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They're like that in this apartment we're renting and I keep seeing them elsewhere. I don't get it.
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this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2025
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the UK power grid is weird. mostly due to echoes of the war. used to be that, to save copper, the entire house and sometimes multiple houses on a street would be wired as one big loop of wire, no fuse box or anything. that's where the individually fused plugs and switched sockets come from. then, since it turned out to be quite a good idea for safety, they kept doing it.
This is the answer. When all sockets are connected to one big loop, there's fuses in each socket to prevent a device from screwing with the whole system.
This isn't strictly true. Most houses built between WWII and the '90s were built with sockets that didn't have switches on them. It was only later safety regulations / suggestions that made the switches preferable.
Where I live was built in the late '80s right before switched sockets became more common. All the original sockets have no switch. Some in the kitchen have switches, but it's clear these were added at a later date.
I'm not sure of the exact rulings and where and when a socket must have a switch, but you can still find switchless sockets for sale at the sorts of retailers who sell those sorts of things, so there are definitely places where those sockets are still allowed.
The old Ring Circuit
When I bought the apartment I'm living in, the previous owner had refused all modernisation, even legal ones (he had mental problems), so the appartment had the original 1 hot wire going everywhere, you just "tapped" off power where you wanted to to ground. 1959 era.
eastern block solution to copper shortages was to wire houses with aluminum instead of copper. this avoided all that bizarre bullshit that brits do, and in principle it's a good idea since aluminum is used for big time power distribution as well. this worked pretty well until it was noticed that under some conditions hot spots can form on connections over time, requiring replacement of connectors. it's still legal to use aluminum wires in some places, but copper is more common now
So that switch will trip like a breaker?
No - there's fuses in the plugs themselves, the switch is largely for convenience and safety - if you want to unplug something broken and potentially live, it's much safer to switch it off at the wall than risk a shock given the current limit is on the breaker is so high
Are folks able to replace the fuses without exposing live parts? I totally get the safety angle.
fuse is in plug and accessible only when plug is disconnected
it's also a very weird thing because fuses are supposed to protect what is downstream of them. so effectively fuse in plug protects cord and appliance only, not the wires in the wall. there's breaker box for this
Whoa. Thanks all!
It is safer for the fuse to be in the plug for those people who think they are electricians and end up causing house fires or bzzzt'ing themselves
i understand that it's remnant from times when fusebox wasn't a thing and it was an attempt at protecting ring circuit, that's all. it makes little sense
The screw to get to it is supposed to be on the side that would be facing the wall when plugged in so no
Sorry but I'm going to need a source on that because there is no evidence of that being the reason UK plug sockets have switches
Other countries have switches on their sockets, Australia being one because I live here
Switches on sockets do make a ton on sense though for safety reasons for example if you need to quickly isolate electricity from the switch and the breaker hasn't done anything
Switches also prevent arcing when you pull out a plug if an appliance doesn't have an off switch and you can switch something off that you use commonly say a kettle but don't unplug because you use it commonly so theirs less chance of an electrical fault happening while no one is there and its also the same reason I'll demand an isolation switch be installed on electric stoves just incase the dail on the stove fails and the stove turns on
looking for a source is not hard. anyone can do it.
switches are not required by the bs1363 standard. the provision for them only arrived in the 1960s. there.