[ohgodplsno]

You forget to take something crucial into account: the US's safety standards are laughable when it comes to electricity. The standard US plug is _begging_ for people to stuff things in it like say, knives, rarely if ever has an earth pin, has no shutters, is massively unsafe, the cable gauge is laughable, GFCI outlets are a miracle to find, and the building rules are... let's just say they're an invitation for house fires.

Most european houses have a single 400v outlet: right in your kitchen, for the oven (which means the oven is going to be right in front of it.) The likelihood of a child playing with it is close to nil. As for adults, the vast majority of people are taught to just flip the breaker and work on it if needed.

I promise you more people died of sticking metal into US outlets than from 400 volts.

[housemusicfan]

> The standard US plug is _begging_ for people to stuff things in it like say, knives, rarely if ever has an earth pin, has no shutters, is massively unsafe, the cable gauge is laughable, GFCI outlets are a miracle to find, and the building rules are... let's just say they're an invitation for house fires.

Literally every single thing you've asserted is categorically false.

Earth pins have been required on outlets for nearly 50 years at this point. US outlets are also polarized, which Europlugs are not.

Shutters on outlets have been mandatory in residences and medical facilities for well over a decade.

The cable gauge is sized for the current and ambient temperature.

GFCI outlets are required nearly everywhere there is water, damp conditions (such as basements), and power tools used (such as garages and outdoors) because tools are most likely to have frayed and poorly repaired cords. Additionally all bedrooms and living spaces now require arc fault protection as a leading cause of fires is due to frayed lamp cords.

Europe still leads the world when it comes to smoking in bed as being a leading cause of house fires so I would not cast stones in glass houses.

[crooked-v]

> Shutters on outlets have been mandatory in residences

The only shutters on outlets in any US homes I've ever lived in have been... ones I put in myself.

[pxx]

They've been mandatory since 2008. (NEC Section 406.12).

Many people don't notice they exist. You have to examine the outlet fairly closely to notice them but certainly any new construction is all TR receptacles now (with the possible exception of the ones very far off the floor).

[bombcar]

Most residences are more than fifteen years old, so people won’t notice changes. Also modern shuttered outlets are better than the first ones that were available, so you won’t even notice unless you look closely.

[xcrunner529]

He must have been going for comedy because that post literally made me LOL.

[lazide]

EU countries have their own history of terrible plugs and outlets, not that far back either. The 2 pin continental plug (when not shuttered, which old outlets aren’t) has all the same issues as the old US two prong plug - but twice the voltage!

Modern US outlets are usually shuttered, and 3 prong grounded outlets have been the required standard since about 1969. Which is over 50 years ago.

[z2]

The Swiss and UK plugs and receptacles are awesome because they have plastic buffers in the plug's prongs and/or receptacle that make it hard to ever be able to touch live metal prongs in a plug that's between 0 and 100% plugged in. Schuko looks pretty safe too and that standard is from almost 100 years ago! I consider myself careful, but have had a metallic cover and a pen fall onto North American plugs that were partially exposed (thus shorting hot with neutral). Both times the outlet had tamper resistant shutters which did nothing to prevent ensuing fireworks.

[tails4e]

Yes the UK plug design is the best I've seen. Mandatory 3rd pin to open the shutters, insulated prongs until they are well disconnected, and very solid fit. More often than not I see plugs half falling out of US sockets, with live and exposed terminals. Thankfully it is only 110v, but still a fire hazard

[rodgerd]

The UK plug is the gold standard, and for me it's one of those things that would have been great if they concepts had become the norm.

[bombcar]

The mains issue I have with them is just how big they are.

Given how many things I have plugged in on or around my desk, I’d need power strips the size of a large dog to plug them all in UK style. Whereas US they all fit in the size of a very small cat.

[lazide]

Too bad it weighs so much :s

Also, stepping on one in the dark is a… life changing experience! Definitely pretty solid though.

[foobarian]

I have fond memories of toddling around an under-construction room, picking up a screw and sticking it into a 220V outlet. Huge round holes, compared to narrow slits in the US.

[jumpkick]

Are you saying that US homes “rarely, if ever” have grounded receptacles? That’s not correct. All construction since the late 50s or early 60s require grounded receptacles.

[earthboundkid]

I grew up in the US South, where everything was built post-air conditioning in the 70s, and I never saw an outlet without a ground until I went to Japan, where they still aren't standard. In Hawaii, outlets without a ground were more common, but if we're talking about the Mainland US, you really only see groundless outlets in very old buildings that for whatever reason have never been renovated.

Also GFCI is very common now. The vast majority of kitchens or bathrooms will have it. You'd need to find one that hasn't been renovated since the 90s, which definitely does happen, but it's becoming less common.

[adev_]

> Most european houses have a single 400v outlet: right in your kitchen, for the oven (which means the oven is going to be right in front of it.) The likelihood of a child playing with it is close to nil. As for adults, the vast majority of people are taught to just flip the breaker and work on it if needed.

Not to mention you normally can not electrocute yourself with 400V.

400V is between two phases, you never accidentally touch two phases.

When you touch a conductor you are between one phase and the ground, meaning in 230V.

[hajile]

Any time two phases are being run next to each other, there’s a risk of high voltage. That’s precisely what happened to me (two 277v lighting circuits).

[chinchilla2020]

> rarely if ever had an earth pin

False

> GFCI outlets are a miracle to find

False

I don't know where some of these people come from on hackernews.

[codedokode]

Will you get an electric shock from sticking a fork across pins? I thought that the fork would short the curcuit. More probable scenario is that one can easy stick a finger between pins when plugging or unplugging a device.

That is why the voltage should be lowered to 70 Volts.

[bombcar]

You can certainly get some fun, but modern outlets in modern homes will be GFCI and trip before much happens. If the GFCI doesn’t trip it means all current is going through the fork and none through you - the breaker will trip if the fork draws too much current otherwise it will just get hot.

[sudosysgen]

You will if you touch the live pin alone at some point (you likely will).

The voltage shouldn't be lowered, the pins should simply be designed not to be both connected and exposed at the same time.

[seanmcdirmid]

When I first moved to China, I wondered what that “pop” was when I plugged things in and out. Turns out, most power outlets aren’t grounded there, and having lived in the states for most of my life, I never encountered that before.