for it to be running on the 120V socket.
Electric toothbrushes don't need charging more than once or twice a week, so we have a charger on the landing.
I cut the shaver plug off my Braun and fitted a normal 3A fused plug, keep it outside the bathroom and put the toothbrush back on charge after use.
In message , Andy Dingley writes
Is it important ?
The only time I sleep in the bathroom is when I'm pissed and fall asleep on the bog - in which case, I'm beyond caring
I cut the shaver plug off my Braun and fitted a normal 3A fused plug, keep it outside the bathroom and put the toothbrush back on charge after use.
I wonder how many people do as I did? Put a 13amp socket sort of out of reach in the bathroom.
-- Mark BR
Battery life will be drastically shortened if it is continuously charged on a typical dumb charger.
Simply plug a two-pin adaptor into the socket on the landing (1). Minimal expense, no electrical work.
(1) Or wherever you find convenient.
Chris
You referring to the one supplied by the vendor? Mine is on charge 24x7 (except when I'm using it, of course, or away).
Mine doesn't hum, although I had to replace it when we moved into this house as the installed one only worked when the light was turned on - a dead loss. The new one doesn't hum either.
And it would be an even bigger PITB if I had to carry the TB in and out of the bathroom every time I used it.
Tim Streater gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
We tend to leave ours in the bathroom, only putting it on the charger (outside the bathroom) when it needs charging - about once a week with two of us using it.
OK - so whose job is that then? :-)
I happiest when I'm busy doing nothing, so I tend to optimise such things away.
I got annoyed with Braun when they altered the hole in the toothbrush body so that it no longer fitted the wall mounted charger that they used to supply.
That would be because the old one wouldn't work properly with the new one. I bet you would have been just as annoyed when something broke if they left it the same.
Yes (if that was the case - but I guess it was cost reduction) - but I wish they had continued with a wall mountable one.
This is one of the things I /do/ like about Germany wiring regs as opposed to British. You are perfectly free to install a 16A socket (and a normal light switch) in a bathroom. (Although I was slightly surprised about the electric socket directly /under/ the tap in the wall where the washing machine screws in, in our shower-room).
Note that British regs /do/ allow switches and sockets in the kitchen.
On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 06:16:04 -0700 (PDT) someone who may be Martin Bonner wrote this:-
One has always been perfectly free to install a normal light switch in a bathroom if following the IEE/T Wiring Regulations, provided that it was located far enough away from the (fixed [1]) bath or shower [2] and was suitable for the conditions.
Suitable for the conditions was presumably introduced later, though one could argue that before that the good workmanship provisions would do much the same thing.
The fact that people nearly always installed a pull cord switch inside, or an ordinary switch outside, bathrooms in the UK was a function of it "being the done thing" and the small size of many bathrooms.
[1] at one time they did specify fixed baths, to distinguish them from tin baths. [2] far enough away being out of reach, when the zones were introduced much the same thing was obtained by the sizes of the zones. This was presumably introduced at some time and was I imagine not in the First Edition. Missing things are sometimes spotted, I recall that it wasn't until recently that it was stated that energised conductors must be insulated from the earth, though that has been done since the start of electrical systems for obvious reasons.
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Unscientific observation, based on my cordless phones, the batteries only seem to last a year on continuous charge when run warm. My Braun toothbrush battery is now getting a tad weaker after 8 years, and is charged only when flat.
rusty
That's my experience too. My toothbrush is also several years old, and lasts two or three weeks (at least) on a charge. The charger generally lives either downstairs on the kitchen table or on the landing outside the bathroom. Out of interest, is it possible to replace the battery? Indeed, what sort of battery is used in 'em? My Braun 3D "pulsating toothbrush" is marked "NH Accu" on the back.
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