Electrical stores delivering / installing Goods.

[60 oldjohn]

Prompted by the discussion on Voltages. To make sure the Radio, Kettle and possibly TVs supplied were set for the correct voltage did the retailer deliver, check and install the item ?

John.

[OscarFoxtrot]

I think the retailer would have known what voltage to supply.

But home delivery, in many cases yes, probably sending the lad round on a bicycle (small appliances only).

And of course the correct plug would have to be fitted.

[broadgage]

By about 1950 very few 110 volt to 120 volt supplies remained, and most of those were intended for lighting only.

Radio and TV sets generally had an internal adjustment that covered the 200 volt to 250 volt range. TV sets were invariably delivered and set for the correct voltage by the retailer, larger radio sets ditto.

Simpler appliances such as heaters and kettles often came in two versions, one for 200 volt to 220 volt circuits and another one for 230 volt to 250 volts. The customer or the retailer would be expected to know which was required.

Light fittings (unless fluorescent, which were still rare) were invariably suitable for any reasonable voltage, but of course the lamps had to be the right voltage. The local electrical shop, would, back in the good old days have kept lamps in stock for all voltages used within a reasonable distance.

A larger or specialist shop would probably have stock of some very odd voltage lamps also. 110 volt or 120 volt lamps were favoured in series pairs on 220 volt or 240 volt circuits, especially for decorative purposes. And of course a few 110 volt, 120 volt, and 127 volt supplies remained in use.

Within living memory, GLS and similar lamps were made in dozens of different voltages.
The more affluent customers might have owned a yacht or motorboat, or a country cottage and would require odd voltage lamps for same.

[Nuvistor]

In the early 1960’s there was an area of Bolton with a different mains supply, I think it was a Deane or Daubhill but could wrong. The company I worked for were busy going round changing the voltage tappings on the rental TV’s. I don’t know what happened to radios or TV’s that were owned but those would have required changing as well.
I can’t remember if it was DC mains or more than likely 210 volt or there abouts AC.

So the sets were installed correctly when new. That was the only area I saw with non standard voltage and I had just started work so saw non installed.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by Nuvistor

In the early 1960’s there was an area of Bolton with a different mains supply...

In 1937 (my latest Broadcaster Annual) Bolton appears in the Special Section of the voltage directory - "about 600 towns which have their own supply undertakings" - as distinct from "some seven thousand" districts in the Main Section. 105 volts AC, 210 AC, 230 AC and 230 DC were all current (pardon the pun) in different parts of Bolton.

It was noted that "half a million new homes are being electrified every year, and another half million are changing from DC to AC, so that no directory of this kind can be absolutely complete".

I would guess householders would mostly have been aware of the rating of their own supply, which would have been needful knowledge even for buying a light bulb, and might well have been used to guide their purchases of small appliances too. There were some quite odd voltages around. I've a little hoard, preserved largely for their decorative boxes, of six 100 watt Cosmos light bulbs for a 150 volt supply. I think they date from the late 1920s or very early '30s: by 1937 the only place they would have been useful was Banavie, a village near Fort William.

Paul

[Nuvistor]

I am reasonably sure it was 210VAC and was the last district in Bolton to change to standard 240VAC.
The other recollection was that both wires were live to earth, presume it would measure 115volts to earth. I was just out of school and had only ever encountered standard mains so I was a bit confused by it all.

[Hartley118]

I recall this Bolton voltage changeover in the late 1960s. Any appliances that could not be readjusted to 240V were replaced by the Electricity Board. My university supervisor lived in Bolton and kindly gave me his old Ferranti 210V electric fire to take the chill off my bedsit in Manchester. I remember that it worked very efficiently on my 240V supply!

Martin

[Nuvistor]

This was definitely the early 60’s, I left Bolton in early 1965, so it appears that what I witnessed wasn’t the last area to convert.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Listing for Bolton 1925. Generating station owned by Bolton Corporation.
100/200v AC 50c/s, 230/460 DC and 400v 50c/s 3 phase. Electric vehicle charging was at one and a half pence per unit [pre decimal of course] from the DC supply. John.

[Hartley118]

Originally Posted by Heatercathodeshort

Listing for Bolton 1925. Generating station owned by Bolton Corporation.
100/200v AC 50c/s, 230/460 DC and 400v 50c/s 3 phase. Electric vehicle charging was at one and a half pence per unit [pre decimal of course] from the DC supply. John.

What goes around comes around..........

Martin