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Old 18th Sep 2018, 10:30 pm   #41
G6Tanuki
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

It's ages since I fitted - let alone bought - a rewireable 13A plug! As others have said, everything comes with a plug fitted as standard these days, or it uses a removable IEC309 'kettle-lead' - which makes life much easier.

For reliable high-current stuff I rather like the connectors made by ABB [available from your local Screwfix].
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Old 19th Sep 2018, 1:30 am   #42
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

I'm happy with PDL, who have been owned by Schneider since the early 2000s. Our house is all 600 series, and all of the outlets in the workshop are older 500 series ones I grabbed when they were refurbishing the offices of the firm I used to work for.

Schneider also own the Australian brand Clipsal. Are any of the UK brands owned by them? If so, could be worth looking at!
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Old 19th Sep 2018, 7:31 am   #43
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

As a sparky, I’ve not used MK products for years. The quality no longer matched the price premium. 20 - 30 years ago, it was either MK, Crabtree, or MEM, that were the premium accessories . Brands like Contactum, BG, Nettle, Tenby, and others were the budget brands, and the difference in quality was evident. You got what you paid for.

However, over the years these smaller manufacturers have upped their game and are producing better products at reasonable prices. The traditional brands have suffered, and quality on the whole has dropped off a cliff edge. Some well known brands have had serious re call issues with their products, which is very concerning. For example, miniature circuit breakers overheating.

I had the pleasure of dealing with and visiting MK at Edmonton in 1992, during the Pillar years. Edmonton and it’s environs had several MK factories producing its products within a short distance of each other. Their head office was a strange building. It was situated at the end of a road of terraced houses, and you were greeted into their reception by a well dressed and delightful door man! I remember him proudly telling me he had worked for MK for more years than he cared to remember. He was very proud of the company, and it gave impression that MK cared about it’s products and customers, too.


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Old 19th Sep 2018, 9:24 am   #44
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

ALl the crabtree stuff I've seen recently has been made in China. They are part of Siemens.
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Old 19th Sep 2018, 12:28 pm   #45
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

I have a modern crabtree double pole/switched socket, and the build quality is really good.
I use it for my hifi, and funny enough it replaced an MK double switched socket.

I found the MK to be inferior to the crabtree, which is why I had it replaced.

Plugs in the MK socket do not fit as tightly, or as nicely as they do in the crabtree socket.

Side by side and the crabtree socket was much better built than the MK, which really annoyed me as the MK socket was not cheap.
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Old 19th Sep 2018, 3:45 pm   #46
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

That’s a real shame, as I think MK standard double sockets are still made in a factory near Southend. At least MK usually mark their products with the place of manufacture; UK or Malaysia, etc.

Most other brands don’t, and if they are a well known UK brand, a lot of tradesmen that I meet all think these are made here in the UK, when they are not! For instance, Stamped on the back of an accessory, it may say ‘Crabtree England’. People then assume it’s made here.

I’m not singling any one manufacturer here, it happens a lot with most of the well known electrical accessory brands, annoyingly!


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Old 19th Sep 2018, 3:56 pm   #47
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

The point is - though it grieves me to say it - you can get stuff manufactured to a good standard in China if all the QA issues are in place. For example, a UK (parent company) person is permanently there on the shop floor sorting out manufacturing problems, QA etc. What happens mainly is that once the decision is made to manufacture in China, the salesmen start to work out how much profit they can make by 'keeping down' the quality (so to speak) instead of keeping it up. And there you go, you get poor tolerances, poor fit, irregular material quality etc etc. From what I know from my old contacts at Crabtree, they are doing it as well as anyone. I have no existing commitment to Crabtree may I add - they sacked me! Redundant actually.
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Old 19th Sep 2018, 4:49 pm   #48
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

A good example of getting high quality out of China is the Quad Electrostatic speakers are made there (because Quad is part of IAG, which is Chinese, along with Wharfedale, Ekco, Audiolab, Mission, Luxman and Castle). And they do a pretty good job too.

But IAG is not engineering down to a price. And the R&D is still in the UK.
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Old 19th Sep 2018, 8:08 pm   #49
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

This is why I take a libertarian view of things like regulation. The inevitable result of the certification style we have is that everyone just makes sure they can get the certificates and no better. I'm watching this in my current employ, where everyone is scrambling madly around GDPR. Nobody is the least concerned with actual data protection, it is purely a matter of demonstrating that dreaded word "compliance".

This is also why we ended up with burgers made out of elderly donkeys from Eastern Europe a few years back. Everyone had the paperwork. Nobody actually cared if it described reality, so long as the paperwork was in place.

I have a personal intense dislike for the ubiquitous BG accessories by the way. But everyone uses them because they are sufficiently compliant.
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Old 19th Sep 2018, 8:12 pm   #50
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

The Chinese will do as they are asked. If asked to produce high quality, they will. Foxcon comes to mind here. On the other hand, if Delboy asks to have something made to a price then they will oblige just the same. It's not really fair to blame them for the failings of the buyers.
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Old 20th Sep 2018, 9:45 am   #51
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

As has been observed, manufacturers will make things to the customer's specification. As per #33, I have also experienced modern MK neons popping out at the slightest provocation, but this is evidently due to the design being less than satisfactory rather than poor manufacture.
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Old 20th Sep 2018, 9:00 pm   #52
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Our site Electrician brought some to show me last week, same problem they're not fake. China will nickle and dime production even with our QA man stood on the assembly line ( it's baked into the culture ) so some sympathy, but we were both rather saddened by it, I can assure you if MK didn't know last week, they do now.
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Old 1st Oct 2018, 7:22 pm   #53
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

I've used MK switches and sockets around my house and found the quality to be fine, but I second the comment regarding stiff terminal screws. Most needed freeing off.

Crabtree have always been excellent and still are. I just found the appearance of the MK switches to be more pleasing.
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Old 6th Oct 2018, 5:40 pm   #54
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Quote:
... but I second the comment regarding stiff terminal screws. Most needed freeing off.
I believe this is actually intentional. The terminal screws are assembled "backed out" for speed of installation but deliberately tight so as not to fall out in transit.
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Old 6th Oct 2018, 6:35 pm   #55
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Quite likely, but
a) it is a pain in the bum and
b) when the screwheads are made of cheese, it chews them up.
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Old 6th Oct 2018, 10:01 pm   #56
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Real cheesehead screws, eh? Doesn't pan out very well, obviously.....
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 10:18 am   #57
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

I thought you had a counter proposal, did it sink without trace?
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 4:06 pm   #58
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

I have just had to cut the moulded on plug off my Candy washer because it was getting too hot to touch. It's now got a brown Bakelite MK plug on that must be at least 50 years old, but it's not getting hot any more.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 7:35 pm   #59
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

A wise move to change it... especially with the huge current draw of a washing machine. Physically hot mains connections are not safe or acceptable!
Might be worth telling the manufacturer about this issue, it could save someone having a fire,
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 8:17 pm   #60
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Default Re: Modern MK Safety Plug. Not impressed

Consider changing the socket too if possible, as the heat from the plug may have weakened the contacts.
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