cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/28693796
Check the comments of the original post for the stupidity.
For those of you without an electrical background, the diagram shows the protective earth connected directly to phase, with phase and neutral also joined.
Correctly wired, this would be a three pin plug, with the earth wire connected to the earth pin in the plug, with the other end connected to the metal casing of the appliance. This is a critical safety feature, which will cause the circuit protection to trip in the event a phase wire contacts the metal of whatever this is connected to.
If this was actually done, the most likely outcome is it would trip a circuit breaker, but if the neutral was broken, it would connect phase directly to the casing, and likely electrocute someone.
everything about this is wrong. the most fundamental part is the fact that you don’t wire north american plugs. Wiring your own plugs is a british thing, hence why the case is shaped like the british plug.
Home Depot has a whole big shelf of north american plugs that anyone can wire up however they want.
In fact it was compulsory in Britain until the 1980s/90s. I’m not sure exactly when it changed, but the reason was due to different electricity companies having different sockets (and therefore plugs). It was standardised way before then, but I guess if that’s the way it has always been done nobody thinks of changing it.
My oldest (15) was just taught how to wire a plug at her high school. We’re in the UK. I don’t think I was (90s), but my dad will had shown me and I don’t remember not knowing.
In the US, split-phase 240v appliances, like dryers and electric ranges, often do not come with a plug pre-wired. This is because older homes lack a ground on the outlet side. 240v works in the US by having two (120v) hots which are 180 degrees out of phase. Outlets in older homes have 3 sockets. Two lives (black and red) and a neutral (white). Outlets in newer homes have 4 sockets. The same 3 from above as well as a ground (green or bare). Normally you buy a pre-fabricated plug and do the wiring on the appliance side but you still need to match the right prong to the right terminal.
Of course, replacement plugs are also a thing if the original becomes damaged.
I don’t? Please, do go on. I am interested to know how all my appliances apparently work by magic.
Well, yes, someone wires the plugs at the appliance cord factory, but unless you work in appliance cord manufacturing it’s typically not the appliance user. And yes, there are exceptions, such as installing some heavy appliances or replacing damaged plugs, but that shouldn’t be typical for “all” of someone’s appliances.
I’m interested to know how you are wiring plugs… and why. They are sold pre wired in my area. Are they not in yours?
North american plugs are not serviceable like british ones. The contacts are molded in plastic at the factory.
Opening a plug to service the wires is not possible. They don’t open, nor do the plugs have fuses.
Serviceable, sure, but they literally make replacement plugs that you would do yourself, in which case, knowing how to wire them is a whole, you know, thing.