Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

Hello,

I’m in the throes of getting my late parents’ house rewired, and I just couldn’t let the original 1967 MK pug, which was fitted to the immersion heater, Wylex cartridge fuse consumer unit and Aerialite T.V Outlet all get thrown away!

Regards
Terry

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

I should really have said "equal slack in all three conductors" rather than 'equal lengths'.

My argument being that _any_ pullout following cord-grip failure is an issue - both from the safety/hazard PoV and the fact that the equipment will cease to function. A partial-pullout of a short-wired 'live' - causing arcing but not immediate failure-to-function - is to me a serious hazard issue!

Equal-amounts-of-slack-in-all-conductors means any tension is spread equally over all 3 terminals - so the chance of a pullout of any conductor is reduced: equipment will continue to function (albeit with somewhat reduced safety but no immediate hazard) until the next inspection.

Though, like I mentioned, this sort of thing never appeared significant in the "top ten" reasons-to-reject during PAT or any other inspection.

[#1, from memory, was 'outer jacket damaged' - usually because some room-temperature-IQ type had dumped a steel filing-cabinet on top of the cable].

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

I'm wondering who if anyone has another example of this Panasonic "Filtered Plug"??

It's a moulded-on one, fitted to a bit of Anritsu testgear I bought around 1999-2000ish.

According to the markings on the underside it's got a common-mode filter built-in. I guess that in times-past that was a good way to ensure compliance with EMC regulations?

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

Several 5A two-pin sockets like this still adorn the skirting boards in a friends new (to them) house.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

I get asked for 13 Amp BROWN Bakelite plugs all the time.

I couldn't find a single manufacture so I have taken the plunge and commissioned a production run. We will soon be adding them to our range. :D

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

Who's doing them? Ward & Goldstone?

I'll take a few.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

Brown Nettle plugs are evocative of my childhood. Most of our electrical items were fitted with them.
(b. 1953)

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

Hi Lans lad,
These deathdapters are absolutely awful and I have see some in use in an OLD PEOPLES HOME!
They were on some CHIP FRYERS!

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

Just a couple of things I have seen.
A "neon" style LED sign in a chemist shop window plugged into a 32A circuit with one of these

Attachment 187957

and an industrial conveyor type toaster plugged into a coiled-up (and hot) cable reel on the floor behind the table-cloth in a Premier Inn breakfast room.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

I tested one of those plugs like the one on the LED sign to destruction.
Mine was a C13 on the other end.
I made a lead with all three pins connected to a male to match C13 to the earth pin of a good 13 amp plug and connected it to an analogue PAT tester.
It read well over an ohm per conductor using the earth continuity function.
It would be scorching hot well before the 32 amp breaker tripped.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

When my bank was being re designed inside they had a four way extension block fed with a thin looking flex which was supplying a oil filled radiator a computer and a printer the four way block was on top of the radiator and was melting a bit! So I moved it too the floor and pointed out how dangerouse it was to put it on the heater. Thankfully not long after the whole building was rewired.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

That sounds awful, Tom! I hope you pointed out to the management staff of the home how dangerous these things are.

Those chip fryers should at least have had their original fitted plugs cut off, and been fitted with nice new UK 13 amp plugs - or, better yet, hardwired into FCUs.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

But wait, it gets worse!
The plugs that were supplied, were, are you ready?
EARTHED SHUCKOS with no connection to earth whatsoever and friers with a METAL case!:o
(Sorry for the late reply by the way)
Unfortunately I didn't get chance to tell them about the death-dapters because I wasn't there long enough to tell a member of staff

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

I've had this old looking Aussie plug for a long time, I've no idea what it came off.

Attachment 189732 Attachment 189733Attachment 189734

But here's an odd thing, in the middle photo, looking at the back of the plug with the earth pin at the bottom (which is the mounting convention) there is a "~" symbol embossed by the right terminal, and a "0" on the left, but according to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS/NZS_3112
the left terminal of the socket outlet plate is live/line/phase/active, and the right side is neutral.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

Hi,
That's not an Australian plug. It's an Israeli one. The pins are thicker and the spacing and orientation is quite different.

https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/Israeli1.html

Cheers, Pete.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

Ah!
I still don't recall aquireing the item, but at least it's a country I've been to.
I saw a couple of 15A round pin sockets in Jerusalem, no doubt a legacy from the British mandate era.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

When I was an apprentice in about 1980 we used to do electrical work in a old people’s home. It had 15A and 5A sockets all over the place and no 13A sockets at all.
My boss said to me it’s only been rewired 7 years ago so that would make it 1973
I think the reason was the old people moving in were more likely to have round pin plugs on their appliances. By 1980 it was a major pain as most people moving in had 13A plugs on their things.
I have been collecting since I was a kid and when I was an apprentice one of my jobs was changing round pin plugs for square on appliances after houses had been rewired .
Hence a major boost to my collection. Andy

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

I don’t know what the regs were in the 70’s but I’m surprised that when the home was rewired, it wasn’t mandatory to fit 13A sockets.

I do remember when my grandmothers flat was rewired, that sockets were replaced with double 13A sockets and appliances rewired, with a maximum of 12 appliances. This was in 1969.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

There is no limit to the actual number of sockets allowed on a ring circuit, but the floor area it serves should be smaller than 100 square metres.

BS546 is not really any less safe than BS1363, as long as the guidelines are followed. Appliances were supplied with bare wires for the user to fit their own plug well 6into the 1980s.

Re: Any other plug collectors out there?
 

BS1363 is cheaper to install than BS546, which is why it was introduced.
It was a trade-off between safety and cost, nothing else.