UK vs. US | British Plugs are Better than American Plugs

After living in the UK for over a year I am developing a pretty good understanding of how some systems work. In this case, I take a close look at the UK electric plug and socket and I compare it to the American plug and socket. I will save the suspense, the UK plug is much safer and is better designed.It is always fun to point out the similarities and differences between the United States and the United Kingdom. It is all fun and simply cultural observations.

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[Kevin-mxvi]

The British 13 amp plug is a brilliant example of design. Just don't step on one in bare feet or you will learn more about pain than you ever wanted to. 😉

[williamgreen]

Also don't forget, the UK plug was designed back in the late 40's and is still essentially the same. The designers and engineers got it right first time and we've been safer for it ever since.

[olliejk]

Who'd have thought a man comparing us and uk plugs is worthy of a 50 thousand plus audience? It like an entire football stadium has come to watch you plug in different plugs. Absolutely sensational 👏

[davecatlett]

you missed soo many other safety features of the UK plugs....
1. The cord always comes out at right angle to the pins, so plugs are very difficult to pull out of the socket by pulling on the cord.
2. They have individual fuses in every plug, rated for the equipment being used, not the outlets maximum.
3. The internal wiring within the plug it's self (if wired correctly!) Will leave the earth/ground as the last wire to be broken if the cord is pulled out of the plug.

[catherinerobilliard]

Time to thank the inventor of the British safety electrical plug, someone who has saved countless lives, Dame Caroline Haslett DBE

[fossy]

Only you missed out one other safety feature of this plug. When it is wired correctly inside the plug the earth wire has a slack loop in it so if anyone pulls the cable really hard the live wires are disconnected fractionally before the earth wire. Love your videos keep them coming buddy.

[davetdowell]

You missed out one other key safety feature. It's designed to teach you not to leave electrical cables lying around where you walk, stand on a UK plug laying on the floor once, and you'll never leave a plug laying around on the floor again.

[TheRealBoroNut]

Another great feature is that the plug will always fall prong side up, which is fantastic, as the government advise you to unplug all your devices before you go to bed to protect your property from burglars now that mantraps are illegal. It's alleged that this feature inspired an unfortunate Danish tourist to invent the Lego brick, a valiant effort, but which ultimately pales in comparison.

[gustavmeyrink_.]

Another long term safety feature is that with the UK plug the cable exits at a right angle to the prongs which makes it practically impossible to pull the plug by tugging at the cable. You must deliberately pull the plug. No internal fraying over longer misuse and no accidental unplugging.

[apacherider]

The UK has some of the best standards in the world. This is because of the BSI. The British Standards Institute, which guides and assist other countries. Some of you may remember the BSI kite mark..years and years before the EU mark. You saw the kite mark and you knew it is quality.

[penname]

This is the best review I’ve seen of our plugs and why they’re so good. I’ve seen lots of US reaction channels attempting this when they don’t understand electrics, and mostly they complain about how unnecessarily bulky our plugs are. They don’t realise that it’s because it houses a fuse, as we have individual fuses for each appliance, meaning that the current doesn’t have to reach a dangerous level before a faulty appliance cuts out. It’ll cut out as soon as it’s at the limit that is safe for that particular device.

[rickremco]

Another feature is the internal fuse. This normally comes supplied with a 13A fuse, but for lower powered devices this can be changed to a lower rating for safety if neccessary.

[davidrowlands]

I've been in America and several other countries and found their plugs to be more flimsy than ours but never gave it much thought. Now I am grateful for our plugs. Good post.

[StarWarsJay]

I’m from the UK and lived in Belgium for a few years. While there, one of my Belgian friends see one of my British plugs and laughed at it. He said it looked like something from the 1930’s. That prompted me to take a closer look at our plugs and I was surprised how many safety features it has and that I took for granted. I’m not saying this out of some weird pride of the UK at all, but I think our plugs should be standard across the world for safety reasons.

[BM-jycb]

Four more things: Each appliance is individually fused at the plug, protecting the appliance cable from overload (particularly relevant for extension leads). Secondly, the standard (BS1363) specifies a minimum distance from the pins to the edge of the plug, further reducing any risk of little fingers touching the pins on a half-inserted plug. Thirdly, in a correctly specified socket, you cannot simply push the shutters aside manually - they are interlocked with the earth pin and finally, your extension lead doesn't meet the spec as it allows a plug to be inserted upside down, opening the shutters without a properly inserted plug - there should be sufficient bulk above the hole for the earth pin so that the remaining pins on the plug prevent you from doing this. BS1363 is a superb standard. Unfortunately it is regularly undermined by the cheap crap, both plugs and sockets, being imported from China.

[juststeve]

You missed some features...
I'll skip the fuse, as others have mentioned it.
The cable on the UK plug exits via the bottom of the plug. Not only does this keep the cable down and reduce the risk of tripping you over, but it discourages pulling the plug out of the socket by the cable (because it just don't work!).

They also work fantastically as burglar alarms, just leave unplugged and left on the floor. The pins will automatically point upwards and impale the nearest foot.

[cyberleaderandy]

I've always wondered why American plugs seem so flimsy and small compared with UK plugs. It seems really strange that these plugs have not been replaced with something sturdier and safer.

[Larry]

They do hurt like all hell if you tread on one bare foot though :D

[astroranger]

It's so funny to me as someone who was born in the UK to see how much you love the UK and are amazed by the simplest of things that we take for granted.

[DavidLee-vids]

I've often heard of people complaining about stepping on plugs that have fallen out of the socket. they don't fall out. You've unplugged it and left it on the floor with the pointy bits sticking up.