They’re like that in this apartment we’re renting and I keep seeing them elsewhere. I don’t get it.
For safety I guess?
So when the dumb person tries to insert a fork in the plug, they don’t die electrocuted.
Have you seen the list of safety features on UK plugs and sockets? The sockets have shutters in them that prevents anything being inserted into the live or neutral sockets unless the (longer) earth pin of a matching plug is inserted first.
Having said that, I agree: seems to be a belt-and-braces approach. No downsides.
And it allows you to cut power to an appliance without having to remove the plug.
There are already slats so the only hole you can get a fork into is the earth, unless you’ve already got something convincingly shaped like an earth pin in the earth hole to open the slats over the live and neutral. If you’re going to that much effort to zap yourself, the switch isn’t going to be much of a hurdle.
I’d suspect that it’s largely because it’s more convenient to have a switch than to unplug things and plug them back in again, especially as our plugs are a nightmare to step on to the point that Americans complaining about stepping on lego seems comical to anyone who’s stepped on lego and a plug.
Not positive but those could be GFI outlets.
That’s what I thought at first, but it’s literally every socket in this building both inside the apartment and outside in the hallways, and I keep seeing it in other buildings too.
Yup, they are the standard.
Would be fun to see some stories about you discovering things in the UK and how they are so different than in the US!
All modern wiring in the UK has every socket in the building connected via RCD (the more common name for GFCI outside America), but they’re usually in the main fusebox/consumer unit rather than individually per socket. These are just normal on/off switches for the convenience of being able to turn things on and off.
That’s a convenience we could all use, pretty crafty!
Saw a video of how the Japanese wire their panel’s and thought it was pretty genius.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqClY6PDCW0
Is it similar across the pond? Or is it like here where you can GFCI the panel through a breaker?
the UK power grid is weird. mostly due to echoes of the war. used to be that, to save copper, the entire house and sometimes multiple houses on a street would be wired as one big loop of wire, no fuse box or anything. that’s where the individually fused plugs and switched sockets come from. then, since it turned out to be quite a good idea for safety, they kept doing it.
The old Ring Circuit
No - there’s fuses in the plugs themselves, the switch is largely for convenience and safety - if you want to unplug something broken and potentially live, it’s much safer to switch it off at the wall than risk a shock given the current limit is on the breaker is so high
Are folks able to replace the fuses without exposing live parts? I totally get the safety angle.
This isn’t strictly true. Most houses built between WWII and the '90s were built with sockets that didn’t have switches on them. It was only later safety regulations / suggestions that made the switches preferable.
Where I live was built in the late '80s right before switched sockets became more common. All the original sockets have no switch. Some in the kitchen have switches, but it’s clear these were added at a later date.
I’m not sure of the exact rulings and where and when a socket must have a switch, but you can still find switchless sockets for sale at the sorts of retailers who sell those sorts of things, so there are definitely places where those sockets are still allowed.
eastern block solution to copper shortages was to wire houses with aluminum instead of copper. this avoided all that bizarre bullshit that brits do, and in principle it’s a good idea since aluminum is used for big time power distribution as well. this worked pretty well until it was noticed that under some conditions hot spots can form on connections over time, requiring replacement of connectors. it’s still legal to use aluminum wires in some places, but copper is more common now
Why are people saying this?
I’ve lived in multiple UK houses and never once seen a socket with a fuse. Are you saying this was change way way back in the day?
All houses have fuse boxes (which then got upgraded to circuit breakers). Not one fuses in sockets. Would be a fucking nightmare to take the socket off and change a fuse.
The fuse is actually in the UK plug (the big brick-like thing with the wire on it), not the socket. But yes, it’s a thing, and most of the rest of the world considers it overkill. Also a lot of cheap junky equipment (ironically the stuff where you’d most want the fuse) omits the fuse in the plug, go figure.
Yea I know, I’ve wired a plug.
Never seen a fuse in a socket though. That comment is completely wrong and yet it’s the most up voted reply.
Never seen a house without a fuse box either.
Sorry but I’m going to need a source on that because there is no evidence of that being the reason UK plug sockets have switches
Other countries have switches on their sockets, Australia being one because I live here
Switches on sockets do make a ton on sense though for safety reasons for example if you need to quickly isolate electricity from the switch and the breaker hasn’t done anything
Switches also prevent arcing when you pull out a plug if an appliance doesn’t have an off switch and you can switch something off that you use commonly say a kettle but don’t unplug because you use it commonly so theirs less chance of an electrical fault happening while no one is there and its also the same reason I’ll demand an isolation switch be installed on electric stoves just incase the dail on the stove fails and the stove turns on
I thought that’s building code, literally never seen any other outlets in the UK, as well as in Malaysia where they adopted the system. Though why it is or became code, I’ve no idea.
Safety, easier to switch things off without unplugging them. Why not have one if it’s more convenient? Not all of them have switches though.
It made a lot more sense when things didn’t have their own power switches but…what does that apply to anymore? How many devices do you own that are powered off exclusively by unplugging it? Why pay for the manufacturing time and material to add a switch if nothing uses it anymore?
There are still times where it’s convenient. I have some display cases with integrated lighting and the inline switches are incoveniently between the case and the wall so its super handy to turn it on and off at the plug.
Being able to turn things off at the plug also reduces standby/phantom power when things are in sleep, which for some devices adds up more energy usage than you’d think.
Sometimes when people go on holiday for two weeks they like to disconnect the electrical items in their house for safety. With switched sockets you can just turn them off instead.
I’m sure I could live just fine without switched sockets, but it’s convenient they are there.
Fridge, washing machine, dishwasher, television, phone charger, robovac dock, lamps, computer monitor, aquarium pump… I could go on.
It’s not strictly necessary, but it’s a convenience.
Most of those have power buttons and, aside from the charger and vacuum, those things are supposed to stay on.
I meant more things like lamps that you actually turn on and off…And the majority lamps have switches nowadays, I’m not sure why you included it on your list
