Dangerous travel adapters
Dangerous travel adapters
Dangerous travel adapters on sale in uk
SS Richard Montgomery Matter
Dangerous travel adapters on sale in uk please read ALL
carefully
There is a great unseen danger to visitors
from Europe on the high street. To the none technical person (and even to
some with technical knowledge this is not easy to spot, but under the right
circumstances can kill. The electrical plugs from
Europe are different to the uk we have 13 amp square pin with a fuse inside, the
Europeans have a large & small 2 pin
type without fuses inside. the smaller 2 pin type do not need an earth
connection but the larger 16 amp 2 pin do. The
earth is unlike our 13 amp plugs with the larger third pin they have the earth
by contacts on the sides of the plug & in
some countries by a pin coming out of the socket making contact with a hole in
the plug where we have our third larger
pin.
on sale in high streets all around the country in many shops including
supermarkets in tourist areas. Are plug adapters for
tourists & others wanting to plug in appliances bought in Europe. There is no
problem using these for the smaller 2 pin
appliances such as shavers apart from the fact that are no fuses in some of the
adapters which could become a fire
hazard. This is a danger in it self but not the main point of me writing this.
The danger in question is the fact that most of
the adapters' DO NOT allow for connection of the Earthing contact of the
European plug to the earth (ground) of the uk
mains as only the two pins are connected without the contacts on the side of the
plug able to connect. If the appliance
becomes faulty Instead of the current going to earth & blowing the fuse in the
adapter (If there is one) The metalwork on
the appliance will become live to the touch without any warning as the appliance
will still be working, & depending on
circumstances If the person using the appliance touches an earthed metal surface
or another appliance which is correctly
earthed they will receive a strong electric shock which could burn or kill them
or at least cause them to drop whatever they
were holding ( kettle full of hot water) or be thrown back hitting their head or
causing other injury to themselves or others
nearby. with un-fused adapters apart from the dangers pointed out as the power
will only be fused at the consumer unit
(fuse box/breaker box) at 30 amp instead of 13 amp. As some of the European
appliances work up to 16 amp with no
plug fuse, only fuse in fuse box. Even if the person does not get an immediate
shock if the appliance is working
unattended there is a very grave risk of it catching fire as whatever created
the short circuit to earth would be drawing current in excess of that intended.
Some of the adapters' on sale do have
written on them in small print & in some cases on the packaging "do not use on
appliances which should be earthed" or
words to that effect & some not to be used in uk. This of course only covers the
manufacture but is totally useless to the
person that comes from Europe, technical or not that does not understand or read
English who even if they did would not
realise what the dangers were if they could read it. I made a phone call about
this problem to the (London) Westminster
trading standards a couple of months ago after seeing some of these units on
sale in a large chain store, I was informed
that I could not complain unless I was a Westminster resident...
If you are not clear about any of the above or have any doubts please show to a
qualified person There are many more
aspects to this that cannot be put into lay terms.
Attached pictures of some of ones that I am pointing out on sale & picture of
European (Shuko) plug and correct type
of adapter they should be used with.
©2009 Ron Angel
Design Eng electronics
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