Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

zagubov

sss555s wrote: »

it's 240v, but we have to call it 230v

That clears that up a bit. Still messed up some microwave ovens though. I'd imagine the power output of modern ones would compensate for that.
Suppose it's better than the old pre-grid days when electrical goods had to be bought locally so they'd work on local voltages!

sss555s

zagubov wrote: »

Suppose it's better than the old pre-grid days when electrical goods had to be bought locally so they'd work on local voltages!

I don't remember those days zag :A

GDB2222

LydiaJ wrote: »

As long as nobody's been monkeying around with it putting the wrong kind of wire in it, you'll be fine. Just don't use an electric lawnmower and then run over the flex cutting it, or not without an RCD thingy between the plug and the socket, anyway. Probably best not to take risks overloading the system either - don't plug loads of things all into the same socket with an adaptor or 4-way extension or whatever.

When you sell the house, whoever buys it will probably be told by their surveyor to get the whole house rewired, and the fuse box will be replaced with an RCD-protected consumer unit then.

I bought a plug-in RCD socket from Tesco for £7 - 8 day before yesterday. (They were next to the £8.50 CO monitors.) So, you can get an RCD without fiddling around with that really scary 100 years old electricity cupboard.

That TopGear film of the car being electrocuted didn't show any sparks from the underside of the car to the roadway, as far as I could see. It's hard to tell, as there's far too much Hammond in the film, and not enough car. Also, they failed to point out that the camera inside the car also survived. I am not convinced that that test rig really simulated a lightning strike, which is capable of delivering tens of thousands of amps.

What would be most interesting to see is a close-up of the effect on the paintwork from the plasma.

michaels

Apparently it happened in 1996 - seems more recent but then I am now old enough to remember the war.

The only reference I can find to microwaves is info on ready meal cooking time testing which suggests that the variation in voltage between 230 and 253 (max) can have some quite major results on ready meals where the first priority is to make sure that they are safely heated up but where over microwaving makes them go hard and uneatable.

For the conspiracy theorists out there my Dad thinks the voltage reduction is about avoiding blackouts with insufficient generating capacity - back to V=IR lowering the voltage will result in all those immersion heaters, night store heaters, kettles etc drawing less kilowatts.

zagubov wrote: »

sss555s wrote: »

it's 240v, but we have to call it 230v QUOTE]

That clears that up a bit. Still messed up some microwave ovens though. I'd imagine the power output of modern ones would compensate for that.

iB1

silvercar wrote: »

Annoying DS2 redeems himself by passing his driving test!

Now those scary moments when they leave the house and you daren't phone them to check they've arrived safely in case they are still driving.

Congrats to DS2. Passing the driving test and getting your first set of wheels is a real rite of passage nowadays. Especially for boys it seems.

Does he have his own car or will he be driving the silvercar? Sorry

zagubov

michaels wrote: »

I am now old enough to remember the war.

That sentence needs clarifying! I think Britain's always been at war (somewhere or other). And how do you "now" get to be old enough?

I was born during the Malayan, Cypriot, Aden wars but don't remember it! Grew up nice and safe in Britain. Do remember the Cold War though! :eek:

Maybe you mean WWII. A friend of mine became a dad at 61 (very brave of him). Did you start your family at a similar age?

chewmylegoff

Generali wrote: »

V = IR (Ohms Law). Your resistance will be basically constant in any given situation whether you are in the US or UK.

if you were in the US, you would be much, much fatter. i am not sure whether this would materially affect your resistance to electricity, but given body fat analysis can be done using an electrical thingumy gadget, it seems likely.

chewmylegoff

sss555s wrote: »

As far as I'm aware that was in the South when they were getting electricity from France. It's certainly not the case UK wide.

surely the voltage of the supply that reaches your house is governed by the transformer at the local substation and has nothing to do with whether you are receiving inferior french electricity from the grid?

no need to look it up though, lydiaj will be along soon to give either you or me or both of us a telling off!

lostinrates

chewmylegoff wrote: »

if you were in the US, you would be much, much fatter. i am not sure whether this would materially affect your resistance to electricity, but given body fat analysis can be done using an electrical thingumy gadget, it seems likely.

Interesting. All I can remember about fat is that it is excellent for something to do with electricity and nerves..because of the current down them....and obeseity of body doesn't necessarily relate to good fat insulation of nurones...

Crikey it really does huet thinking sometimes but trying to get that to make more sense....no....its not happening...sorry.

zagubov

chewmylegoff wrote: »

if you were in the US, you would be much, much fatter. i am not sure whether this would materially affect your resistance to electricity, but given body fat analysis can be done using an electrical thingumy gadget, it seems likely.

I think the current flows over surfaces of the body, same way as current flows mainly at the outer edges of wires. Some people have survived multiple lightning strikes (I think an American park ranger was one example).On holiday in Florida there were regular 3o'clock thunderstorms and the lightning was terrifyingly close to us once. I can't imagine how someone can survive it.